PlayStation 4 not releasing in Japan until 2014

During Sony's Japanese press conference, the publisher finallyrevealed the release date for the PS4 forthe company's home country. While we all sort of expected December, that turned out not to be the case--surprisingly, it'll actually be out well after the US/UK release dates, landing on February 22, 2014 for 39980 yen (around $400).

So, what's the deal? Sony explained that the country doesn't put as much emphasis on the Q4 release as US/UK, and explained that it wanted to wait for "unique games " to be available. After looking at the first few months of the console's releases, it figured that late-February would be the best bet. There will be an early-adopter bonus of sorts, gifting those who buy the console in Japan at launch a free year of PS Plus and a copy of Knack, but... still. February? Seems sort of crazy to us.

What do you think--too late? Not that it really needs to compete with Microsoft in Japan, but it's still pretty shocking to see the console coming out some four months late in Japan, especially considering how often Sony releases both hardware and software early there.

Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of GamesRadar+ between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade.