Early reports and rumours seemed to have the PS4 pegged as the early pre-order leader, but the Xbox One has launched in Australia and EB Games is calling it the ‘biggest launch in Australian gaming history’.
No numbers have been released thus far but, according to Debra McGrath, EB Games National Brand, Event and Engagement Manager, the growth in the games industry ensured that last night’s midnight launches were the biggest ever.
“What we’re seeing here is absolutely unprecedented,” she said. “When you’ve got literally thousands of people showing up to hundreds of stores across the country, you know that the gaming industry is a bigger deal than it has ever been before.”
In addition to its seven official launches throughout the country, EB Games opened 317 stores for midnight launches in Australia. Reports state that Australia had more pre-orders per store than in any other country under the GameStop banner.
“We’re proud to announce that this was officially the biggest launch in Australian gaming history,” said Shane Stockwell, Merchandising Director at EB Games. “The overall vibe across the industry is one of absolute excitement. EB Games has been operating in Australia for over 15 years, and we have never seen anything remotely like this before – it’s an extremely good time to be a gamer.”
I think it makes a lot of sense. The market for gaming has grown. It’s been an extremely long time between generations and — perhaps more importantly — these next-gen consoles are far more affordable than they’ve been in the past. In Australia the PS3 launched at $999.95. Dear God. Remember that?
It’ll be interesting to see how the PlayStation 4 launch plays out in comparison. Early consumer research stated that Australians were two times more likely to buy a PlayStation 4 compared to the Xbox One, and rumours suggested the pre-order numbers reflected that research. Will the Xbox One’s reign as the “biggest launch in Australian Gaming history” last longer than a week? Only time will tell.
Comments
86 responses to “EB Games Calls The Xbox One The ‘Biggest Launch In Australian Gaming History’”
Well obviously the PS4 is going to shatter that record. I got an email from JB this morning saying that you can still get an xbone and that I could pre-order the PS4 for next years shipment!
Not to discount the xbone’s success. I bigger industry is goof for all of us.
That is incredibly false logic.
You are assuming that because there is not enough stock of the ps4 that it must be selling more. Until the sales data is shown no one will know if Sony is actually selling more consoles or if they just have significantly less stock than Microsoft to sell at launch (world wide, not just Australia because it WILL sell more here in the end, bunch of loyalists in this country).
Also im incredibly pissed off, then entire microsoft network is down. Their website, xbox live all of it. right as my update was about to finish RAWRRRRRRRRRR.
really? must be just you cause im stabbing dudes in bf4 right now. Try clearing network settings and try again.
Yes this is known, All the microsft stuff went down, something in Azure died and it killed everything from email,office to xbox live and the websites.
Some is online now (like the website) but the XB1 still won’t update.
Haha just as i finished saying this it finally went through.
You’ve nailed it, in a weeks time you’ll see how drastically different the PS4 launch will be to the Xbone. Purely because they can’t fill orders past mid July in Australia
I wouldn’t call it false logic.
Considering the PS4 entered production before the Xbox One did. You would expect both consoles to have around the same amount of stock.
Unfortunately time started production does not equal amount of consoles produced. Yield rates for both consoles are varied, with both XB1 and PS4 reporting issues at some stages on the production line. Also another factor to take into account is the launch countries. Is PS4 launching in more countries come the 29th? I think it is compared to the pared back countries that XB1 is launching in (please anyone correct me if wrong) but that would mean that PS4 stock would likely be spread thin over more countries.
We will know absolutely nothing about who sold more for a couple of weeks after the PS4 launch. Anything anyone says until then is just guessing (myself included)
Yeah PS4 is launching in 32 countries. But the 2 week delay could also have been to beef up supply to those countries.
