PS4 vs. Xbox One: Release Dates Change? PS4 Launching Before Black Friday and Microsoft

By Justin Sarachik, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The PS4 may be released a few days before Black Friday in order to attract a large crowd and undercut the Xbox One.

Amazon currently lists the launching date of the console at Dec. 31, but admitted they feel this is just a holding date, according to the International Business Times. Meanwhile, Sony indicates PlayStation 4 will be here for the holidays with no specific date.

IBTimes feels Sony may follow the original plan of the PS3 and go for the Nov. 22 release, allowing for people to gear up for Black Friday.

However, pre-orders for Best Buy show the console at Nov. 30.

The Xbox One has an Amazon release date of Nov. 27, so an earlier launch for the PS4 could prove quite beneficial.

At the moment, retailers and online followers of the two consoles can only speculate as to when the systems will launch. One thing is certain: both consoles may suffer huge shortages at launch, with many people unable to get their hands on the next generation systems until 2014.

PS4 has already sold out at GameStop stores, and Forbes said it would not be a shock if on release day no actual units hit shelves because they were all purchased online.

The Xbox One is already sold out online at Best Buy retailers and the company is no longer accepting pre-orders until they are able to figure out how many they will have in stock.

Amazon, Wal-Mart, and GameStop still have the console in stock but the "Day One" edition is sold out on Amazon already, Forbes reported.

The battle over console superiority got a bit more interesting because China is preparing to lift the console sale ban, meaning a billion people are now free to purchase the new systems.

For the last 13 years, China has had a ban on video games and according to the South China Morning Post, it will be lifted soon.

This means the war will rage on another front and the decisive victory could be for whichever company markets better to its Chinese users: Microsoft, Sony or even possibly Nintendo.

According to the newspaper article, games still made their way across the country via small stores and such, but there was no major distribution or marketing of the consoles throughout the country. The potential for the franchise to now reach hundreds of millions of former and first time users who will be eager to purchase what was once banned is huge.