There’s been a lot of talk recently about the supposed fall of consoles, with Nintendo’s poor initial Wii U sales signalling the beginning of the end for home gaming devices. Despite this, it would appear that North American juggernaut GameStop isn’t buying into the doom and gloom crew’s spiel, instead opting to say some pretty positive things about the launch of the PlayStation 4.
Company president Tony Bartel expressed optimism in regards to the platform’s release, stating that he reckons the console will sell out fairly easily when it's deployed. “We do believe demand will far outpace supply within the launch window, although we have been given no official numbers by Sony," he told Games Industry International.
Bartel’s enthusiastic outlook is backed up by various data collected by the company, mostly gathered through consumer polls. Of those questioned, 34 per cent said they planned on buying a PS4 this year, while over 900,000 customers have opted to be sent notifications on any PS4 news. The latter number was at 600,000 just over two weeks ago, so it's clear that excitement is building.
It’s already hard to look at any gaming site without seeing something PS4 related, so GameStop’s assured approach isn’t one to be sniffed at. The hype is certainly consistent if nothing else – but do you think that Sony’s next generation machine will have a smooth launch? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source gamesindustry.biz, via vg247.com]
Comments 9
I love Nintendo but they suck at marketing. I have not seen one Wii U commercial in the US not one. I have talked to people that had no idea it was even out yet...
If the PS4 has a reasonable price, then it will have nothing to worry about. It's features alone have convinced people to buy one and with it's software line up growing everyday, it's already looking like a success. The only negatives I hear are the people who want b/c, which I've never found to be particularly useful. And then theirs the PC fanboys who talk crap about the PS4's graphics.
Other than that, whenever anyone talks about the PS4, it's always positive.
@Splat I have seen a couple commercials, but basicly the same boat, people barely know about the Wii U! Doesn't help that in Gamestop's in Canada, they don't have the Wii U games out on display
I'm definitely excited about PS4, and will more than likely get that, but I'm not completely ruling Wii U out yet, I just need something to wow me, so far, PS4 is doing that
Wii-U =/= PS4
Why wouldn't they sell out just cause nobody bought a Vita
@charlesnarles "nobody" bought a Vita?
Looks like I need to get my PS4 pre-ordered soon before it's too late.
The PS4 will sell out at launch but Gamestop might want to recall what they said about Wii U having sold out double their pre-order allocation. It's almost like a Pachter kiss of death making any predictions in the games industry. Are they also not worried that the Xbox release might coincide and cannibalise their own PS4 sales? Maybe they know something the rest of us don't with regards to which next gen consoles to expect at xmas.....
I'm really excited for the new consoles but it's going to be an all out war full with casualties and even more annoying fanboys. The best part is that nobody can call who will win. We might all be claiming Nintendo have lost already but they are currently in the lead and will almost certainly be in the lead after xmas! Sony and MS will be the real fight to watch because the Wii U is clearly going to be too dated by the end of the generation but that won't automatically mean they will be outsold by both or either for that matter. Sony look strong at the mo with their super high spec sounding console but all MS have to do is go for 9GB of RAM and the idiots will all start saying that instantly means it's more powerful than PS4.
I think the Wii-U is a very different beast. It got a lot of marketing here in Aus (even a dedicated shop to try it out in the local mall). I don't know how it is selling, but I expect badly like everywhere.
I still think that its biggest issue is that Nintendo expected that it would capture people's imaginations (core and casual gamers alike) like the original Wii did. Which it just won't. The tablet controller doesn't spark any of the same emotions as the original motion controller did.
They have a job of making the public understand what the tablet controller can do and why it is good.
Wii u sold out on launch date and it went downhill from their, just because people want to know about it odds are a lot of people (at least in my area) are getting an xbox 720, I hate were Live sometimes, Playstation is more than just shooters
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