Australian retailers receiving more PS4 systems ahead of Christmas

Australian retailers will receive more PlayStation 4 consoles in the lead up to Christmas, and for each subsequent month, to meet demand in the region, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia Michael Ephraim said in a statement today.

According to Ephraim, retail partners expect that supplies of Sony’s next-generation console, which launched in the country today, may diminish before Christmas despite the fresh shipment.

“We will continue to supply the demand, starting in January and every subsequent month until we satisfy Australia’s appetite for PS4,” he said. “In the meantime, we thank our fans for their patience.”

The region’s PS4 console pre-orders were backlogged until 2014, with some retailers unable to fulfill orders until next year. Ehpraim told Polygon earlier this month that backlog was due to underestimating demand for the console.

“So we are working as fast as possible to bring more stock in, Australia is an important territory for PlayStation,” he said at the time. “As we have been saying around the world, the response has been overwhelming and we’ll do our best to bring it in to replenish in early 2014.”

Australian PlayStation 4 pre-sales figures for the next-generation console surpassed pre-orders of any previous gaming hardware released in the country, Ephraim said, such as the PlayStation, PS0ne, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita and the PlayStation 3.