During Sony’s keynote conference at Tokyo Game Show, President and Group CEO Andrew House stated that he expects the company to shift 5 million PlayStation 4 units by the end of fiscal 2013; which ends in March, 2014. This would encompass sales from all territories following the hardware’s launch, beginning with the console’s North American release on November 15th, 2013.
With a period of five months acting as the intended time window, Sony’s prediction would equate to one million units per month – a figure that would emulate the PS3’s 3.6 million figure during the same period. In order to achieve this 40% sales hike, House reiterated the PlayStation 4’s consumer-centric approach and accessible user interface. What’s more, although the company struggled with profitability on the PlayStation 3, he expects that the PlayStation 4 will be economically self-sustaining “significantly sooner” than its console predecessor.
In terms of the manufacturing process, it was reported recently that Sony planned to withhold some units to meet consumer demand over 2013’s holiday period. Speaking with Fox Business early last week, President of SCEA Jack Tretton confirmed that as of August 1st, the company has currently received one million PlayStation 4 pre-orders.
“We can pre-sell every unit we can manufacture, and the good news is that production yields have been phenomenal. We’re going to work very hard to make sure that every consumer that wants one gets one.”
As a means of comparison, industry analysts are predicting that Microsoft’s Xbox One will sell approximately 6.2 million units during the same period. Either way, PlayStation 4 will debut in North America ahead of its competition on November 15th, 2013, before being phased into other European and Asian territories at later dates. The Xbox One, though, will release one week later in the US on November 22nd, 2013.
What do you make of Sony’s bullish sales forecast for the PlayStation 4? Do you think the company can maintain the demand over the holiday season and into 2014? Or do you anticipate the Xbox One seizing the lion’s share of the market? Let us know below.