Yes but that is because you are logically “challenged”. You disagree with it being poor logic and then post a miraculously idiotic assumption, bereft of a thousand factors that essentially make such a conclusion hideously illogical – thus, indicating your opinion on what is logical and what is not has about as much weight as a recent deposit I made to the local sewage system.
i can say for certain that the ps4 will smash th xbone launch, im writing this from my desk at jb hi-fi and the pre order figures are about 30,000 for ps4 and about 10,000 for xbone. those 30,000 are all before christmas this year
Yeah but you work at Jb hifi and all the fu*ck head deros shop there… do you get a free centerlink coupon with the Wobblestation4?
hey if you like shopping at eb and paying the extra $20-30 (most the time at least) for a game that’s your choice. I prefer shopping somewhere that doesn’t take advantage of people that are less informed about game prices. and I work in a shopping center in a suburb full of deros so any store you go in is full of them
I think more gaming enthusiasts will get PS4 and pre-order. I suspect more casual gamers will get the XB1 and not bother pre-ordering. After Christmas is probably the best time to see who’s really ahead.
I’ll get one console but I’ll wait and see how the launches play out first.
I hope people at work don’t know you by “stretch” …
no but its the only place i get called by my real name and not stretch
before xmas =/ launch
Yeah – except we already know that the PS4 went into production first and that the xbox wasn’t able to launch in as many markets. Suggests that Sony is probably better stocked if anything.
The games manager at my local JB Hi-Fi said they were getting 40 xbones and 90 PS4’s. They sold out almost 3 shipments (1 month ago) of PS4 and were yet to sell out of 1 Xbox One shipment.
I woke up and Fifa had stopped downloading… Thought my connection had dropped but obviously Xbox Live dropped out… Either way it was up to 38% and it said “ready to play”
Also on another note was quite pleased when i could play Forza after about 15 minutes of installing – After seeing it needed that 6Gb update I thought it was gonna do that whole 6Gb before installing the disc!! So sexy that game is!!!
It depends on if they’ve built enough units to sell that is. It would seem the demand for PS3s is currently larger, but they could be edged out by Microsoft if there just isn’t the units to supply to people.
Who’s to say xbox didn’t produce more in their first batch making them more available? Or Australia to get more allocation than sony gave Australia. Only time will tell. .
My EB Games store was packed!, and I live in a small town outside the city.
The launch was really good as well, Downloaded the 507MB day one patch in < 10 minutes.
Installed all my apps, installed my games. Had no problems at all!
I went for the Xbox One because the games interest me and I have invested so much time into the Xbox 360, so really its a no brainer for me.
(It also helps that the Xbox was only $50 more than the PS4)
Hey I think I know which rubbish little town you are from? :p
Lucky you, I just managed to get my update started 10 hours after release 🙁
Considering that EB’s PS4 stock will be exhausted thanks to the sheer number of preorders whereas their communication emails suggest that they still have limited stock of Xbox Ones for sale, I’d assume next week’s launch will be even bigger.
Absolutely true. I think you’re right, but it also depends on how much stock is available.
There’s always the possibility Microsoft have provided 50,000 consoles while Sony only made 40,000 available to Australia (just to pull some numbers out of the air to make the example), and so the entire PS4 allocation has been exhausted.
I consider that a small chance because of the 1mil sold in the US last week and with pre-orders jumping straight from launch, to “pre-order for early 2014 delivery!” — might be a flawed conclusion, but I would have expected them to make more available before Christmas… if they could, if we were an as-high priority as pulling good US numbers.
There is another shipment coming to all retailers before Xmas, but most retailers are already sold out of that stock shipment as well.
JB Hi Fi just got more stock allocated, and are accepting orders for the second shipment, but EB Games is all out until early next year.
I would agree with you about the difference in stock levels, except that there is not a single retailer in Australia that is sold out of Xbox One pre orders. Whereas most, are sold out of PS4 stock.
Games are the new Beatles.
Beatles? I’d say Jesus!
Just wait until the PS4 launches on the 29th! It’s going to be INSANE!
Why so people can play Killzone?
Or a few ports?! No thanks – Buy a PS4 next year… This is Xbone’s year and this is coming from a Sony Fanboy!!!! My PS3 is happily hooked up to its younger cousin the XBone and that spot will be filled with a PS4 soon enough but not yet.
Dead Rising 3 is AMAZING as is Forza – Didnt have time to get into Ryse yet but i feel im going to be impressed(even after seeing reviews suggest its a bit stale)
Man, may i ask, what has people so excited about Dead Rising 3 this gen? Seriously i would like to know, is it marketing hype or something i am missing, because the first two were terrrible terrible games (i would go so far as to say the worst game i grabbed last launch was DR, hell Kameo was better).
