In what could be but a case of overplayed marketing campaign, pundits are raising the alarm bells saying it is highly unlikely tech giant Sony would be able to launch the much-ballyhoed PS4 Slim in 2015. It was not too long ago in late 2014, that the PS4 was clobbered by its most able competitor, the Xbox, which posted an amazingly successful showing during Christmas 2014 in the US market.
As things turn out, the future PS4 upgrade would come out as the fastest upgrade in Playstation history, a point against its purported more powerful persona - not to mention sexier body. To stir more doubt into the whole murky scenario, Riccardo Cambo, a wanna-be Sony employee, came out recently owning up the photos of the PS4 upgrade and admitting that these were just a product of his imagination - and some Photoshop skills.
Too Powerful Too Soon
In light of its recent unimpressive showing, Sony Playstation Marketing Deparment may be throwing everything on the table to turn the tide back to its favor - a marketing hype including.
Initially, many gaming community enthusiasts are identifying the recent images of the PS4 slim as fake as reported on Geek.
The online tech magazine also emphasized the absurdity of it all stating that normally a slim model takes about 3-6 years to come out, a far cry for the PS4 Slim if it sees market in 2015.
Although the original PS4 - launched in 2013 - is still the world market leader with a whopping 18.5 million units sold, Sony may not be looking good in the console wars lately.
The late 2014 blow came when Xbox One outsold the PS4 on the last two months of that year in a row, NDP figures attest.
As reported in GameZone, Mike Nichols, Corporate Vice President of Marketing for Xbox revealed,"The past year was a fantastic one for the video game industry - and Xbox One ended 2014 with an unprecedented holiday season, becoming the best-selling console in the U.S. in November and December. In fact, weekly average sales during these months outpaced Xbox 360 by 50 percent at the same point in its lifecycle."
Complicating the marketing slugfest even more, PS4 failed to launch on time in China resulting in massive market loss for the Japanese firm.
At this rate, Sony could be losing 2015 in the console wars - lacking drastic measures.
The Curious Case of Riccardo Cambo
And surprisingly another disturbing detail turned up lately: Riccardo Cambo. In a recent report from GamingBolt, allegedly the over-excited artist was just acting on a whim to attract the attention of the Japanese behemoth, putting his 3D modelling ability using Maya. Factor Photoshop and a slew of jaw-dropping skills and voila - out came the PS4 slim model we now see splashed all over the internet.
Unless, Sony Inc. comes up with more formidable evidence, rumors regarding the PS4 Slim launch may remain but an outstanding feature in the rumor mill - but never in reality. At least not in 2015. No, sir.
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