The PS4 has been a success for Sony is many ways. Not only has it outsold the Xbox One with over 1.2 million more units sold, Sony has also revealed that PlayStation Plus subscription are up 90% since the next-gen console launched. The increase in subscriptions is largely due to PlayStation Plus being required for online gaming on the new console, although it’s not required by all games.
I find it strange that Sony has gone through the trouble of letting the PS4 detect PS3 discs inserted into the system, instead of just showing a generic “Unsupported disc” error message. I did a small experiment to see how the PS4 would handle PS3, PS2 and PSOne discs and what I found was a little surprising, as the video below shows.
Earlier today at CES 2014 in Las Vegas, Sony’s Andrew House revealed that the company sold 4.2 million PS4s world wide as of December 28th 2013. The PS4 outsold the Xbox One by 1.2 million units, with Microsoft confirming that 3 million Xbox Ones were sold in 2013 in its 13 launch territories.
At CES 2014 in Las Vegas today, Sony announced a new service called PlayStation Now (PS Now). PS Now will lets gamers stream popular hits and classic games from the PS3 library, first on PS4 and PS3 systems, followed by PS Vita using Gaikai technology. In addition to PlayStation platforms, most 2014 US models of Sony’s BRAVIA TV lineup will support PS Now.
Sony has revealed that shipments of PS4 will arrive at game retailers across the UK this week via adverts in national newspapers today. The next-gen console is selling fast in the UK, with over half a million units sold in its first five weeks. The standalone PS4 has already sold out on Amazon.co.uk, but the Knack bundle will be getting more stock on January 15th.
The UK Games chart has remained largely unchanged in the New Year, with the usual suspects dominating the top 10. FIFA 14 continues to rein the chart, followed by CoD: Ghosts, Assassin’s Creed IV, Battlefield 4 and GTA V. PS4 exclusive Killzone: Shadow Fall as now completely dropped out of the Top 20 after falling to 14th place at the end of 2013.
We would like to reiterate that Sony is shutting down servers for a number of PS3 games at the end of the month, disabling online gameplay. As of January 28th 2014, you will no longer be able to play MAG, SOCOM: Special Forces or SOCOM: Confrontation online. MAG and SOCOM: Confrontation and both online only titles, so both of these will become completely unplayable.
Both the PS4 and Xbox One have done incredibly well in the UK, shifting a total of 894,000 units combined at the end of December 2013. However, the PS4 has a significant lead compared to the Xbox One, selling 166,000 more units in a slightly shorter time.
A new rumour on Reddit suggests that DRIVECLUB could be releasing on the PS4 on February 28th 2014. This is according to a retailer placeholder found by the original poster, but fails to link back to the retailer’s website, making the find a bit suspicious. The title is also rumoured to be a launch title in Japan, when the console releases on February 22nd 2014.
In March, all three Resistance games and Gran Turismo 5 will be losing their online functionality as Sony will be shutting down the game servers. The Gran Turismo 5 servers will be closing down on March 20th 2014, followed by the Resistance servers eight days later, on March 28th 2014. Its odd that Sony would shut down the GT5 servers so soon after the release of GT6, but makes sense for the Resistance games.
