After months of delays, the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita are going on sale in China on March 20th, the company confirmed to Bloomberg. The former will cost 2,899 yuan (around $463), compared to $399 in the US, while the latter will sell for 1,299 yuan ($207). PlayStation 4 controllers will cost 380 yuan, or around $60. The PS4 was originally supposed to appear on January 11th, a little over a year after its US release, but the launch was delayed a few days beforehand, reportedly because of prolonged negotiations with the Chinese government.
The long-delayed PlayStation 4 will arrive in China March 20th
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
Chinese officials banned foreign game consoles in 2000, driving most gamers to PCs or mobile devices. The prohibition was lifted in 2013, and Microsoft launched the Xbox One in September of last year, although it also pushed its original date back slightly. The Xbox One was initially set at closer to $600 (or $700 with a Kinect sensor), with a catalog of 10 games; the price was later dropped. Sony promised a larger spread when it announced its entry into the market last year, saying it had sent 30 games for licensing, although its current catalog is unknown.
As of last November, Sony led the home console race worldwide, selling 13.5 million PlayStation 4 units compared to 10 million for the Xbox One. Microsoft hasn’t updated its numbers since then, though the Xbox One reportedly outsold the PlayStation 4 in the US and UK in November, but Sony recently announced that it had passed 20.2 million.
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