Sony announced this week that it will launch its PlayStation 4 video game console on Friday, November 15 in North America and in many other markets on November 29. Additionally, Sony revealed that it has logged more than 1 million preorders for the new console, which will retail for $399 in the United States.
"We're pleased to have some of the final pieces of the puzzle coming together for consumers to make their decisions," Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) President and CEO Jack Tretton said. "It is a very exciting time for us and for the gamer."
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The PlayStation 4 will launch in the United States and Canada on November 15, 2013, and then in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru), and Australia and New Zealand on November 29, 2013.
It will ship alongside a surprisingly short list of game titles, with just 15 games arriving at retail between the November 15 launch date and the end of 2013. A further 18 games will be released in download-only form. Most of the A-list titles shipping alongside the PlayStation 4—like NBA2K14, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed: Black Flag—are also available on other game consoles, but Sony is shipping a few exclusives of its own too, like Killzone: Shadow Fall. Sony says that more than 180 PlayStation 4 games are currently in development.
Microsoft is expected to launch its more expensive Xbox One console in November, as well, but the firm hasn't announced a release date. Microsoft did reveal last week that it was reducing the number of Xbox One launch countries for the console from 21 to 13, so Sony will have a much broader distribution for the PlayStation 4 this year.
In related news, Sony also slashed prices on its current-generation PlayStation 3 console and the PS Vita handheld video game machine. The firm will soon offer a 12GB version of the PlayStation 3 in the United States that will retail for $199, about $60 less than the cheapest model available today. And the PS Vita drops in price from $250 to $199, effective immediately.
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