I'm sure it wasnt until E3- when preorders started- that Sony and Microsoft realized they would need to up their supply. And theres only so many products that can be made in a given time period. And if they had made too many before knowing demand- ps4s and xbox ones would be sitting in warehouses.

The scale of the launches was unprecedented. 2.1m PS4's? It's the biggest launch we've ever seen for a console and its happening alongside a massive launch for the Xbox One as well.

I'm sure both companies are doing all they can to get as many units out into consumers hands as possible and build a strong early install base, but consider the logistics of moving millions of units from factory to retail. I'd imagine it involves an incredible amount of planning and resource management and also a lot of costs. then you have to factor in all the components needed to assemble the products etc.

But surely they were expecting at least 3 million over the xmas period.

They're probably shipping 1M a month. Just think about what it takes to make and ship that many. You can fit ~20 3DS Xl or 40 iPhone 5 boxes in warehouse or boat space 1 PS4 box takes up.

Yeah but if you were looking at pre orders and gauging it at lowest been 3 then why make so few and have the busiest time of the year squandered?

Sony for sure know their was high demand though, I pre ordered in august and still not got mine =p.

Sony bragged about "over 1 million preorders" back in like July or August. And MS said they "had similar figures". Of course they expected the XBone and PS4 to sell that much

The consoles will not have gone into production until final design. As they are mass produced final design itself needs to left as late as possible as it would be expensive and time consuming to change anything once production had started. The production would be the same wherever they are made so it needs to be right once they start rolling off the line. You don't want any mistakes.

Both MS and Sony did a great job producing as many as they did for launch with very few issues. Demand is massive and is outstripping supply, once the initial hardcore demand is finished, things will equalize between demand and supply.

imo both systems were rushed a simple look at the UI will tell you this both lack a lot of basic features the ps360 can do. ps4 is having some HW issues some could be attributed to online retailers handling (imo the ps4 box and HW protection in the box is very poor compared to the early ps3) and even user handling as seen in the Eu launch vids. theres no doubt that there are real HW issues i am also victim of the DS4 rubber wear on the analog sticks along with many others that can be seen on the long gaf and sony threads. there is no excuse that the analog sticks rubber should show wear in 2 weeks or any amount of time as seen by ps1 and 2 controllers

also the demand after launch is quite high i dont think either manufacture saw this if you look at other gens sales

Hardware production and software implementation are different. Final hardware needs to be 100%. Software features can be added, better to get the hardware right. The PS3 and 360 did not start with all the features they now have. The 360 RROD was a real issue because is was hardware based.  Can only say from personal experience, but I have had no issues with my PS4 or controllers all working and wearing fine.