You’d imagine, in these troubled economic times, that people wouldn’t have the expendable income to go about shelling out for an expensive console all willy-nilly. But that’s happening; enough that the PlayStation 4 is selling out all over the place. Sony’s warned of a looming stock shortage of the system, and it’s something that breaks their heart.
In the latest edition of the PlayStation Blog’s Podcast, Sony US boss Jack Tretton Acknowledged that Sony may be unable to keep up with demand.
“You have competition out there,” Tretton said (via IGN). “There are lots of things that people can spend money on, especially during the holidays; and the holidays only come around once a year, so that’s really when you want to take advantage of the market opportunity…It breaks my heart if somebody’s got $400 in their hand and they want one and we can’t sell them one."
Tretton insists the shortage isn’t an artificially manufactured one to create demand; the company took months to produce the million consoles that sold out on the very first day of availability.
While the shortage seems to be US specific, we’ve seen reports of the console selling out everywhere, including here in South Africa. It’s worth noting that stock from the distributor is sold out, an there may still be one or two PlayStation 4’s available at retail right now. We’re also, apparently, getting in another batch of PS4’s right about now, that should be in retail stores by this weekend, giving you one last chance to secure a shiny PS4 before the holidays.
Sony’s European boss Andrew House affirmed last month that the console will be in sufficient supply over the holidays, but that was before the thing started selling. He may well have changed his tune.
Last Updated: December 18, 2013
Unavengedavo(aka. MadeYouLook)
December 18, 2013 at 08:51
So if M$ starts bragging that they still have lost of stock left… Would that be a good or a bad thing?
ToshZA
December 18, 2013 at 09:45
They’ll make it sound like a good thing, but remember that Sony’s launch area is far larger, so already their supply is higher, but so is their demand. Honestly M$ should rather just leave it alone, but we all know they won’t.
J
December 19, 2013 at 22:25
A bad thing for microsoft because that Would mean that sony is selling far mor consol’s
Jonah Cash
December 18, 2013 at 08:58
I will get mine on Friday!! Had to buy Fifa 14 while there to pre order the console at BT Games yesterday. They only had 3 Fifa 14’s left for the PS4… Didn’t want to take the chance!!! But I am really excited, and very much hopeful that it will be better on the PS4….
Alien Emperor Trevor
December 18, 2013 at 09:05
Sweet! I hope it’s awesome.
Lego Witcher of the Squirrels
December 18, 2013 at 09:08
I hope it’s better than the PS3 version… or another window might be lost…
Jonah Cash
December 18, 2013 at 12:53
My wife was not happy with me that I can tell you…………
melodicmizery
December 18, 2013 at 09:18
tbh i played the demo and i hated the game. im not much of a soccer fan but fifa always interested me. id advise you play the demo first before spending the money. there is nothing spectacular at all about it. the graphics are very clear thats it, no special graphics about it though. no great details. its just not a good game at all really. if you have ps3 then theres no reason to get it on ps4. but thats just my opinion
Jonah Cash
December 18, 2013 at 12:53
All I need to be better is player awareness!! If the AI of my defenders are better I will be happy!! And what I could find on the net is that the cheap goals from corners are a thing of the past, which makes me happy!! Apparently now your defenders all jump to contest the ball!! I am a super Fifa freak, I have been playing it since 2004 and every year I buy the new one and can tell you that 14 is buggy as hell and probably the worst one of them all…. I am hoping the new Ignite engine sorts most of this out…
CAE9872
December 18, 2013 at 09:47
You are going to love the PS4…I know I do. I assume you have PS+ so get Resogun…all bow at the house of twin-stick shooters!
