European PS4 Pre-Orders Not Guaranteed At Launch

[Karloff]

European PS4 Pre-Orders Not Guaranteed At Launch

This comes straight from Sony, and applies to any European retailer.

High demand, according to retailers, has meant that European PS4 pre-orders are no longer guaranteed at launch. "You can still pre-order PS4 with us in case we receive cancellations and can fulfil your order for launch," says UK retailer ShopTo, who told Eurogamer that the instruction came straight from Sony and applied to any European retailer. If there are no cancellations - as seems likely - then pre-orders made after August 6th are out of luck. "We will ship orders as soon as we receive sufficient inventory," says Amazon, but given the projected Christmas release date you have to assume that receiving inventory will be one of the many things held up by the seasonal rush.

It's not the first time a supply problem has forced retailers to used game and online restrictions were removed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125776-GameStop-Puts-a-Cap-on-PS4-Pre-Orders], and the PS4 still enjoys a $100 price difference between it and its closest rival.

There's still no confirmed release date for the PS4, but it is supposed to be on store shelves for Christmas. Very, very briefly on store shelves, by the look of things; Santa had better be on the ball this year, or the milk and cookie supply may also get capped.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-08-07-playstation-4-pre-orders-no-longer-guaranteed-for-uk-launch]


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[Teoes]

Oh boy, this is going to cause a shitstorm - despite the fact I'm sure it has happened for other console launches. Are any regions getting PS4s as priority, or is this simply due to volume of pre-orders received? I guess latter but wonder. Article and source didn't specify from my brief look.

 

[erbkaiser]

I was told this early in July already, when I did my PS4 preorder.
If one thing can really ruin the PS4's advantage over the Xbone, it's this short supply. I don't see why Sony does this again, their previous consoles had the same issue at launch.

Edit: Netherlands, at a pretty large chain... not sure if Sony has a set limit per country and the UK gets a tonne more since they have 3.5 times the number of people.

 

[Chrono212]

This is a new product launch where bugs and hitches are to be expected.

Clearly there was an underestimation on the numbers of early adopters eager to get the PS4 and, as other comments have mentioned, a shortage at launch might back-fire and waste the good will they've gained by not being the Xbox One.

Having said that, I'm in the UK and have never heard of the "UK retailer ShopTo".

EDIT: After looking up ShopTo, I think they might have a shortage of PS4's because they appear to be a small fry retailer.
I'd bet that stores like Amazon, Argos, Game etc. will have their stock prioritised over smaller retailers like StopTo or Zavvi.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I was told this early in July already, when I did my PS4 preorder.
If one thing can really ruin the PS4's advantage over the Xbone, it's this short supply. I don't see why Sony does this again, their previous consoles had the same issue at launch.

Can't speak for the global issue, but at least in my region(North Dakota at the time of release), the PS3 scarcity was artificial. Right after Christmas all the people that couldn't sell their PS3s on eBay returned them, leaving literally stacks of PS3s on display at Best Buy. The Wii was the one that no one could get their hands on.

 

[erbkaiser]

Can't speak for the global issue, but at least in my region(North Dakota at the time of release), the PS3 scarcity was artificial. Right after Christmas all the people that couldn't sell their PS3s on eBay returned them, leaving literally stacks of PS3s on display at Best Buy. The Wii was the one that no one could get their hands on.

The real issue appears to be in how Sony distributes the consoles, leading to some places getting far more than needed (which goes to speculators) and other presumably smaller retailers (or countries even?) not getting enough to meet demand.

I don't remember exactly how long it took for the PS3 to become more widely available in NL, but I think it was something like two months. It was faster and cheaper to import one from Germany or France. Fortunately all of Europe except for the silly Brits uses compatible power sockets and frequencies (plugs are the same, socket may vary but is compatible -- the ungrounded europlug and adapter can be used from the North Sea all the way to Vladivostok in the far east).

 

[Casual Shinji]

Oh look at that, Europe gets handed the short end of the stick by gaming. Who'da thunk!?

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

You would think that they would atleast know how many they were getting so those that pre order get it.

 

[erbkaiser]

Oh look at that, Europe gets handed the short end of the stick by gaming. Who'da thunk!?

Thank god there's Australia. Every time I see how the Ozzies get screwed over, suddenly living in the Old World doesn't seem so bad

 

[Casual Shinji]

Oh look at that, Europe gets handed the short end of the stick by gaming. Who'da thunk!?

Thank god there's Australia. Every time I see how the Ozzies get screwed over, suddenly living in the Old World doesn't seem so bad

Yeah, I guess their stick is shorter. But only due to their own government.

With Europe it's Sony and Microsoft saying, "Sorry, but you're just not as important as America and Japan." Ofcourse Europe also has the added misfortune of consisting of so many different countries each requiring their own distrubution and whatnot. That's why we only get a fraction of all the cool shit America gets on blu-ray.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Sony you better get ye shit together pronto, if people walk into a store and your console is missing from the shelves they will just grab the next closest thing to scratch that gaming itch... it's a really stupid way to lose customers.

 

[Arawn]

I'm not sure which is worse; short supply or tiers availability. Both are equally disheartening, and both can be considered stupid. If you plan to sell alot of units you should make enough units. While that seems a easy answer to the first I'm not sure how to address the second. Xbox One has made certain countries their priority over wide spread release. They might have enough units for the reduced release, but leave others completely without. So while the lack of units might be an error of judgement, could the limited release be one as well? OR is it possible the tiers is to avoid the first situation? Not sure. But it's worth thinking about. Getting your new product out there should be both MS and Sony's goal, yet how they do it might be what makes or breaks their system. We can only wait and see how it all turns out.

 

[LordMonty]

I may know that the largest GAME retailer in the UK as of tuesday 6/8/12 began phase 2 deposits for ps4. Word is even with phase 2 you may still get them for xmas but not 100% garentee, just get in asap demand is really high and not that you heard it from me but someone said 2:1 ps4 vs xboxone on preorders, which may explain why they're maybe going to be short for the stock.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

So, this isn't going to be one of those things where people who pre-order get their console after everyone who lines up at the stores, is it? Because that would really suck.

Captcha: For fuck's sakes, you stupid bot, if you're going to advertise obscure companies, have the common courtesy to specify what they sell. Your are not selling anything just by showing some crappy logo.