USA TODAY International Edition
Hunt for Playstation 4 a game in itself
It’s out, but can you get it?
The consumer quest has begun for the current video game holy grail, the PlayStation 4.
Sony’s new PS4 home game console officially goes on sale today 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 14year- old James Stewart brought a folding lawn chair and parked it right beside the entrance.
Stewart, of Ocean Pines, Md., showed up so early because he expected a much longer line by daybreak. “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,” he 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 for a limited supply of the $ 399 consoles that the store planned to sell after midnight, a sales associate said.
And at a GameStop in Appleton, Wis., Jason Allen was the first in line shortly after noon Thursday. He said he would wait until 6 p. m., when numbered tickets were to be distributed. 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.