PS4 Worldwide Launch is a PR Stunt, Nothing More than Smoke and Mirrors

Gonzalo Lemme, guest editor on RealSG writes, "It’s safe to assume that Sony won the hearts of almost every consumer in the region by simply announcing that the Playstation 4 will launch alongside the European market, showing their ‘support’ towards the continent.

But is this nothing more than a PR stunt?"

[AvidGamerrrr]

That's insane. $1000 for the PS4 in Argentina? WTF?!

[xHeavYx]

This is plain nonsense. I was born in Argentina (moved to the US 4 years ago) and the dollar inflation is not Sony's fault (as of right now, US$1 equals 8.88 Argentinean pesos as of right now)but the PS4 will cost around US$8740. Obviously the Xbox one will be more expensive.
Another point, Sony doesn't dominate in Argentina, Xbox does (and everybody here knows I'm a PS guy) because the 360 games are cheaper to pirate. PS3 games are really expensive.
What doesn't make sense is that this guy complaints about the price, but then complaints that there won't be enough games at launch (again, games are really expensive)

[ElDojoGamer]

First of all, not true at all.

Microsoft officials confirmed that they ONLY have 25% of the market, so it might be a much, much smaller figure.

As of right now, the conversion stands at 5.7. Your '8.8 dollars per peso, its an illegal figure aka Dollar Blue, which, neither credit cards nor importers/exports use. On credit cards there's an extra 20% tax, if you will -which you can get back, through AFIP- which takes the figure to 6.30. This takes the console to a figure even higher than 1000 american dollars. Secondly, as the Argentinian PSN fiasco, where different publishers CONFIRMED that the 50% increased was set it order to avoid the digital market overthrowing the retail one. A PS3 Bundle, with an MSRP of 250 dollars in the US has a MSRP of 3.400 pesos, you can do the math there yourself. Again, historically we are dumped with old tech, and making it impossible to acquire the new tech.

Finally, on the games, its easy. SONY is launching (10 units) as their strategy. Historically they only localize 17% of their catalogue, and by localize I mean, import Region 1 copies. So far none of the Launch titles have been confirmed as to whether or not they are being localized.

[YNWA96]

Reading all this makes me mad at Messi for not paying his taxes! Hehe...

[Nekroo91]

of course it does i remember when they gave 360 in exchange for guns. its cheaper to get a gun than a video game console

[PoSTedUP]

smoke and mirrors huh? i see it more like "BAM", "ta-daa", and Check Mate. we bought a PS3 at launch, we'll buy a ps4. if you really want one, here it is right b4 your very eyes.

[karl]

well.. im from argentina and we still gotta see how much money ppl who import the console are gonna ask for it...

and yeah inflation is an important factor but why charge a 1000 dollars for it? thats sony decision.. inflation comes later

now 1000 dollars x 8 is insane..
maybe 800dollars x 8 would be more reasonable. .

i was ready to pay around 6 thousand pesos which is a lot.

and about xbox dominating here i have to dissagree .. playstation brand has dominated here for years ... and anyone that has a job will probably buy a ps3

i can see parents buying 360 for their kids though

[hazardman]

@ eldojo

Thanks for ruining it with all your "Correctness"!!!! < Can I do that?

[Omegasyde]

Its inflation. Don't blame Sony or MS, blame the government of those countries.

Protip 1: 400 USD (price of standard PS4) = ~2,284 Argentine Peso.

If anything, you are getting a deal.

Protip 2: Average Salary's for Argentine. Reference:
http://www.salaryexplorer.c...

EDIT: Nevermind all of the above! damn $6.499 for a PS4.. Ouch (USD thats 1137.94). But in comparison a Xboxone might cost 7000 ARS. Yep, you're better off importing.

[ZBlacktt]

Sony spokes person had this to say. ( SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT )

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[darx]

Is Japan part of this world?

[JLT-Sandwitch]

If its the same as here in australia its the taxes. My ps4 was $550 witch is was of the dollar difference in the states. Its the tax though

[TomShoe]

Here comes the flaming...

[kingmushroom]

Well PS3 and Xbox360 games cost about $100 in MEX.

