As of February 22, 2014 Sony has brought the PlayStation 4 to its home country of Japan. The console launches for 39,980 yen or 43,980 yen with a the PlayStation Camera bundled with the system. Interestingly, the PlayStation 4 launch title Knack is also bundled with all systems in Japan. There are also several region specific game releases accompanying the launch including: Yakuza Ishin, Nobunga’s Ambition: Creation, and Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends. Keep reading to see more of our thoughts on the launch of the PlayStation 4.
The Japanese launch of the PlayStation 4 comes more than three months after the North American Launch on November 22nd, 2013. This strategy of saving the Japanese launch until later has proven very successful to say the least.
The PlayStation 4 got off to a fast start in North America by selling over 1 million units in the first 24 hours. On November 29, 2013 the PlayStation 4 launched in 30 more countries and Sony soon reported that they had passed 2.1 million units sold. The holiday season proved to be a success for the PlayStation 4 as Sony announced at CES 2014 that they had sold more than 4.2 million units as of December 28th, 2013. Finally, on Tuesday Sony announced that they had passed 5.3 million units sold as of February 8th.
These numbers would be noteworthy in any circumstance, but they should be seen as even more impressive since the PlayStation 4 is just now launching in Japan. With Sony recently noting that the supply of PlayStation 4 will be possibly limited until at least April, it begs the question of whether Sony can maintain this breakneck sales pace. It seems all but assured that the Japanese launch will be a success and even with limited supplies here in North America they have been very successful. It can only be assumed that Sony has allocated enough units to meet initial demand in Japan and we will update you as soon as Sony releases new sales figures.
Discuss:
Do you think that the Japanese launch of the PlayStation 4 will match the overwhelming success experienced throughout the rest of the globe?
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