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The PlayStation 4 is flying into gamers’ hands.
Sony’s newest console, which launched Friday in the U.S. and Canada, racked up more than one million sales on its first day of availability, making PS4 the fastest-selling PlayStation console to date.
“PS4 was designed with an unwavering commitment to gamers, and we are thrilled that consumer reaction has been so phenomenal,” said Andrew House, the president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, in a statement. “Sales remain very strong in North America, and we expect continued enthusiasm as we launch the PlayStation 4 in Europe and Latin America on Nov. 29.”
The launch was not without its hiccups, though. While Sony’s celebratory event at New York’s Standard Hotel went swimmingly, some PS4 owners have reported problems with their new consoles, including game crashes, freezing, and even a so-called “blue light of death,” where the console’s light bar flashes blue but the PS4 doesn’t boot up or output any signal to the TV.
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Sony issued a claim that only 0.4 percent of consoles are affected by these problems, which “is within our expectations for a new product introduction,” according to a Sony representative. But, at press time, about 30 percent of PS4 customer reviews on Amazon are 1-star reviews complaining of hardware failure and other issues. (That doesn’t mean the official Sony figure is inaccurate, however.)
“We are closely monitoring for additional reports, but we think these are isolated incidents and are on track for a great launch,” the Sony rep told GamesBeat.
Sony must be pleased with PS4’s strong debut weekend. The PS4 looks set to quickly overtake Nintendo’s ailing Wii U console, which has only managed to sell 3.91 million consoles globally after about a year of availability. The PS4’s chief competitor, Microsoft’s Xbox One, is set to launch on Nov. 22 in 13 different markets, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and Brazil.
Sony has sold more than 80 million PlayStation 3 units since that console’s 2006 launch.
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