[showtimefolks]

its truly sad when you need these type of articles to create hate towards sony/ps4, its not sony's fault that they did/said everything right till now when MS has had one screw up after another

also i was on n4g when it was dominated by xbox defense force yeh i remember that name, so its quite funny when those same people now complain about ps4 fanboys, what goes around come around simple as that

[NateCole]

Its 2300 dollars where i live.

[My_Outer_Heaven]

This has got to be a joke surely?

[jgrigs09]

It's true other websites are reporting it

[Bzone24]

Must be a joke. A negative PS4 article is unheard of in these parts. Even if it's true, we must mock it and call it names to soften the blow.

[mhunterjr]

I saw this coming a mile away. MS scaled back their launch so they could actually support the countries they are in...

Both companies are going to struggle mightily to keep up with demand, so there is no way Sony can handle the logistics of a 32 country launch

[abusador]

Lol how fanatic are reaching for straws is embarrasing lol
Ps4 baby, keep up the good work Sony let the haters hate and talk nonsense thy know nothing of.

By the way Argentina has a terrible inflation problem, blamenthe govt, not Sony.

[mhunterjr]

Set aside the price issue... is a total of 10 consoles available in an entire country really a launch?

Sony clearly was more interested in bragging about world wide support, than actually doing it. they really don't have the supply chain to do so...

Nothing against the ps4, but delivering a couple consoles to a region just to have a check on the check list doesn't really help anyone.

[ZBlacktt]

How about getting your facts straight and learn business and economy.

Funny how the X1 is $654 USD going just into Mexico and I'm sure it too gets hit the same way Sony does in other countries related. PS4 in Mexico = $577 USD.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

If you are paying $1000 for a console down there. Then chances are the Drug Cartel wants their share.

[Shadowsteal]

Honestly when it comes to videogames it's a luxury. If you really want support for your country, wishing and wanting won't do it. But if you want to game the best you can and not cross fingers for localization and affordable prices. Unfortunately, America is the place to do it(or UK or Japan)

[kewlkat007]

Not surprised..

[ZBlacktt]

It's because every time I see someone from down there online in a game. It's always always a red bar lagger, lol.... No matter the game, they all come in a lag the game to death.

But really, when you are at the top. All kinds of wild stories come about to try and bring you down. Not going to work. I don't think they go around picking on countries to hurt business.

[ZBlacktt]

Here read the ads and read the fine print. Seems like the stores are setting the prices based of exchange rate and then giving discounts. They have the X1 in here as well.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

You act worst the Japan who doesn't even get the console this year and it's from their country. Then try and blame Sony for the issue.

[Death]

Did you honestly say Sony isn't responsible for not launching in Japan? Please don't tell me you believe Sony missed the Japanese launch because they didn't have time to prepare. I am fairly certain Sony wasn't surprised by the PS4 announcements these past few months. Surely someone must have told them what was going on. I mean, they have the internet over there. Maybe someone at Sony HQ could have checked on N4G. We've known for quite some time.

[ZBlacktt]

Break down = If anyone has a reason for a real complain it's the Japanese. A home based company getting to them last.

Next time PM and don't waste bubble posts. Btw, I didn't click disagree, lol. That system is flawed.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

How is it a PR stunt when they are releasing in the region? All the things added on after the base price are out of Sony's control. I'm not seeing smoke or mirrors here.

[Omegasyde]

Yes that Tax rate is way too much. They must have awesome healthcare.

[Death]

It's not simply the money conversion. According to the article, Sony has no support for PSN, Plus, credit cards without rediculous taxes, and all of 10 units available for launch with almost no games. I'm hoping that is a bit of a misunderstanding. 10 consoles for an entire country doesn't sound like support. Maybe 10 for the store, city, local, etc.

[tiffac008]

You only need to create an account on regions that has PSN and offers better PS+. You can also use Prepaid cards in exchange for CC. Its safer anyway. This is the same issue we have in the Philippines.

We aren't even part of the launch territories but our retailers will find a way to get some imports in though. We never missed any launch dates. lol!

