PS4 Delayed Until 2014 Says Sony CEO
Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai announced yesterday that the electronic company will be missing its Nov. 14 shipping date for the PS4 and will be moving the highly anticipated gaming counsel to early 2014. âWe are tentatively looking at February 2nd for a new launch date. I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience and short notice. We know so many of our customers were looking forward to playing the PS4 over the holidays. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have no choice but to delay the launch. It is in the best interest of our company and loyal fans,â Hirai said at a press conference in Tokyo. Lead Architect Mark Cerny sighted the reasons that led to the delayed launch. First, its online network, which many games hinge on, will not be ready until the first of the year. Second, there was a disruption in the production of its new Jaguar processing chip. With 50percent being defective, they had no choice but to make new ones. Lastly, several launch titles were not ready, most notably, Watch Dogs. To have a clean launch for the system, waiting until 2014 was the only solution. It has been a tough year for Sony Corp. After multiple disappointing quarters resulting in mounting losses, it pulled a profit in its last quarter. The delayed launch of the PS4 will obviously have an impact on its bottom line and it is sure to affect Sony's already battered stock price. With Microsoftâs X-Box One still hitting store shelves on Nov. 22, Sony would seem to be at a disadvantage. âIf you recall, the Xbox 360 came to market a whole year before the PS3 did last cycle. We eventually won that battle. This time will be no different,â said Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony America. To date, there have been 79.9 million PS3s sold and 79 million X-Box 360s sold. Industry veterans are predicting each new console to sell more than 100 million units over their lifetimes in what might be the last generation of consoles. âWith mobile phones and smart TVs, this might be the last of the videogame wars as we know it,â according to Naughty Dog founder Jason Rubin. But the initial launch numbers of units sold will be important for each system to gain momentum among gamers. GameStop rep Seth Rollins said, "There are going to be gamers who wanted a PS4 but donât want to wait several more months to play Next-Gen games, so theyâll buy an Xbox One instead." At each console priced from $400-$500, it seems unlikely that most consumers will adopt both platforms in a short time frame. âIâm pissed,â said Roman Reigns. âIâve had it pre-ordered since E3 and was expecting to play it over Thanksgiving, you know, rather not talk to my family.â âThere are a ton of AAA titles coming out this Christmas for my Xbox 360, so Iâll just buy those instead. Save my money for next year and buy a new gaming system. I figure the good games will start coming out by then. Without 'Metal Gear Solid,' there isnât really a point to drop 500 bucks,â Dean Ambrose said as he walked into a Best Buy to buy the new Grand Theft Auto game, retailing at $60 with a 97 on MetaCritic.com. In regards to its avid fan base, CEO Jack Tretton said, "Hey, maybe this will free up some time for some of these guys to finally get laid."