Sony sets high sales target for cheap PS4

SONY expects the lower price of the PlayStation 4 (PS4) and a wider variety of entertainment services to drive its forecast to sell 5 million units of the game console by the end of March next year.

The projection for its new generation machine, set to be introduced at $399 (R3 900) in November, compared with 3.55 million units sold in a similar period for the PS3, which was offered in some regions at $599, Andrew House, the head of Sony’s game operation, said yesterday. The predecessor console was released in 2006.

The PS4 will be on US shelves a week before Microsoft starts selling its Xbox One for $499 as both seek to reignite growth in the console business as casual players switch to games on smartphones and tablet computers.

Sony is staggering its release to avoid shortages that hurt sales of its predecessor. It is positioning the PS4 as a portal for games, films and music.

“The advantage of PS4 is that we already have a network and community,” House said. “More importantly we have services from the launch of the device rather than have them appearing gradually as at the time we did with PS3.”

At least 20 games will be available as it competes with the Xbox One with Sony working with about 620 software developers to produce content.

The machine will be released in North America on November 15 with 32 markets to be reached by year end. The PS4 will be introduced in Asia in December, including sales in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan, while Japanese sales will start on February 22 next year.

“This will be well ahead of the Xbox One,” Damian Thong, an analyst at Macquarie Group said. The timing was “a clear positive since Asia is a big opportunity”. – Bloomberg Nigeria’s central bank expected inflation to remain below its single-digit target next year, as it had this year, deputy governor Kingsley Moghalu announced yesterday. He said economic growth next year was projected at 7.6 percent, compared with a rate of about 6.5 percent this year. High growth rates and a consumer population nearing 170 million remain a draw for investors in Africa’s second biggest economy, but they are wary of risks such as the government’s tendency to mismanage its finances, despite a huge oil windfall. “The stance of the monetary policy of the central bank has reined in inflationary pressure. It’s projected that inflation will remain in the single-digit band through 2014,” Moghalu said. – Reuters