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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   28 March 2024

Sony to sell updated model of standard PlayStation 4 in September

Sony to sell updated model of standard PlayStation 4 in September

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. Sony Corp. plans to introduce a new PlayStation 4 standard model alongside a high-end version next month, people familiar with the matter said, in an effort to maintain demand for the best-selling videogame console, the Wall Street Journal reported.

With the release of the two models, Sony hopes to attract hard-core fans and more casual users to its videogame platform, analysts said. The company has been trying to build a community of users so that it can earn consistent revenue from subscriptions and software downloads.

Sony has said that it would hold a news conference at the PlayStation Theater in New York on Sept. 7. A Sony spokesman said the company would talk about the PlayStation 4 business at the news conference.

Sony said in June that it planned to introduce a high-end version of PlayStation 4 with enhanced graphics capabilities, but it hasn’t publicly discussed plans to refresh its standard model.

Macquarie Securities analyst Damian Thongsaid that he believed the new standard model would be slimmer and less expensive than the current $350 device. He said it would mark a shift in strategy for Sony because the company previously stuck to releasing one console at a time and tried to sustain demand with regular price cuts.

The PlayStation 4 console made its debut in 2013 and more than 40 million units have sold so far world-wide, according to Sony. That outpaces the Xbox One, which has sold an estimated 20 million units since its debut in 2013, according to analysts. Nintendo Co.says its Wii U has sold 13 million units since 2012.

Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai has described the PlayStation business and related services as the leading engine of the company’s growth.

Ahead of the September news conference, Sony has cut production of PlayStation 4 to adjust inventory, people familiar with the matter said. Several major e-commerce websites in Japan, including Sony’s own e-commerce site, said the PlayStation 4 was out of stock.

PlayStation 4 sales have been weaker in Japan than in the U.S. Data from videogame magazine publisher Famitsu showed sales of the console in Japan have been declining slightly in recent weeks. Nevertheless, stocks of the device are likely to run out as the company limits production.

“The white model was gone two weeks ago and we just sold our last black model in stock,” said the chief of the videogame floor at a major electronics store in Tokyo. “Our central purchasing department warned us we wouldn’t get any for now because the item is simply not in distribution channels.”

Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute, said the soon-to-be unveiled PlayStation 4 consoles are part of a larger push to accelerate the business that includes the October introduction of virtual-reality headset PlayStation VR. Sony has been trying to lure a wider audience to its PlayStation network by adding nongame content, such as the PlayStation Vue cloud-based TV streaming service.

Sony has said it plans to ship more than 20 million PlayStation 4 units in the year ending March 2017, up from 17.7 million in the previous year.

 








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