PS4 poised for success in South Africa: Sony
MyGaming catches up with Robert Fisser, General Manager of Playstation MEA, to discuss the PS4 and South Africas importance to Sony
Jeremy Proome September 24, 2013
With the PlayStation 4 heading to South Africa on 6 December 2013, MyGaming sat down with the General Manager of Playstation MEA (Middle-East, Africa), Robert Fisser, to discuss what South African gamers should expect from Sonys next-gen machine.
MyGaming asked Fisser if it was a challenge getting the PS4 to launch in SA alongside the rest of the world, and the GM explained that while there are hurdles, its a testament to the importance of SA.
If we go back to the PS3, it had a much wider international release window, but now its becoming a lot more narrow, so its a great achievement that were seeing the PS4 being slotted into multiple region release windows simultaneously.
The competitive landscape has also changed, so now were prioritising certain markets. Since the PS3, weve seen Europe, the Middle-East and Africa making incredible progress as markets, and thats why the release window was been narrowed so considerably.
There are always the usual challenges of production and output to line it all up with the right timing, but were doing the best we can there.
With regards to PS4 bundles, MyGaming asked if SA will be seeing similar bundles to that of the UK or if we will be getting our own unique product offerings.
The configuration of exact bundles and what we think is appropriate for the South African market is still under discussion. Weve learnt a lot about peoples preferences in the last year, and hopefully we can come up with something thats attractive.
Playstation 2 has had a great legacy in South Africa and is still selling to this day; but does Sony believe that the Playstation 3 will share a similar longevity in SA?
Its not our plan to have PS4 replace PS3, and just like PS2 has been supported for a long long time, we will continue with that approach for PS3.
So theres still a lot of support on the platform, with big games like Puppeteer, The Last of Us, Beyond, and GT6, so from that side theres a lot to be excited for, along with PS Plus which is offering some great thing.
South Africas internet penetration and broadband speeds are relatively behind that of other major gaming countries, and Fisser was asked about the internet demands of the PS4 and its games to fully utilise its capabilities.
One of the great features of the PS4 is the instant gaming feature, so you can immediately start playing while the rest of the game downloads in the background, so for a market like South Africa where the broadband is behind that of other countries, this could help and benefit gamers a lot.
The Xbox Ones launch in SA is still up in the air, so MyGaming asked how that might impact the uptake and adoption of the PS4 in the local market.
We dont comment on competitors strategies, but looking at the perception of PS4, the game offerings and the pricing, seeing the response in South Africa, were very pleased and thats what gets us excited ahead of the launch.
Sonys Playstation 4 launches on 6 December 2013 in South Africa. Pricing has been set by Ster-Kinekor at a tentative R6,299 and the console will come with a Dualshock 4 controller, 500GB of user-accessible storage space, and a free 14-day trial for Playstation Plus.
http://mygaming.co.za/news/news/58540-ps4-poised-for-success-in-south-africa-sony.html
PS4 launch delayed in SA
PlayStation 4 console launch delayed in South Africa
Wesley Fick September 30, 2013
Sonys PlayStation 4 has been delayed from its originally planned 6 December 2013 launch date in South Africa, a Ster Kinekor representative has confirmed to MyGaming.
The PS4 console was originally pegged with a recommended selling price of R6,299. Pricing will not be affected unless there is a drastic change in currency exchange rates, Ster Kinekor said.
Ster Kinekor would not confirm a new launch date, but said they are striving to ensure the console is available in time for Christmas 2013.
The launch date change will affect all retailers in South Africa that procure their PS4 consoles from Ster Kinekor.
However, BT Games has set their new PS4 launch date for 13 December, hosting a midnight launch of the PS4 on 12 December 2013.
When queried about the date, a BT Games representative confirmed that the launch dates were correct and that customers looking to attend the midnight launches would have to begin queueing up at 9PM on Thursday 12 December.
BT Games is additionally delaying releasing information about the console launch in order to confirm final bundle contents and launch pricing.
http://mygaming.co.za/news/playstation-4-news/58825-ps4-launch-delayed-in-sa.html
Sony confirms PS4 launch in India this year, pre-orders to go live soon
By Abhinav Mishra on 30-09-2013
Sony India will begin accepting pre-orders for the Playstation 4 very soon, and a 2013 India launch of the console has been confirmed.
Some good news for those of us craving to get our hands on the next gen console from Sony, as very soon the Playstation 4 will be put up for pre-order, according to an announcement on its India website.
Sony has clarified that there is still no official confirmation on the launch date, however the PS4 will be launched in India this calender year. Sony India's country head for PlayStation, Atindriya Bose was quoted saying that "(the) India launch date will be declared at a later stage. The segregation of the launch dates has been done to have the best launch possible in each of the territories backed by adequate stocks available at launch date. The India launch date is being planned based on the logistics requirements and local market planning. The current exchange rate fluctuations mean that we will be able to declare the final launch price (both for the console as well as the games) at a date closer to the launch date."
The PS4 is already available for pre-order on Indian gaming website Game4u.com. You can book the console by giving Rs.3,000 as bank deposit, which later would be deducted from the total amount. The pre-ordered console will be available a week prior to the market launch of the console.
http://www.thinkdigit.com/Gaming/Sony-confirms-PS4-launch-in-India-this_17748.html
Is anyone still keeping track of how many countries the PS4 is launching in this year? We have the original 32 countries Sony announced earlier this year. There's the Asian countries Sony announced in their pre-TGS conferences. Sony also announced the Middle-east region last week. Now South Africa & India.
