The PlayStation 4 sold like hot pancakes Friday in North America as Sony reported that it reached over a million sales just 24 hours after hitting the shelves, making it the company's fastest-selling video game console and beating the record of the PlayStation 2 that got to the mark after three days of its market debut. Gamers are still rushing to get hold of the PS4 despite technical hiccups that were reported on online forums.
According to Sony, it expects to sell around five million of its new gaming system by March 2014. The Sony PS4 will be sold in Latin America and Europe starting November 29.
"PS4 has sold through over 1 million units within 24 hours of the launch in North America," tweeted Shushei Yoshida, Sony Computer Entertainment's president of Worldwide Studios.
PS4 has sold through over 1 million units within 24 hours of the launch in North America!!! :D
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) November 17, 2013
"Be assured we are investigating reported PS4 issues. The number is very small compared to shipped, we believe they are isolated incidents," Yoshida said in another tweet.
Be assured we are investigating reported PS4 issues. The number is very small compared to shipped, we believe they are isolated incidents. — Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) November 14, 2013
The rollout of the company's first gaming console in seven years did not go smoothly as planned with complaints about the new units flooding the Internet. Users reported about the "blue light of death" pertaining to the light strip on the console that pulses during boot and turns white to indicate that the unit is successfully linked to the TV. For problematic PS4 units, the blue strip stays on and the game console does not power on. There are also reports that indicated issues with the HDMI jack, DualShock 4 controllers,
The manufacturer of the PlayStation 4 rolled out instructions on its forums on how to troubleshoot problems linked with the blue light issue, hard drive problems, and software installation. It also provides support via phone calls and live chat.
"This is within our expectations for a new product introduction, and the vast majority of PS4 feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We are closely monitoring for additional reports, but we think these are isolated incidents and represent a very small percentage of total units shipped to consumers to date," explained Sony video games division spokesperson Dan Race in a statement.
The company also disclosed that defective units are only a small chunk of initial deliveries.
"There have been several problems reported, which leads us to believe there isn't a singular problem that could impact a broader percentage of systems. The number of affected systems represents less than .4% of shipped units to date, which is within our expectations for a new product introduction," a sony representative said.
