For the first time in their history Sony will not be releasing the Playstation 4 in Japan before other countries. The Playstation 4 will get a February 2014 release in Japan, way behind the US November 15th 2013 and UK November 29th 2013 debut.

Sony said today that the Playstation 4 will go on sale at ¥39,980 ($400) in Japan which is close to the American price.

This breaks tradition for Sony as they would also release their consoles in the home market before anywhere else. Sony said they decided to wait until next year to debut the PS4 in Japan. They added that it would ensure plenty of games would be available at this state in their home market.

Analysts have already suggested that the decision may already be factoring in that Japanese sales were not so important anymore.

The original Playstation had 18.6% of global sales in Japan. The Playstation 2 had 14.7% of sales in Japan and the Playstation 3 dropped further to only 11.9% of global sales. This is based on data compiled by VGChartz Network. North America is the biggest market for Playstation sales, taking up 33% of global share.

Microsoft are said to be following the same schedule – opting to release their Xbox One in Japan in 2014. Microsoft sales in Japan have always been disappointing however compared to other markets.

Kitguru says: A big step for Sony, many Japanese console lovers will not be too happy with the news.

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