Nope.

Getting a beach-head in those other markets is better for long-term sales and planning.

Sony can still easily catch and pass any lead MS may get in US, especially considering in US you are FAR more likely to find many multi-console owners.

Whereas in those other markets its almost certain to be one console and that console would likely be first to get there.

It doesn't matter because the PS4 is selling better anyway, even in the USA. And it's good to see places like Brazil, South Africa, Eastern Europe etc taken seriously for once. The economy is far more global than it's ever been.

Agreed too, but at least Sony did supply enough PS4's in MS's core regions to outsell the XBO, so the question is how sold out is the PS4 really?

I mean since PS4 outsold the XBO in USA, UK, and Australia (360's biggest regions by market share & size), then selling to 20 more markets and getting a huge lead is smart too right? Right now, not many MS consoles sell in the middle east and asia, so by releasing PS4 earlier there, Sony kinda effectively killed MS in those markets. Few will buy an XBO in those regions when the PS4 has been around for so long, and when most early adopters already own PS4's.

However because Sony went 33 markets, they might have killed MS in those 20 smaller volume countries, but...MS could get decent footing in USA, UK, and central EU. I mean with Titanfall, Halo 5, and Quantum Break on the horizon, XBO will appear to the FPS favoring audience that is USA/UK. If XBO gets footing in these large regions, PS4 won't get full dominance this gen.

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Basically it's a double edged sword. Since Sony couldn't supply the demand, they had to pick smaller share in USA/UK/Central EU, or smaller share in the rest of the world. I think Sony desparately wants dominance on the bulk of the world, not just UK/USA.

So take that back, I disagree now.

It's difficult to decide which policy is better...

Sony could have flooded US/UK with more stock, and sold the same stock. That would have certainly been sensible, but I also think by going in these other countries, though smaller, they get a lead that will/may not bother to pick up XboxOne in big numbers. I.e Perhaps a console country traditionally only buys 1 million consoles combined, sony gets in first and because MS are late they pick up a bigger market share in that particular country.

The question is whether they are losing sales because only one is available. Though I am hearing a lot on the web that Sony has massive stock being released on Sunday in the USA. So perhaps there policy is not shipping tens of thousands quickly, but bulk sending. So at the moment perhaps it seems like MS has more stock in the USA, but it's just overlapping issues... I really don't know :)

I have to admit, I really don't know which is the better policy right now. I think once this year is up and stock starts to arrive in good numbers, we will know much better.

If Sony can get stock onto shelves (or at least service pre-orders etc)... then more countries with more stock would be better.

I am not sure I agree. You put a good case for focussing on a single market but on the other side, if you DONT make your console available in emerging markets then you will loose out. Players will gravitate to the ps4 and become more attached to it and less likely to get the x1. There is a lot of goodwill that can be earned there and lets face it 20k isnt a huge amount to get into a single emerging market. I think the ps4 distribution is better as they did allocate most of their consoles to the US but then they had the EU launch a couple of weeks later which no doubt allowed them to increase the number of consoles in EU as well as ensuring the hype of the US launch would carry over to EU. By the time the X1 launches in the rest of the markets (which will be sometime in late 2014 if rumour is to be believed?), people will either have moved to the ps4 or moved to something else and I doubt there will be much buzz for the x1.

PS4 launching in 20 more countries than the XBox One. XBox One does not release in Northern Europe and Japan until well into 2014. PS4 selling in 20 more countries and at a lower price point has time to open up a good gap that may be too much for the XBox One to recover.

I think many people here are just disagreeing with you for obvious reasons.

OT: I completely agree. The markets that Xbox One hasn't been introduced yet are not 'as' important as the American/Asian/UK territories. Sony would have been more dominant in the American/Asian/UK markets (where its sales are highest) if they prioritized their shipping. Sony needed to focus their shipments in territories that competed with Xbox One to edge out the competition and then ship to the markets that Xbox One hasn't released in yet. Instead, Sony has huge demand that they can't keep up with in the biggest markets, and Xbox One sales will rise due to the low stock of PS4 in 33 countries. Most people aren't willing to replace a $500 system with a $400 one. Once Xbox gets that sale, that's that most of the time.

Think of it like this people. If you were Sony, would you rather meet demand and sell 10 million in NA through January or would you rather be supply constrained due to units being shipped out to another country that can't buy an Xbox One anyway? I would rather meet demand in the biggest market where my competitor is and then move onto the next countries where demand will be pent up.

Sony seem to be shipping out more this week (Walmart, Best Buy, Sams Club).

Wouldn't everyone love to see MS and Sony's distribution figures?

it is really nice,.. we've had a couple decent ones lately. 

...except mine.  :P

I say 33 was better. Mostly because that's the reason why i have a PS4 right now.

MS has commited suicide in our country where they could have made more inroads into a largely PS country.

I mean the 360 did so well in getting market share and mindshare...they have given all of that away. Everyone is jumping on the PS bandwagon.

It doesnt take much stock to supply the smaller nations..was it really worth it for MS to not compete in those 20 countries? I dont think so.

And to make things worse Sony is selling more PS4's in the main regions where MS decided to focus on...