Admiral Chief in Vegas
December 18, 2013 at 09:08
NO PAAAAAAAAAANTS
Hammersteyn
December 18, 2013 at 09:30
XD
Admiral Chief in Vegas
December 18, 2013 at 09:38
🙂
melodicmizery
December 18, 2013 at 09:12
i went to best buy yesterday and they had 5 ps4s sitting right out. also on release day when i went there they had 2 on the shelf. it doesnt seem like any issues in my area. tbh the ps4 is pretty whack, i played mine a week and havent played it much since. i actually thought about crossing over to xbox the first time in like 10 years. if you really analyze your ps4 and see how much stuff its missing and how sony just went to the path of doing stupid shit that they think everyone wants instead of actually doing what everyone wants youll see the stupid path it went. for example facebook, windows , youtube, and myspace all at one time were perfect and didnt need a change just a hardware upgrade to run better yet they all changed and removed things people liked and added shit no one asked for or wanted and thats what sonys doing. sony is so fucking concerned with making the ps4 a cross between the bad features of youtube windows facebook and myspace. the share button is neat but they are blocking personal capture devices (or at least trying to) to revolt against youtube i just read a article about it. the shares are huge upload files and not worth it. nobody liked windows 8 layout and thats what they turned the ps4s layout into.its really just a mess. one thing i can say is the graphics are amazing when they want to be but so far theres more digital games that are on the same level as ps3 graphics.
but its the little things that ruin the system for me. they wanted to save on the power switches so now to shut the main power off my unit i have to unplug it. i had the power off on my unit and picked it up and the cd ejected and turned on event hough my hands werent by the power. i cant hook up my surround sound to theres no multi out. actually im not going to type anymore. i have 40 more reasons why sony is taking advantage of its faithfull customers but it doesnt matter. most of the gamers are morons and are to stupid to realize there not getting there moneys worth and will just yell at me for trying to help them open there eyes to facts
melodicmizery
December 18, 2013 at 09:16
and another thing why are they pushing chat and voice commands so badly now that the ps4 unit is a complete unorganized mess friendlist wise. the whole buddy system sucks. you cant tell if your friends are on the ps4 or ps3. you dont know when someone last signed offline. ugh i can go on and on about this. the chat stuff would of been good in ps3 where people trophy hunt, but trophys seem unimportant in the ps4 you cant even sort them
Xexo
December 18, 2013 at 09:29
Dude that is like having one bad date and deciding to go gay……
Jonah Cash
December 18, 2013 at 13:03
How much for your PS4? Seems as thought you don’t like it I will take off your hands?
CAE9872
December 18, 2013 at 09:51
Will have to humbly disagree with you on this one. To be fair I dont use PS4’s other features (never have on any console) so you may be correct on your assertions. But as a gaming machine I love mine.
Wesley Fick
December 18, 2013 at 12:44
Could say mostly the same things for the Xbox One, really. Neither console is particularly attractive at this point, the system-sellers still have to get here.
fred
December 18, 2013 at 09:13
Got mine yesterday , stunned by how good Ac4 looks on the new box.
Hammersteyn
December 18, 2013 at 09:32
You should see Killzone.
CAE9872
December 18, 2013 at 09:49
Man Killzone looks good – I had a quick look the other day (havent played it yet per se) but boy its a good looking game! Graphics dont make a game but does help!
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
December 18, 2013 at 13:00
Killzone… multiplayer… is … freaking… AWESOME!!!
J
December 19, 2013 at 22:37
Killzone shadow fall looked like killzone 3 for ps3 90% of the time the other 10% looked better because of level design. Killzone shadow fall was a disappointment to me god of war ascension actually has better graphics than anything on ps4 “as of now”
Hammersteyn
December 20, 2013 at 08:03
I disagree, definitely has a new graphics engine. Something COD can use.
ToshZA
December 18, 2013 at 09:46
I take it you don’t play pc games then?
fred
December 18, 2013 at 09:56
The last time I played was Doom at 320×240 on a monochrome monitor with a soundblaster pro … did things improve since then?
ToshZA
December 18, 2013 at 09:58
Graphics-wise, yes. Gameplay-wise, no.
Brian Murphy
December 18, 2013 at 10:04
Now, even though Doom was a bar raiser, I take exception to this. Surely Arma and Stalker alone warrant a gameplay nod above Doom.
CodeName Tailgunner
December 18, 2013 at 10:34
The fact that you can list only a couple that are better kinda makes his point
ToshZA
December 18, 2013 at 10:43
And stalker frankly was dull and boring. It appealed to a select few who love that apocalyptic atmosphere, but that’s it.