So I'm confident the retailers in Argentina can get stocks in better since they are part of the launch territories.

Edit: I just realize our retailers would probably price the consoles for an arm and a leg. I guess it would be better importing or waiting for the actual Asian release in 2014.

[n4rc]

You missed the point that its 10 consoles that have limited support..

That's not a launch... Like the article said, its a stunt to pad the launch list.

If that were the case.. I'll preorder a bunch and ship them, I'll do my own national launches.. Lol

[Caleb_H]

PR stunt or not, there are 33 countries getting the ps4 at launch.

[xKugo]

I have no idea how much inflation and tax plays apart in this, but 10 consoles for an entire country is just flat out laughable. I'm a huge PlayStation fan(everybody knows this) but I'm not a loyalist. This is Sony trying to pad the number of countries they are "launching" in to +1up Microsoft. Clearly they aren't prepared for a worldwide launch of the magnitude that they intend to pander to. This can be attributed to the extremely high demand in the UK, U.S and Canada but even still if you're going to launch in a country, make sure it's proper fucking launch Sony!

Highly disappointed in them; I expect this type of shit from from Microsoft but not from Sony. Historically, they are known for being the voice of the console market and as the voice you have to make better choices than this. Fix this shit, Andrew.

[ElDojoGamer]

Actually, Microsoft isn't launching here cause they don't wanna pull a Microsoft. There will be a 100 exclusive servers to the region, and they will only launch the console whenever the service is ready (January 2014 according to my source at Microsoft Argentina, which added: For the incomplete experience, buy the Xbox One in Brazil or import it from the USA, although I suggest waiting for the official launch.

[Ko_Uraki]

Interesting read

[ElDojoGamer]

I should clarify that this article shows how SONY uses a region where, as many noted, is an ever bigger luxury than in the first world country. It's a just a PR stunt and that's what the article shows. Its not trying to portrait how the machine will fail, which I don't think it will -at all- actually just the opposite.

For a moment step out of the "Fuck you for living in South American region for a moment" and let's try to think why are doing this. As the article mentions there's no plus support (with no plans to be added in the near future) which will render the console in a Single Player only machine if you use an Argentinian, Chilean, Colombian, Peruvian, etc, etcian account.

Finally, it's not the first time that Sony pulled a "lets release a single or ten consoles in the region, calling it a launch" Till recently and with no PSN support AT ALL, the vita wiki page -and Sony's Press Release still say that they did- said that the console launched simultaneously with the United States. the thing is, they brought A SINGLE UNIT, which was for display only, and called it a launch. Luckily, users corrected it and it was modified to the real launch date August the 25th

[AceBlazer13]

Well no one ever said gaming was a cheap hobbie, even more so for gamers outside the major markets. The smarter thing most of us do is import.New titles usually cost $500 a pop where I'm from that converts to about $74>USD.

[ziggurcat]

story quality? WTF? like this website? no.

who approved this garbage?

[AceBlazer13]

When you can barely find bad news for the ps4 you really gotta reach deep into the bag of bs to pull something of this level out.

[ziggurcat]

deep dive tech?

[Machiavellian]

When people are so caught up in a corporation that they are willing to dismiss something they would torched the competition for is really sad. If the article is true and Sony is only releasing 10 units and calling it a release, its a sad piece of business.

[Ps4Console]

I was always an Xbox fan from the early days right up to the present Xbox 360 though I have left Ms & there Xbox series , why I was promised by Ms that the Games only matter nothing else .

I knew something was wrong when Peter Moore left then it was all about media I got a Ipad & Pc for that & then they produced a under powered gaming console to the Ps4 that was enough for me because to me it was Sony who cared about the Games not money grabbing Ms with it's Xbox

[Whitey2k]

soo no1 complains about xbox one launching only in 13 countrys no1 complaining that xbone tried to F*** everyone I think people are just sad is either ps4 is winning in everyone's hearts or just simply a fanboy statement all currency and exchanges and taxes are completely different around the world similar to fuel prices or taxes on games etc etc

[DevelopmentArrested]

Lol. No one complains about the Xbox One? You been living under a rock?

[Whitey2k]

just about :|