Following their strong showing at the E3 convention in Los Angeles, Sony Computer Entertainment has increased their net prediction for early sales of the Playstation 4. Early tracking figures has suggested that the company’s console is outpacing its chief competitor, the Xbox One, by a significant margin and, subsequently, has resulted in Sony bumping up their sales forecast for the next-gen machine.
Here’s an extract from the Wall Street Journal:
“Sony Corp. is raising internal sales projections for the forthcoming PlayStation 4 videogame console amid positive signs about demand for the device, executives of the Japanese electronics company said Tuesday.”
Though the Japanese company remained tight lipped about any specific figures, it was clear as their E3 briefing reached a crescendo that they struck a crucial chord with the gaming user base. The ability to play used games and enjoy your console experience offline for $100 less has allowed the Playstation 4 to gain significant ground over the Xbox One in terms of pre-orders – Ground which Microsoft may find difficult to recoup, particularly in the lead up to the holiday season.
As eager gamers rushed to pledge their allegiance to either console, according to Amazon, the vast majority favoured Playstation 4. So much so, in fact, that the ‘launch edition’ is currently unavailable on the retailer’s website and they have also issued a statement that the pre-ordered machine may not be delivered on the specific release date due to overwhelming demand. This significant dichotomy between Microsoft and Sony’s opposing next-gen pre-order figures is one that Sony CEO Andrew House touched upon by saying that ‘demand may well outstrip supply’ when it comes to the Playstation 4.
It’s rather tragic, really, considering the promising list of exclusive console titles that Microsoft unveiled at E3 – namely Titanfall (although Respawn’s shooter will also come to PC), Dead Rising 3 and Quantum Break – which may be crippled in terms of industry recognition due to the company’s stringent console policies with the Xbox One. In saying that, it’ll be interesting to see if the momentum changes as the release date for each respective device creeps ever closer. However, what are your thoughts? Have you pre-ordered either console? Or do you plan on sticking with the familiar current gen machines until the prices begin to fall? As always, give us your thoughts in the comments.
