PLAYSTATION 4 IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!

Game on: People try out Sony's
PlayStation4 video game consoles at the
Tokyo Game Show on Thursday at
Makuhari Messe convention hall in Chiba
Prefecture. Sony expects sales of the new
PS4 to reach 5 million units this fiscal
year. | BLOOMBERG
Sony Corp. expects the lower
price of the PlayStation 4 and
wider variety of entertainment
services to drive its forecast to
sell 5 million units of the game
console by the end of March.
The projection for Sony’s next-
generation machine, set to be
introduced for $399 in
November, compares with 3.55
million units sold in a similar
period for the PlayStation 3,
released in 2006 and offered in
some regions for $599, Andrew
House, head of Sony’s game
operations, said in an
interview Thursday.
The PS4 will hit U.S. shelves a
week before Microsoft Corp.
starts selling its Xbox One for
$499, as both companies seek
to reignite growth in the
console business as casual
players switch to games on
smartphones and tablet
computers. Sony is staggering
the release of its machine in an
effort to avoid shortages that
hurt sales of the PS3, and 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 in place,” House
said at the Tokyo Game Show.
“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 the PS4 competes
with the Xbox One as Sony
works with about 620 software
developers to produce content.
The machine will be released in
North America on Nov. 15 and
in 32 markets by the end of
this year. Sales in Japan will
start Feb. 22. The PS4 will be
introduced in Asia in
December, including in Hong
Kong, Singapore, Korea,
Malaysia and Taiwan.
“This will be well ahead of the
Xbox One,” Damian Thong, an
analyst at Macquarie Group
Ltd. in Tokyo, said in a report.
The timing is “a clear positive
since Asia is a big opportunity.”
The PS4 is a central element of
Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai’s plan to
revive the firm with games and
mobile devices, and he has set
a target of being No. 1 in the
U.S. market, which accounts
for the biggest chunk of the $63
billion global market,
according to estimates by DFC
Intelligence. The top position is
currently held by the Xbox 360.
“It’s become an old concept
that consoles are just for
games,” House said at the
game convention. “PS4 will not
only meet the expectations of
core gamers, but (the)
possibilities of the console are
way beyond that.”
The new consoles will be
offered in Sony’s home market
for ¥39,980, the company said
this month. Orders have
already topped 1 million,
House said Aug. 21.
The PS4 and Xbox One are
projected to each sell 3 million
units worldwide this year,
Michael Olson, an analyst with
Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis,
estimates. By comparison,
smartphone shipments in the
second quarter alone totaled
229.6 million, according to
researcher Strategy Analytics.
In the last round of consoles,
Sony placed third in the U.S.
market, according to NPD
Group data through 2010.
Microsoft overtook Nintendo
Co.’s Wii 2½ ago and has led
ever since.
The unveiling of the PS4 in June
impressed game enthusiasts
and industry analysts with its
price and policies that included
unrestricted swapping and
trade-ins of used games. The
PS4, with a combined processor
and memory architecture from
California-based Advanced
Micro Devices Inc., features a
PC-like design that Sony
executives say will make
developing games easier.
Sony’s game unit posted an
operating loss of ¥14.8 billion
in the quarter that ended June
30, the company said last
month.
The yen’s weakening against
the dollar is negative for Sony’s
game business because it pays
for components in the U.S.
currency, House said. Still, the
depreciating yen versus the
euro boosts sales in Europe
when repatriated, he said.
“Currencies are obviously
extremely difficult to predict,”
said House. “As we see sort of
some balance between those
two movements most recently,
I think, the effect overall is
rather neutral.”
Namco Bandai ’ s outlook
Bloomberg
Namco Bandai Holdings Inc.,
creator of the “Tekken” martial
arts video game, expects
earnings to rise to a record
next business year on sales of
toys and games including Pac-
Man.
The company is targeting
operating profit of more than
¥49 billion in the 12 months
through March 2015, Namco
President Shukuo Ishikawa
said in an interview at the
Tokyo Game Show on
Thursday, without providing
further detail.
The company expects to log
profits of ¥40 billion in the
current financial year.
Namco, which produces video
games and trading cards, is
increasing the proportion of
revenue from overseas markets
to 30 percent from about 18
percent as it drives products
under brands it owns, and
expands games for mobile
devices. The Tokyo-based
company is in talks to buy
popular intellectual properties
in Europe and the United
States, Ishikawa said, without
identifying potential targets.
“Namco Bandai will be a strong
presence in the mobile game
field moving forward,”
analysts at Goldman Sachs
Group Inc. led by Masaru
Sugiyama said in an Aug. 12
report. “Namco Bandai’s
contents have tremendous
popularity in Japanese TV,
film, toy and game genres and
some, like Pac-Man, are
popular overseas.”
New game consoles from Sony
Corp. and Microsoft Corp. will
be “positive” for software
makers such as Namco,
Ishikawa said.