The PlayStation 4 has officially launched in the United States last November 15, 2013, marking Sony’s entrance into the eighth generation video game consoles.
It competes directly with Microsoft’s Xbox One and Nintendo’s Wii U. The Xbox One will officially arrive first in various countries this November 22, 2013. The Wii U, on the other hand, has been out in the market since November 2012.
The PS4 will be arriving in Europe and Australia by the 29th of November. Sony’s home country of Japan on the other hand, will only be able to get her hands on the console on the 22nd of February, next year.
So when will the console be released in Southeast Asia?enablejsapi=1&html5=1&
The first country with an official Playstation 4 release date in Southeast Asia is Singapore, which will be getting the console on the 19th of December 2013. Delayed by almost a month from its original launch in the US, Singapore will be receiving special bundles – such as the Battlefield 4 PS4 bundle and the special Killzone: Shadow Fall bundle for SG$709 and SG$699 respectively. The official retail price of the regular PS4 is at SG$639. Those who preorder the console also stands a chance of being selected to get a 10 year free membership for PlayStation Plus, Sony’s premier online service for the console.
The Playstation 4 release date in Malaysia is on the 20th of December, retailing at RM 1,799. Although it is slightly more expensive as compared to the US prices, it comes with free PS+ membership for 1 month. There is also a PS4 + Playstation camera bundle at RM 1,899 as well.
Two other bundles will also come to Malaysian shores at launch. The first one is the Killzone: Shadow Fall bundle and the other one comes with Battlefield 4 at RM 1,939 and RM 1,969 respectively. Both bundles will come with PS Plus free membership for two months. If you want to buy the PlayStation 4 camera separately, you can at RM 249.
For the other Asian regions, it was announced that HongKong and Taiwan will have their PlayStation 4 on the 17th and 18th of December respectively, while reports suggest that India will be getting the console before the year ends.
According to rumors, other countries in Southeast Asia will be getting their PS4 release dates before Japan does. This means that we can expect Sony’s 8th generation console to reach countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia before the 22nd of February 2014.
Most of the world will be getting the PS4 in December, almost a month after the US and European launch. This technically reveals the importance of those markets for the PS4’s success.
Southeast Asia is PS4’s Territory, With No Direct Competitor For Almost A Year
It should be noted though, that out of the three consoles in the 8th-generation video game systems, only the PS4 has definite dates in some Southeast Asia countries. The Xbox One has not been officially confirmed in any Asian country except Japan, which is expected to get Microsoft’s 8th-generation console next year. A report from RocketNews suggested that the Xbox One will be coming to Asia late in 2014.
Although it was out for over a year now in various countries in the West and Japan. Nintendo’s Wii U is still not officially available in Southeast Asia. Maxsoft, Nintendo”s official distributor in the region only has a placeholder page for the Wii U in their website. By the time that console is officially out, most of us here in the region may already have an imported copy of that device, bought through retailers specializing in imported video game hardware.
While the Wii U is already available in Japan, it could be said that Nintendo’s console and the PlayStation 4 are pretty much targeted toward different gaming audiences. This puts Sony’s console in a position where it has no direct competitor for a time in Japan, and virtually with no competition in Southeast Asia anytime soon, since the Xbox One will be coming very late in 2014 and with no news for the Wii U coming in the region anyway.
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