Brian Murphy
December 18, 2013 at 10:55
Strange, I found nothing boring about Stalker, between navigating through radiation zones and anomalies (and trying to spawn relics from them), rushing for cover from one of the randomized ‘events’ in Call of Pripyat, working with the different factions, running from/killing hordes of mutated creatures etc…
I mean, definitely understand if you’re not the apocalyptic atmosphere type…but there’s a ton going on in those games.
Brian Murphy
December 18, 2013 at 10:44
Oh come on, if you were familiar with those two games you’d know why I listed them. They’re 2 of the most brilliant FPS’ available right now. Variety, AI, Modability and Mod support, graphics, setting(s) etc… Naming them was only to validate my claims that gameplay has evolved on PC, same as console, only PC’s evolved faster hehe.
.
ToshZA
December 18, 2013 at 10:47
Far Cry 3, Borderlands series. Those are 2 really good FPS right now. Stalker, read my comment below.
But frankly, very few FPS have been able to capture me like Doom did back in the day. Nothing’s ever been quite as epic or fun since. It’s the main reason I don’t play FPS any more, they just can’t compete.
Brian Murphy
December 18, 2013 at 10:58
Oh well, I agree there, very few FPS’ were able to pull off what Doom did…but, there were plenty in the immediate vicinity of Doom/Doom 2 that were also pretty awesome. I saw someone mention Rise of the Triad, Duke 3D, Wolfenstein, to name a few.
And yeah, again, I wasn’t saying those are the only ones (and I agree with the ones you chose), I was just saying gameplay has evolved since Doom, the problem is people are just trying to cash in with many FPS’ nowadays, so you get copies of copies of copies. Few go in their own direction.
CAE9872
December 18, 2013 at 09:53
PS – just a thought! I am expressing my love for my PS4…don’t think me as a fanboy or Sony rep :). But I do think they deserve some credit for the machine. I would love to express my happiness/otherwise for Xbox One, but alas that isnt going to happen anytime soon it would appear!
Geoff – you mentioned about a week to 10 days ago you thought you may have news…Or a rumour..,something! Please 🙂 Lie to me even…hehehehe
Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim
December 18, 2013 at 10:25
I have nothing, NOTHING to share right now.
ToshZA
December 18, 2013 at 10:45
And that made about 5% of the population sad, because that’s who’d buy the overpriced Xbox One anyways. 🙂
melodicmizery
December 18, 2013 at 09:56
reasons why not to buy a ps4 if you love your ps3 then youll miss these things
– cd player
-mp3 player
-dlna support
– photos
– movie files
-message files
-message topic
-how long user has been offline
-cant delete all messages (if you can then its hidden somewhere just like everything else)
(matter of fact most options are always located somewhere else instead of where they should be, i was signed out of psn and didnt even know where the sign in was located! you cant even delete the captured videos while your looking at them, you have to exit that folder and go into your system settings and hunt it down there. most things leave you scratching your head saying why wouldnt they just put the option here instead of there)
-cant sort trophys
– cant see all trophys when comparing, only one game at a time instead of all games (which is ok but they should have a option to be able to choose which one you want to do. not just assume you like it there way and only give you one way. which the ps4 likes to assume you like everything there way and not give you 2ndary options)
-removed multi out plug (no surround sound if rca)
-removed power switch in back
-status bubbles above usernames gone
– dont know if friend is on ps3 or ps4?
