Even before Sony could announce the release date of its next-generation gaming Playstation 4 (Sony PS4), rumours of its expected price and availability in India has surfaced.
Sony PS4 is likely to be available in India only in the first quarter of 2014 and will be priced around ₹25,000, according to a report by newtechnology.co.in.
The Japanese tech giant is tight-lipped on the release date of its next-generation gaming console and its price but a reliable source told PCMag that it could make a big announcement about the console either in April or early May.
Sony had earlier revealed some specifications of the new console at an event in February, followed by revelation of the 'mock-up' designs of the PlayStation 4 (Sony PS4) controller and eye at the recently concluded Games Developers Conference (GDC) 2013 in San Francisco, California.
Several sections of the media have reported that Sony PS4 would be unveiled at the upcoming E3, the world's premier trade show for computer and video games which will be held from 11-13 June at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It is also rumoured that the console would be available in October in the US.
Michael Hogan, executive vice president of strategy business and brand development at Gamestop, reportedly told investors that the device would be released this year.
"We know that Sony will introduce the PlayStation 4 globally in 2013, but we are still waiting to see what Microsoft's final plans are. We have scenarios with one console introduction, as well as with two. Even a single launch in 2013 will drive double-digit console growth in 2014; and two launches would likely drive the console category north of 20% growth," XbitLabs quoted Michael Hogan as saying to analysts during a conference call.
Sony is expected to begin Sony PS4 production in August and make at least 16 million units available during launch.
Here are specifications of Sony PS4:
CPU: single-chip custom processor, x86-64 AMD "Jaguar" 8 Cores
GPU: 18 "compute units" capable of cranking out 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next generation Radeon based graphics engine
Memory: 8GB GDDR5 RAM capable of 176GB/sec of bandwidth
Connectivity: 802.11n WiFi, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 2.1, Auxillary ports, Analog AV, and digital optical outputs and HDMI
It is reported that Sony PS4 DualShock 4 controller has been remodeled and cloud gaming technology would be introduced. It is expected to be priced between $400 and $500 upon release.