For an industry that spruiks that it’s basically an even split of male to females, the head image tells a very different story.
Boys love being first.
I’d say guys are the majority of hard core gamers. Gaming is becoming mainstream, and more females are coming on board, but it is a slower uptake for the hard core market.
And hard core gamers are the ones more likely to be at a midnight launch.
I’d say that since gaming is becoming mainstream that there would be many more dudebros at a midnight launch. It’s not like they have a job to go to the following morning.
Or ever.
Moms who play bejeweled don’t need an XBone.
Please don’t become a statistically analysis … ever
It also tells us that the guy with the chicago Bulls cap really isn’t happy with someone!
lol
bulls hat guy is a typical xbone user
I’m also a typical xbone user, please don’t lump me in with people like that 🙂
Don’t be silly the females are are home waiting for the guys to bring the Xbox One home so they can play it, why would you drag yourself out of the house and line up if you did not have to. 😛
Friend who is an EB manager tells me that they have had much more Xbone pre-orders than PS4, simply because there were more Xbone units available to the stores. Lots of people on waiting lists for the PS4.
I’ve got a PS4 ordered, and they indicate the PS4 launch will be very quick come next friday, there just isn’t that many units to get rid of.
WERRIBEE PLAZA
Haha, so it is. I thought it looked familiar.
Why is that audience full of dudebros? >:
That kid near the middle looks like he’s giving someone “the finger”, perfect depiction of the common Xbox gamer 😛
Look at that photo.
Look at it.
Bask on the glory Xbone… wait till we march to get the PS4 3 TIMES!!!
Ebgames have 3 batches… im late so i get third batch… im fine with it…
I love the expression of the construction worker
I feel like he’s going to murder me.
Historical sales figures, date ranges are supposedly first 4 days, but the Nintendo 3DS article mentions week for the Wii.
1st = Wii (32,901)
2nd = 3DS (>31,000)
3rd = Xbox 360 (30,421)
4th = PSP (27,055)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_launch
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/26054
Keep in mind, this is EB talking it up only, so this is the biggest launch that EB has done, or possibly that EB’s allocation was greater than what the Wii sold overall? I can honestly see the XBone burning through 50,000 within the first week here.
The PS4 is certainly another matter, obviously it depends on the allocation to Australia, but nobody expected Sony to ship over a million to the US, so what Europe gets is anyones guess, hypothetically it should be slightly more, so again it wouldn’t be surprising to see us get 50,000.
Is that Jimmy DeSanta?
Look at all the dudebro’s
Its like playing Wheres Wally’s GF! I am going to my midnight launch (ps4 obviously).
Console gaming is dead they said, this will be the last generation of gaming they said.
I wish people listened. I told sooooooooooo many people that this is going to be the biggest generation in history. I mean, it really makes me wonder, all those industry analysts said that console gaming is dead, how did they come to that conclusion? The gaming industry has grown larger then it ever has been, typically industry growth is the opposite of death? Maybe I should be getting paid their huge salaries instead.
I have known for the past year that the next generation of gaming is going to be a Gaming Renaissance. Indie gaming penetration is huge now, the consoles have the best and easiest development environments they ever have, the hardware is market standard for this time period, price points are near perfect, gaming is becoming more mainstream thanks to the commercial success of the mega-brands like COD and GTA. This all points to an incredible period of gaming ahead of us.
Rejoice fellow gamers, it is a good time to be us.
EDIT: Mobile gaming will NEVER replace console gaming, I will guarantee that. Despite what analysts say. It simply never will. Also, physical console boxes will be around for many decades.
I think it was more about saying that “gaming is dead” in reference to publishers forcing developers to cater to non-gamers, trying to nickle and dime their audience with lame microtransaction tactics and making games to be like and appeal to the Hollywood blockbuster movies.
The EB I work at had 150+ Xbone pre orders, we had a few extras that weren’t pre orders, we got rid of all of them before midnight. All we had left this morning were pre order units. PS4’s on the other hand we have 50 pre orders, apparently Sony allocated us that many, the PS4 is going to be a much smaller launch here by the sounds, but hey not the first time we’ve been shafted by Sony sadly.