– ps3 users cant see ps4 users online
-sub accounts cant do most of the stuff main accounts can like share video
– cant pause and resume any downloads or uploads
– cant use external hard drive or usb
-cant use copy/paste feature in messages
-friend has signed on/off notification gone? they keep saying how important chat is yet bury your friendlist in the back menu and remove alot of friend features. makes no sense to promote chat so heavily and then do that
– 100 gigs in use when you buy the unit. 400 gigs go fast with 30-100g mandatory installs on a system that is trying to push you towards digital sales and only being able to install a limited size hard drive due to dimensions
– themes are gone, id rather have dynamic themes behind a well organized ps3 menu where i could find everything instantly and my main concerns (friends and trophys) are right in my face instead of a windows8/psstore graphical layout mess on ps4
-avatars are gone but your main avatar carrys over your from ps3, you can use facebook pics though but you cant pick from your premium avatars. the free avatars are the same free ones from 2006 lol
-no 3d support lol, didnt sony re introduce 3d? it doesnt even cost money to add 3d its just a small programming code so why was this removed
-no folders, cant make and organize your files and downloads
-the whole xmb menu is a mess. instead of everything being right on it so you can quickly flick through what you want, it is now a graphical nightmare clusterfk mess like the ps store similar to windows 8. sure it looks pretty but navigation is a nightmare and inconvenient
– cant manually turn controller light off it just sucks up life, no backwards compatibility even though both systems use a bluray, no bluray remote support, paying for online when you already pay your cable company to be online lol, controller makes your hands sweat,
-price tag is way to high for a system that does way to less, i can see the ps3 being 500+ dollars at launch because of all the media and extra hardware in it. but what exactly are we paying for on ps4?? a empty shell
the typical response i hear when i paste this list i made from people is
1. give it time ps3 didnt have all this stuff when it first came out
answer – correct but that stuff wasnt invented yet thats why it took time to come out. now they are invented and they know how to do it. its not there because they dont want it there. they wanted to try to get more money out of people to use music unlimited instead of using your own mp3s. you dont see them releasing ps3 slims and saying it takes time to add the software, do you? no because they purposely removed it in ps4
2. why are you complaining about it just chill out and give them time to fix it it hasnt been that long
answer – because if you dont troll and argue that you want these things then they get removed. like i said in 1., there gone because they wanted them gone. i feel the users are being jipped and ripped off. if we complain about it heavy enough then theyll re add it. like mp3s we argued and they listened and are adding them
3. well then why did you buy it didnt you do your research
answer – yes i read the entire faq page form sony. none of this was mentioned except the mp3 stuff
4. why dont you just sell the thing then
answer – i actually was going to and had a good offer but i backed out. the thing is i dont hate sony, i really like them. thats why im so pissed off is because i wanted a ps3 with updated graphics. thats all most of us wanted and expected. instead they stripped the thing down and took every single feature out of it. we did get good graphics but at the cost of losing everything i loved. and i know they could add all the stuff listed above. but for some reason some head honcho thought it was a great idea to remove it
Sageville
December 18, 2013 at 09:59
TLDR
ToshZA
December 18, 2013 at 10:44
This.
oVg
December 18, 2013 at 10:08
The Last of Us
Saltex
December 18, 2013 at 10:09
The things you are complaining about are so minor, that I can’t believe you are actually going on like this, it’s like you trying so hard to hate on it and find fault with it, so you resort to complaining about the social system,the power buttons and folders etc.? If yours was crashing and freezing every a hour etc. then i’d say your argument is valid, but to hate on it with things that can just be fixed with bugs is childish. I’ve never owned a console and always game on pc, so I guess if you want something thats the same but with just updated graphics and has the power button in the same place get a pc, unfortunately it also has bugs so you’d probably hate on that too, but anyway remember, its cool to hate.
Brian Murphy
December 18, 2013 at 10:01
“It breaks my heart if somebody’s got $400 in their hand and they want one and we can’t sell them one.”
That has to be the funniest quote from an industry exec I’ve ever heard. Jack Tretton, humanitarian extraordinaire lol.
oVg
December 18, 2013 at 10:06
Now that everybody has 2 jobs there are no more PS4s. Bwahahahahahaha
Now they go out and buy a PS3 instead and start investing lots of money on SWEET PS3 games while the PS4 install base stalls.
oVg
December 18, 2013 at 10:10
BUT!! If it was backward compatible for 1 year like the 60gig PS3 then they have a good transition period.
Brian Murphy
December 18, 2013 at 10:34
Gamespot’s been steadily reporting the figures on their ‘notify first’ list for PS4’s, after launch week it was 2.3 million. It’s down to 1.8m as of yesterday *chuckle*. Sales seem to be pretty healthy here. Still, I wonder how many out of the 2.3m are planning on buying it as soon as it becomes available. If that’s anywhere close to 100%, the PS4’ll be sold out in the US for another couple weeks at least.