Sony on PS4: "the format war is a marathon, not a sprint"

Sony's PlayStation executives hope with PS4 this time things will be different. This time, Sony launches alongside Microsoft, not 16 months afterwards like with PS3. This time, Sony is cheaper than Xbox, not hundreds of pounds more. And this time, Sony is taking a gamer-first approach - and that, it seems, is translating into real world business.The bottom line is, PlayStation 4 is riding the crest of a wave of goodwill boosted by strong showings at E3 and Gamescom and, crucially, Microsoft's disastrous messaging. But important questions remain. Sony knows if it doesn't put enough consoles on shop shelves to satisfy demand for Christmas, gamers may turn their attention to Xbox One instead. In the UK in particular, where Xbox 360 enjoys a healthy lead over PS3 in install base terms, Sony can't afford to take its eye off the ball.And so, amid the calm before the storm, we sit down with Sony UK boss Fergal Gara at EGX 2013 to discuss the PlayStation 4's impending launch, availability, the juicy format war and new challengers in the living room.http://images.eurogamer.net/2013/art...x-1/quality/91The new DualShock 4 controller.

What's the PlayStation 4 stock situation in the UK? I've heard shops stopped taking pre-orders on Sony's request. Will those who have pre-ordered definitely get their console at launch?Fergal Gara: First of all, the majority of retailers did not stop taking pre-orders. They said you probably won't get it on day one. We chose to advise them to do that because we were taking the most conservative view on the stock situation, and the worse thing you can do, we feel, is to over promise and under deliver. In order to do that, you've got to start with the minimum number you're likely to have for day one and say, after that number, tell people they may not get it for day one.Everybody who has pre-ordered to date will definitely get a console prior to Christmas. The cut-off date for that was 5th August. More people will be pleasantly surprised on day one by theirs being ready. But I'm also in the middle of lots of furious internal discussions about exactly what is the number for the UK. That sounds like a big internal haggle. It's not quite like that, but the full and final exact factory volume number is subject to a certain amount of variability. Those things are going well. There are no major shock disappointments coming out, which is great news. But I don't know precisely what day one is going to be, and precisely what pre-Christmas is going to be. Hopefully it only goes up from the assumptions I'm working with.Nobody who's got their name on the list right now is not going to get one in 2013. That's a good start. And there will be more on top of that. People who have not pre-ordered yet still have an opportunity to get one prior to Christmas. And if they don't they'll get it very soon thereafter. So the overall volume point about the UK in those first few weeks of launch is substantial. We will fully catch up demand, probably not before Christmas but relatively quickly thereafter. That's my current expectation. So, a bit tight for the first few weeks before evening out quite quickly.If I haven't pre-ordered will I be able to walk into a shop on launch day and buy a PS4?Fergal Gara: That's a trickier question to answer. We're working with retailers and saying, look, this is the planned allocation for you. Some people have decided, right, turn off the pre-orders completely because I want to have a bit of free stock on day one. Others are saying the fairest thing to do is keep the list going, and the first on the list gets the first console. Basically they're behaving in a linear fashion rewarding first come, first served.That of course means unless we're pleasantly surprised by a bigger launch day volume than expected then it's unlikely there will be free stock unless maybe people don't turn up. So it'll differ by retailer. But a second batch of stock will be within the week probably, so we're not talking about droughts for months and months.Sony announced it had received one million PS4 pre-orders at Gamescom last month. Can you tell us how many pre-orders there are right now?Fergal Gara: I can't give you a number because I haven't added up all the other countries! What I will say on behalf of the UK market is it's not slowed down. It's kept going. Demand is very very healthy indeed. And even though we're pouring cold water on it by responsibly trying to manage expectations, it's not quenching anything! There's tremendous demand.I personally feel it would be a dreadful thing for people to think they're going to get one prior to Christmas Day and that not work out. They're not all going to be bought by 18 to 24 year-olds who are a bit more grown up. There are going to be some considerably younger people who want a PS4, and if that doesn't arrive on Christmas Day as expected and we've misled people to think that could happen, that's not good, and we would not feel good about that. So we're very carefully managing the expectations and I'm pleased with how that's going so far.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...n-not-a-sprint