Sony’s PS4 release date has been a topic of much speculation since the console was first unveiled several months ago in New York City. With yesterday’s news that PS4 bundles pre-orders at Amazon.com are back in stock, let’s circle back around and try to determine the most logical PS4 release date that Sony’s marketing arm is most likely to select.
The first PS4 release date rumor supported by any semblance of evidence came last month when the Netherlands retailer MediaMart put a poster on display with a November 13, 2013 date. The poster looked official enough and was photographed hanging inside the store, but there’s been no evidence of additional posters since that first one was seen. Conclusion: the poster was likely fan made and taken to the store to photograph.
More recently rumors have been swirling that Sony is eying the last week of October or first week of November to release PS4. There’s no backing behind this rumor other than PS4 game availability, which for ports to new consoles can come prior to the console’s availability. I would chalk this one up to nothing more than a rumor.
Last week the website PS4.sx updated their design to include a countdown timer to the PS4 release date. A little math proved the date targeted by the timer is November 13, the same date hinted at last month. Again, there’s no evidence behind the release date countdown so for all we know the date could have been plucked from the MediaMart image.
Looking back in time, the PS3 was first released in North America on Friday, November 17, 2006. This put it into stores one week ahead of Black Friday for those fortunate enough to buy one of the then-rare consoles due to manufacturing woes.
Looking forward and applying the PS3 marketing strategy to the PS4 release date, we might expect Sony to release the new console in North America on Friday, November 15. This makes it available prior to Black Friday, a must, and likely ahead of the Xbox One release date of late November that Amazon.com has published. We could potentially find out one way or the other on August 21 when Gamescom kicks off in Germany.
No matter what date Sony chooses for the PS4 release date, odds are it will be hard to find in stores on its launch day. Most launch day guaranteed consoles have sold out via online pre-orders. Amazon is the only place to secure a PS4 launch day guaranteed pre-order right now, and that opportunity may not stick around for too long as demand for both PS4 and Xbox One picks up steam as the holiday shopping season and imminent release draws closer.
