When the Xbox One launched in India last year, it was available exclusively through Amazon- that meant that you couldn’t even walk into a retail store to pick it up from there. You needed to get it from Amazon. That exclusivity ended earlier this year, when Microsoft’s Priority Resellers began selling the system throughout the country. And today, Microsoft has announced that Flipkart, one of India’s biggest online retailers, will also be selling the entire range of Xbox One products starting today.

Commenting on this, Anshu Mor, Director of Interactive Entertainment Business for Microsoft India, said, “Over the last one year, through our partnership with Amazon.in, we have received an overwhelming response from consumers for Xbox One and Xbox 360 in India. Responding to this growing demand, we are now extending the availability of our portfolio to Flipkart. With this move, we are looking to further expand our presence in the market.”

Commenting on the availability of Xbox One and Xbox One accessories on its platform, Adarsh K Menon, Vice President of Electronics for Flipkart, said “Demand for our gaming category is witnessing exponential growth, fuelled by Flipkart’s large youth consumer base. Our partnership with Xbox will further enrich the portfolio and will also add to this experience by tying up with leading gaming publishers across the globe to bring in the latest gaming titles. Xbox will be available on our platform on the midnight of October 15^th, as a part of the Flipkart Big Billion Days promotion.”

The Xbox One is available in India now for INR 34,990.

This is one of the most toughest news post I’ve had to write. Sony has almost discontinued the legendary 13 year-old Playstation 2 in Japan and is waiting for the current stock to dry out.

In fact we are seeing the same things happening in countries like India, where the system has been discontinued by Flipkart–a mega online retailer–where they said it was a directive from Sony.

I guess it’s good, they can now concentrate on the PS3 and er… oh wait, the PS3 is at the end of its lifecycle too and is about to be replaced by the PS4 soon. Famitsu’s report suggests that the system which has sold 150 million will be phased out in large countries soon.

Plenty of US and EU retailers don’t stock the system anymore, and I guess that’s gonna happen when sales drop significantly. However, the console has sold 150 million units and is the highest selling console of all time.

The Nintendo DS is in the same range but we do not know much about its sales since Nintendo has not updated the latest figures.