The PS4 Will Also Launch This Year In India, South Africa

While the Xbox One’s launch countries have diminished since the console reveal back in May, the PS4 has continued to add more countries to its 2013 launch list.

MyGaming, a South African-based gaming website, has mentioned that a PS4 launch has been delayed, although their sources are quoted at aiming for a pre-Christmas 2013 launch. There is also speculated rumors of the exact date being December 12th. Prices and bundles are still being worked out at the moment.

Meanwhile, ThinkDigit is running a story that Sony India has confirmed a 2013 launch for the PlayStation 4 in that country, as well. Pre-orders are already running on certain Indian gaming websites, with down payments of at least 3,000 rupees confirmed. That makes out to roughly $50 USD, which is the usual minimum amount required to pre-order consoles here in North America.

With these two countries added, that brings the total worldwide 2013 launch of the PS4 to roughly 39 countries, plus Hong Kong. When you compare that to 13 confirmed Xbox One launch countries (all on November 22nd worldwide), there are a few possible guesses to be made about Sony and Microsoft’s production strategies.

The first is that Sony is taking a huge risk in producing consoles for so many countries in 2013 that there may be delays/lower counts in some of their countries, while Microsoft plays it safe with the 13 they know best. Another is that the demand for Sony’s console is much higher worldwide this time around than with Microsoft’s console. The NPD market reports come this holiday season should make for some interesting reads, including which hardware/software sells how much here at home.

The PlayStation 4 will launch here in North America on November 15th, in 30 additional European and South American countries on November 29th, 8 additional territories (including South Africa and India) this December and in Japan on February 22, 2014. (h/t satam55)