The Xbox One may have had a whole lot of positive momentum going into its launch in China due to being the first console to officially launch in the country since the PlayStation 2 (following the Chinese government’s lifting of the 14 year ban that prohibited sales of consoles in the country), and it may have actually enjoyed a successful launch too, but it seems to be making some customers in the country quite unhappy due to to alleged false advertising.
Apparently, the Xbox One was supposed to come with a subscription to BesTV included in the package, which would include domestic and international blockbusters, with two movies free to watch each month. However, it seems like this was not the case, and when consumers tried to return their consoles to retailers, alleging false advertising, they discovered they could not- not unless there was a hardware defect with the system, or unless they had purchased it within the last seven days.
Microsoft is aware of the issue, and it is working to bring the promised services to the console as soon as possible. As a gesture of goodwill, Microsoft has announced that it will give Xbox One users free BesTV memberships. Anyone who purchased the console before Oct. 10 will get six months of free video streaming; anyone who purchased after that date gets three free months.
Microsoft is making a lot of errors and poor judgements with the Xbox One in the region, but they have a bit of a headstart in the region, meaning they can effectively afford to make all these errors in judgement before they come back to haunt them. On the other hand, they are also providing an example to their competition of what not to do when they do eventually end up launching their own consoles there.
