Sony announced its supply of Playstation 4 consoles is experiencing a shortage in the UK, and supplies will be limited until April.
The PS4 sold out before Christmas, and the console is expected to stay in short supply for at least another month, according to CNET.
Sony UK managing director Fergal Gara said he was greatly surprised by the number of pre-orders made for the PS4, Examiner.com reported.
"PS4 pre-orders were obviously strong indicator of what was going to happen, but they were so big 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," Gara said.
The PS4 was released in the UK on Nov. 29, 2013, but was only available to those who placed pre-orders, with a few exceptions, according to Express. Since its release, the console has outsold its main competitor, Microsoft's Xbox One.
Gara said the success of the sales of Sony's console is due to the increasing use of smart phones and tablets, CNET reported. Customers now are upgrading their software more often, making it easier to pre-order games.
"The price differential between PS3 and PS4 is not really as big as it was between PS2 and PS3," Gara said. "But you are also talking about a public that has become used to regular technology upgrades on reasonably expensive devices, like 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."
Gara stated the PS4 will be available in the UK close to April, Examiner.com reported.
"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 said. "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."
The PS4 was released in Japan on Saturday, Feb. 22, according to Cinema Blend. It has been reported the console sold out in Japan within minutes of becoming available to pre-order.
