Sony UK chief Fergal Gara has confirmed that PlayStation 4 stocks in the UK will remain limited until April.
The console, which has sold better than expected since its launch in November of last year, has been difficult to get hold, with demand far outweighing supply. Gara confirmed that Sony expects the PS4 to be more freely available in April.
"I can't work it out precisely. But based on what I've seen so far, I think it is going to be tricky until around about April. You might get a fortnight or a week here or there where it is more available, but we should be back to free supply by about April," Gara told MCV.
"That's our best guess. It might be a little earlier than that, or it might be a little later. But we'll get there."
Gara also commented on the success of the console, saying that sales were so good relative to pre-order interest that "we were pinching ourselves and wondering if people were pre-ordering in more than one place, and if some of these pre-orders were real.We were getting numbers we never imagined, let alone seen before. But it proved to be real. How do I reconcile that? I think the world has changed since we launched PS3."
He continued: "The price differential between PS3 and PS4 is not nearly as a big as it was between PS2 and PS3. But you are also talking about a public that has become used to regular technology upgrades on reasonably expensive devices, likes tablets and smartphones. So there is a comfort level with upgrading that meant consumers were ready earlier and there was a pent-up demand that we couldn't anticipate. It's been a pleasant surprise."