Dubai: The second shipment of Sony’s PlayStation 4 gaming console will arrive in the UAE early next week, retailers told Gulf News.
The first shipment on December 13 was sold out completely within one day.
“We are likely to get the shipments early next week. Our initial allocation and demand was very high and Sony has production limitations,” said Kishan Palija, managing director of games retailer Geekay Group MEA.
According to Nadeem Khanzadah, head of retail at Jumbo Electronics, Sony was supposed to supply the second shipment on December 23 or 24 and another shipment in the middle of Dubai Shopping Festival.
The Christmas shipment did not materialize as Sony released more consoles in the US and European markets for Christmas.
Retailers are sure that the next allocation also will not be enough to meet the growing demand.
“I am sure that we will not get the allocation we have asked for as Sony has to cater to other retailers also. PS4 sales have exceeded Sony’s expectations globally,” Palija said.
Even Dubai’s grey market is struggling to bring them to the country due to high demand and shortage of availability.
“We have stocks on NTSC format but not on PAL system. We used to sell on average around five units per day. We are selling it around Dh2,249,” said Vishnu Vardhan Madabhushi, Director at LetsTango.com.
The official price is Dh1,699 for the basic console only, but online the price has jumped to Dh3,695 for the game console, controller and one game. Some online retailers have also quoted the price at Dh2,100 but currently out of stock and will be notified when available.
“We will get shipments coming on a regular basis. If you look at the incredible sellout, we may face a shortage but we are trying to fill the supply gap as soon as possible,” Robert Fisser, general manager of Sony Computer Entertainment in Middle East, Africa, Turkey and India, told Gulf News earlier.
Sony launched PS4 in North America on November 15 and November 29 in Europe and Australia. In other Middle East countries, it was launched on December 14. Sony launched the PlayStation 4 in India on January 6. So far, Sony has launched its fourth-generation console in 48 countries around the world.
Palija said the next shipment will not be enough to meet the demand of the gamers in the UAE. Sony is finding it difficult to meet the supply shortage as it was launched across major markets. Things should improve by end of this month.
Khanzadah said one reason for the big PS4 demand is due to the short launch gap between the US and the UAE. PS4 sales will exceed PS3 as retailers have not seen the response when PS3 was launched.
“The next shipment will purely be based on first come first serve basis,” he said.
When contacted, Sony said they will not disclose the next shipment date and the number of units sold in the UAE.
According to Michael Pachter, video game and electronic media analyst at Wedbush Securities, PS4 will sell 37.7 million consoles by end of 2016 while Xbox One will reach only 29 million units.