I don’t get your last line. When was the last time we were “shafted” by Sony?
Also, one Eb games store is not an indication of all EB games stores.
Have you seen the prices on the PSN??? Not so much being shafted by Sony last time… More like still being shafted by Sony.
Never said it was a representation of every store 🙂
Maybe the $1000 pricetag on the PS3?
Thats actually really surprising, the jb i work at is pretty much opposite. we have about 150 ps4s coming day 1 with another 300 odd coming just before christmas but only about 80-90 xbones pre ordered
Well, EB have had ‘Preorder for delivery in 2014’ signs up for ages, so I didn’t bother pre-ordering for something I won’t get for Christmas. JB however had ‘preorder for pickup in-store before Christmas’ , so yeah, I aint gonna give EB my preorder of a PS4.
i was more meaning the 150 we are getting on launch, i understand the ones before christmas scews the numbers a fair bit
Good luck there, all the PS4’s have already been allocated for 2013 in Australia and anyone pre ordering after about July will be waiting until april/may 2014. JB can say they can get you one, but most likely they cannot unless they have cancellations.
Nah man no luck needed. JB absolutely were able to guarantee a console before Xmas. That stopped yesterday. They wouldn’t be using the word guarantee if they couldn’t, trust me.
jb secured a second shipment before xmas, due in between 20th-24th. cutting it very close but still before xmas. as drew said hit allocation Thursday
I work for eb games as well and we have 250 of both consoles, maybe you just work at one of the smaller eb stores.
34th in the country for profits man, 3rd in the region I think, we do really well for a town of 100k people!
Only women play with their Wii…
erh, crap, still haven’t sold my one.
You can tell they’re gamers, most of them are fat as.:)
Really? I just… I can’t understand how anyone can be remotely excited about these new machines. The games are so bleugh. I’m usually excited for a console launch, but this has got to be one of the most boring.
Agreed. We’re primarily PC gamers in my household, but will buy consoles for any decent console-exclusive games. We actually cancelled both our pre-orders last week because there are no games that were even remotely exciting :(. Might pick one of each console up sometime next year if some good games start appearing, otherwise I’m happy with my PC.
Because wow your PC has nothing on these graphics PC gaming is dead look at my awesome graphics of Forza it’s such a huge step up from skyrim on x360 lol @ u
/s
What?
Exactly. There are a ton of people that think Xbox360 > PC in terms of graphics. They are also the same kind of people who’d be mega hyped about this launch, because by their logic they are beating PC by a factor of 25.
The /s at the end means sarcasm. He was poking fun of people who think last generation’s graphics were better than PC.
Ha! That photo is from my local EB’s midnight launch! Neat.
We are just getting better at hyping these events so they will continue to grow…consoles launches have become a rare beastie so no surprises on size…but in reality the next AAA midnight release will prob be bigger again.
Lol so many dudebros. I’m sure if you’d asked them for an informed, unbiased review of the XB1 they’d tell you “It’s awesome and Playstation is s**t”.
I was in a line just like that last night. My honest perspective is that the ps4 is a more powerful machine.
But power isn’t necessarily what I’m looking for out of a console. Mostly its ease of use and an extremely reliable multiplayer network with the best servers for me and my 10+ irl gamer mates to game on easily.
I’ll most definitely pick up a ps4 when an exclusive that I have to have comes out. That’s why I buy playstations. Amazing single player experiences. Not that the ps4 doesn’t have some great multiplayer experiences (even free ones), it does… its just that I can play some of those already on pc.
I’m building the gf a pc for the sims 4 and TES online, which will be fantastic for games that I’m interested in on pc also and smash my current rig. I have an X1 and will most definitely have a ps4 within 1-2 years. But not until I “need” to have it. Say Uncharted 4 and possible another Naughty Dog title. I’m sure I’ll find some weak as piss reason to excuse myself before then anyway. Game on!
My sincere advice is that you buy a Xbox One, not even a PS4. Why? You can see here: http://lovingtheclassicsreviewsite.net/trend/the-5-best-reasons-for-purchasing-the-xbox-one-instead-of-a-ps4/
Bought my Wii U at xbone launch, confused store clerks. WIN