Over the weekend, the local gaming scene was on fire, thanks to several updates that Microsoft has implemented to the Xbox’s official Facebook page for Singapore. For starters, there is no Xbox Singapore’s Facebook page anymore.
Instead, Microsoft has decided to rename the Facebook page to Xbox SEA on 9 April after 12 years of being exclusive to Singapore:
The change was not limited to just Facebook’s page handle though as the company has also changed the description of the page which now includes a reference to the region rather than just Singapore.
What’s more surprising is that Microsoft has also broadcast the Age of Empire IV’s Fan Preview with Bahasa Malaysia audio dub through the newly renamed Xbox SEA’s Facebook page:
There is also another version in Vietnamese as well. In general, what has transpired over the weekend on what used to be Xbox SG’s Facebook page may seem like Microsoft is finally ready to serve Xbox to other parts of Southeast Asia after limiting its coverage to Singapore for more than a decade.
But despite what we have seen, we did notice that Microsoft has yet to include Malaysia or any other Southeast Asian countries apart from Singapore into the Xbox’s official region list:
Additionally, we went on to MYNIC who is responsible for .MY domains to check whether Microsoft has set up Xbox.com.MY but the result was rather disappointing as the domain is currently pointing to a web and mobile development company called Quad Ventures:
Compare the result above with Xbox.com.SG and you can immediately see the difference:
It could be possible that Microsoft did own the Xbox.com.MY domain before but forgot to renew its ownership over the domain which is something that has happened to the company before. Meanwhile, there is indeed Xbox.com/en-MY but it showed this page instead which is something that it has done for years:
In general, this page is highlighting Xbox elements within Windows 10 rather than the console. The same page is also shown in Indonesia and Thailand.
However, there is Xbox.com.VN which belongs to Microsoft according to VNNIC but there is no specific Vietnamese Xbox site at the moment as the address currently reroutes users back to Xbox.com.
All in all, we are not able to definitely tell if Xbox is finally coming to Malaysia. Then again, we can’t deny that the renaming of Xbox Singapore’s Facebook page to Xbox SEA and the Bahasa Malaysia audio dub for AoEIV Fan Preview seemed to show that Microsoft is working to expand Xbox’s reach in this region.
Hence, we have reached out to Microsoft Malaysia and Xbox’s global press team for further clarifications. So, let’s see how deep the rabbit hole will go.
(Source: Aksiz.)
