Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
PlayStation 3 “didn’t do quite as well as it should have” in the UK, Fergal Gara has told VideoGamer.com, explaining that the high price and 15-month gap between the launch of PS3 and Xbox 360 may have impacted the console’s chances of success.
Asked during Gamescom whether he thought Sony could reclaim market share in the UK with the arrival of PlayStation 4, Gara said, “If it was all about day one then the answer would probably be yes.
“The truth is it’s a long game. Let’s not forget that PS3 launched a long time after Xbox 360 and didn’t do quite as well as it should have done. But from being so far behind on timing and on pricing it’s delivered quite respectably despite all of that.”
PS3 launched in the UK on March 23, 2007 for £425, four months after its initial Japanese launch and fifteen months after the Xbox 360 arrived in the UK.
PlayStation 3 hardware and software has been consistently outsold by the Xbox 360 equivalent in the UK. However, it was reported by MCV earlier this month that PS3 hardware had been outselling Xbox 360 over the course of the summer – largely down to the launch of The Last of Us.
Nevertheless, Gara seems confident that PS4 will go some way to boosting Sony’s slice of the UK market.
“We’re very conscious that it’s a long game,” he continues, “we’re very satisfied that we’re doing very, very well right now, but we’re also not getting carried away with ourselves, not getting in any way over-excited. It is a several year project. It doesn’t start and finish on November 29. That’s an important date but it is the start date.”
PlayStation 4 launches in the UK on November 29. The console has already reached over 1 million pre-orders.
