"Do you accept it as a possibility that someone unable to find a ps4 in say the US or UK may buy a One instead?  is that a possibilty... a simple yes or no?"

okay, i see your point but really, how many people do you think are actually going to be swayed by that?  when i went to the store 2 holiday's ago to buy an iphone did i walk out the store with a windows phone or android because the iphone was out of stock?  no,.  i already had made up my mind and so i bought the iphone and had them ship it to me even though i had to wait a month.

today's buyers are early adaptors and by-and-large are going to be the most knowledgable set of consumers.  so when going down the list of purchase considerations: price, games, OS features, ect.   ..it's hard to imagine too many people being swayed simply bye "well this one is here now".  yeah, there are always expections but i'll be waiting for a ps4 even if i have to wait until next holiday for one.   ...just like i waited for a wii.

the consumers that are less knowledgable and make up their minds at the store,.. those are going to be in general more "casual" consumers who by-and-large won't be buying this holiday on a library of 20 games and a promise that more will come.  they'll be the ones buying next holiday when each of these devices have a decent library to play right now.

so is it a "possibility": yes.  is it a large enough number of consumers to make it a smart choice for sony to not launch in those other 20 territories so they could flood US/UK with another ~100k consoles instead of taking complete control over those 20 territories: hell no.  ps3 overtook the 360 on the strengh of those "lesser" territories and those "lesser" territories is why ps4 is going to run away with the WW market when xbone is only competive against ps4 in 13 territories.

imo.

actually, let's say it another way.  xbone is more or less selling out even in just 13 markets.  by your logic,.. wouldn't it have been a smart choice to delay  another 11 territories and only launch in US/UK so they can ensure each and every person that wants their console get's one and the rest of the world can wait until next year?   by your logic that would be the better choice no?

so you mean they plan on sending even less units to the eu now then the current 150k?

After all the data we currently have 2.4 PS4 and 1.9 One with the One outselling the PS4 almost 2-1 in the last 2 weeks of data, it would looks like MS has done really well in the US and it looks like MS is catchin up. So I think the strategy for MS to focus on his biggest territory was the right one. But news just came it that WallMart is getting their biggest shipment yet and Target too for the PS4. So it would look like Sony realised it cannot afford to not meet demand on the US. Demand doesn't equal sales, it is still demand. People might have walked in store looking for the PS4 (demand), could not find it and decided to go with the Xbox One. Sony would not like that to happen a lot, especially in the US.

When have you ever listened to other people 😉

I really do believe the amount of people switching purchases in the major markets is minimal at best. Both are selling out relatively quickly. As you say come back in 12 months and let's see 😊

sorry for multiple posts bloody iPhone and vg chartz....

The PS4 is not out in those 33 markets yet though, at this moment it has released in 22 countries (but tonight it will be released in 27-30 though :p)

Possibly wouldnt hurt to much, MS are only sending 60k, dont want to fall to far behind in america.

Honestly, I would in theory agree that releasing in the biggest territories first and leaving some smaller countries out to have more supply for those bigger territories is the smarter way of doing things. I don't think that very many people will change their mind and buy the more expensive X1 over the PS4 because it's in stock though, some will but not enough to make a real difference.

But seriously, I don't see how it even matters in this case, neither of these consoles is getting a significant advantage over the other this holiday season, in none of the markets. Both are doing well now and in the long run it really doesn't matter who comes out on top this christmas, the generation could still go to either of the two.

No one is going to buy something they do not want.  Whether the consumer prefers a PS4 or an Xbox One and that consumer wants both, it doesn't matter at this stage which one gets purchased first.  So while PS4's are hard to find, a consumer buying an Xbox One in place of a PS4 is not necessarily taking the sale from a PS4.  At this stage, both are going to sell out whether one sells out fater than the other.  So it really isn't an issue just yet.  No one is going to say, "Oh, darn.  I have to buy this console because the one I really want is out of stock."  That would be unwise (idiotic) spending.

Nail on the head kow. Great thread.

It is right now launched in 33 countries... at the end of the year (there are two more release dates 12.12 and 17.12) the count will increase to 40 or 42... I don't remember now.