PS4 to launch globally in 2013, says GameStop

Retail chain giant GameStop is confident the PlayStation 4 will be in stores world-wide before the end of the year.

In a call to investors transcribed by SeekingAlpha, Gamestop chief financial officer Robert A. Lloyd said the retailer expects a very difficult six months while it waits for the new console launch, but that things will pick up soon.

"With Grand Theft Auto 5 and Battlefield 4 releasing in the third quarter, and the PlayStation 4 launching in the fourth quarter, we expect a return to growth for the back half of the year," he said.

To date, Sony had only put a "holiday 2013" launch window on the console, which could technically stretch to January. It hasn't said anything about a global sim-ship, either, and given its historical tendency to release in Japan and the US well ahead of Europe, and the fact that the console's final form factor hasn't been decided, speculation has been rife that we wouldn't see the PS4 in PAL territories until 2014.

Not so, according to Lloyd - although he's cagey about the new Xbox.

"We know that Sony will introduce the PlayStation 4 globally in 2013, but we are still waiting to see what Microsoft's final plans are," he said.

"We have scenarios with one console introduction, as well as with two. Even a single launch in 2013 will drive double-digit console growth in 2014; and two launches, as noted above, would likely drive the console category north of 20% growth."

It's probably worth noting that GameStop's use of the word "global" here probably refers only to those territories in which it has a business interest, which includes North America, Europe and Australia but not less well-supported territories like South America and some parts of Asia.

GameStop believes the PlayStation 4 is going to be sell strongly, based on internal research and historical patterns.

Thanks, Dragon246.