Microsoft responds to reports of Xbox pulling out of Saudi Arabia

As reports claim Xbox is planning to stop selling consoles in Saudi Arabia, a statement from Microsoft has done little to convince people otherwise.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Xbox isn’t doing very well at the moment. Between low sales of the Xbox Series X/S and stagnating Game Pass subscriber numbers, the company’s only saving financial grace this generation has been via the acquisition of Activision Blizzard – which cost it $75.4 billion to engineer.

We’ve already seen Xbox marketing shift away from the console, as the company’s executives try to pivot excitement towards its next generation plans, Game Pass, and its push towards multi-platform releases on PlayStation and Nintendo hardware.

In light of Xbox’s shifting priorities, a new report has now claimed Microsoft is planning to stop selling Xbox consoles in Saudi Arabia, which could mean an exit from the Middle Eastern region entirely.

According to journalist Mohammed Albisimi, the managing director of Saudi Arabian gaming website TrueGaming, Microsoft has ‘officially informed’ major retailers that it will soon stop selling Xbox consoles in the country.

The reporter claims Microsoft refused to provide a statement when asked ‘a few weeks ago’, but one has now emerged via Windows Central.

In response to the reports, Xbox Chief Consumer Sales Officer, Ami Silverman, said: ‘Xbox devices are available in all current Xbox hardware-supported countries, including Saudi Arabia. Console availability may vary by country but Xbox games can be played on consoles, PCs, and on phones, tablets or TVs where Xbox Cloud Gaming is available.’

While some have taken this as a rebuttal, the statement doesn’t deny anything about Albisimi’s report. Crucially, it doesn’t directly address the claims around retailers, suggesting the company is trying to dodge the issue.

Windows Central reporter Jez Corden has since claimed he has other sources who have denied Xbox is pulling out of the region, but The Verge’s Tom Warren and Albisimi have both noted the vague phrasing in the statement.

Warren has suggested that Xbox could now be prioritising other regions, in regards to its hardware stock. ‘It doesn’t mean Xbox consoles won’t be available in Saudi Arabia, just that they’re selling so low there that stock won’t be replenished once it eventually runs out,’ he speculated on Twitter.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Microsoft potentially shifting priorities in certain regions. Albisimi claimed last month that the company is considering no longer selling Xbox consoles in the Middle East at large, including its rumoured new hardware.

Back in May, a report on The Verge suggested Microsoft is planning to stop marketing Xbox Series X/S consoles in certain markets due to poor sales, specifically EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and will ‘allocate less console stock’ in these territories as a result. Microsoft has never commented on those reports.

While it remains to be seen if this will impact the rollout of future Xbox consoles it certainly seems as if Microsoft is backing away from some territories, where it traditionally has always performed poorly.

Whether this is the vanguard of a general retreat from the hardware business is too early to say but even if it is, the time scale involved is likely to be considerable.