Microsoft held a conference at E3 in LA earlier this evening directly catering to emerging markets. The majority of the talk consisted of a basic walkthrough of Xbox Live, obviously with the intention of showing foreign press who have supposedly never used it how to do things like add and invite friends to games.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel however, and I managed to get some time in with Microsoft executive Marc Whitten. He again confirmed that Xbox Live will be launched in South Africa around December. I brought up the fact that many South Africans are already using Live with UK or US accounts, and he assured me that Microsoft does not want those users to lose their Gamerscore and other goodies attached to their accounts.
The answer is Live account migration. Whitten stated categorically that he is 90% sure that they will have migration working by the time Live launches in SA. This means that you will simply be able to change the location of your Xbox Live account from UK/USA to South Africa. Now, obviously there is the possibility of unforeseen problems cropping up between now and then, but as it stands, things are sounding good.
He reiterated that once we have our own Live service, we will be able to buy MSPoints using local credit cards. We will also no longer face the harsh region blocking that is enforced on countries falling outside the Xbox Live grid.
He added that host migration is not only an important thing for South Africa, but is important for all Xbox Live countries, as people are constantly migrating physically, and Xbox Live should be able to accommodate that.
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