PS4 to be "in good supply" through holiday season

PlayStation 4 stock will not run out through the holiday season, according to Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House.

Speaking to GameInformer, House said Sony is trying to get the console at in as many territories as possible without running short of stock - a difficult tightrope to tip.

"You try to strike a balance, particularly for us with such a strong brand in all the European countries and across the Middle East. We are ensuring that we have the broadest reach to ensure that people are satisfied, especially when they’ve been loyal to brand for so long," he said.

"On the other hand, we’re not engendering frustration by having a shortage of supply. I think through the holiday season that we’ll be in good supply," he added, despite announcing a 5 million sales target for the end of March 2014.

Later comments from house suggested that the Japanese launch was not delayed for stock reasons.

"When we choose launch dates, we do it with very careful consideration. A huge factor in our determination is where we are seeing the appropriate breadth of great game experiences. There are just some basic differences in that highly networked experiences like online multiplay has taken off to a much greater degree in the US and European markets than it has in some of the Asian markets," he said.

"We paid careful attention to when we had enough confidence that we would have developed from the ground up experiences that the Japanese consumer would really respond to. That was the primary decision in pushing back the launch in Japan to a slightly later time period."

It's important that Sony maintain sufficient supply of stock as the PS3's launch was tarnished by shortages. I don't know what the situation is worldwide, but you can't pre-order one for before Christmas in Australia for love nor money.

The PS4 launched in North America last Friday, and comes to Europe and further sleected territories on November 29.