Cheer up

We’re conditioned to expect the worst in this industry, and when images of PlayStation 4 stock started flooding out of Japan over the weekend, many assumed that it spelled disaster for Sony’s new black box. The region has, of course, been transitioning to mobile and handheld games for the past few years, so it wouldn’t be an enormous surprise if Sony’s latest home format flopped. Fortunately, it hasn’t.

Famitsu reports that the device has already sold an impressive 322,083 units in its home territory since its launch on 22nd February, which should be enough to convince everyone to breathe an enormous sigh of relief. The jury will still be out on how well the hardware will hold up over a longer period of time, but this is still a positive start. Hopefully the platform holder can maintain the momentum, as we’d like to see more content from Eastern developers in the future.

Naturally, this injection doesn’t exactly hurt the system’s overall install base either, with the manufacturer surely nearing the 6 million units milestone at this moment in time. Considering that the company only expected to sell 5 million units by the end of March, we reckon that Kaz Hirai and crew will be on cloud nine. It’s important that the major executives don’t get complacent, though, as there are still battles to be fought.

[source famitsu.com, via vg247.com]