Sony's new PS4 home game console officially goes on sale Friday for $399.
Demand for the PS4 and Microsoft's own new home system, the Xbox One (out Nov. 22, $499) is expected to outstrip supply through the holiday season and into 2014, says Norman Fong, CEO and co-founder of BuyVia, which has a smartphone app for tracking retail deals.
Consumers started lining up at retailers in San Francisco on Thursday morning, Fong says, in anticipation of the first systems to be sold after midnight.
Elsewhere, the line at the Game Stop store in West Ocean City, Md., began at 4 a.m. Thursday, when 14-year-old James Stewart brought a folding lawn chair and parked it right beside the entrance.
Stewart, of Ocean Pines, Md., got a ride to the store at the White Marlin Mall from his uncle, Danny Parker, 46. They showed up so early because they expected a much longer line by daybreak, but that never materialized, both said.
14-year-old James Stewart of Ocean Pines, Md., was first in line at his local GameStop in West Ocean City, Md., to get a Sony PlayStation 4 Thursday.(Photo: Brian Shane, The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times)
"Later on tonight it's going to be a lot worse, because that's when all the people who got pre-orders are going to come down here," Stewart said.
Tony Coffield, 21, of Ocean Pines, Md., said he knows the rival XBox One is coming out soon, but he won't be buying it. Besides the fact that the new Xbox retails for $100 more, he thinks PlayStation 4 has superior graphics and gameplay. "The realism is amazing," he said.
A handful of gamers arrived at Best Buy in Green Bay, Wis., when the store opened at 10 a.m. Thursday to get in line fo! r a limited supply of the $399 consoles, a sales associate said.
In Appleton, Wis., a GameStop store roped off a waiting area for the die-hards hoping to get a first play of the new system.
Jason Allen was the first in line shortly after noon Thursday. He joked that the console would be a Christmas gift for his kids, but might have to be opened shortly after midnight, "just to make sure the thing works."
Consumers are eager because the PlayStation 4 is Sony's first new home system in seven years, an eternity in the fast-paced consumer technology world. Sony and Microsoft hope to reinvigorate the console game market with their new higher-powered systems and more immersive and innovative games.
Retailers from Best Buy to Target have sold many of the initial systems to consumers on pre-order. But most stores hope to have a few extras available for the hopeful.
"We have thousands of pre-orders, but we also have PlayStation 4s on hand for people to purchase," says Walmart spokeswoman Sarah McKinney.
While it expects to run out, Walmart will have PS4 and Xbox One systems for Black Friday shoppers. "We're going to be putting them out as fast as we can get them in," she says.
Sony has sold more than 1 million PS4s to retailers already and hopes to sell more than 5 million globally by the end of March. "Getting out of the gate is important," says Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO Andrew House.
Competitor Nintendo released its Wii U last November and has had moderate success with that new system. It has sold more than 3 million so far. That's a much slower sales rate than that of its predecessor the Wii. Sony and Microsoft are expected to perform better and to benefit from slow Wii sales, says Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research for global market analysis firm IHS.
By beating Xbox One to market by a week and being priced $100 below the competition, Sony "has got itself into a much stronger position at the launch of the PS4 compared to the ! PS3," he ! says.
Still, he expects few Xbox defectors because of Microsoft's successful Xbox Live online gaming network, which is extremely popular in the U.S. "As such in these opening weeks we expect Xbox One to outsell PS4 in North America, with the reverse taking place in Europe," he says.
Contributing: Nick Penzenstadler, The (Appleton, Wis.) Post-Crescent; Brian Shane, The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times.
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