Europe denied PS4 until 2014?

Sony could be set to deny European gamers the next-generation PlayStation 4 until 2014, despite the console's rumoured release later this year in the US and Japan.

According to a report by Edge-Online, the next PlayStation console will hit American and Japanese shelves later this year, while Europe will see the console arrive at its retailers in early 2014.

While many gamers overseas will be able to enjoy the PS4, codenamed 'Orbis', next Christmas, Europe's release has been delayed due to "complexities involved in European distribution".

Speculation also suggests that the new console's controller will feature a 'share' button that will, when pressed, distribute screenshots and video clips online.

Last week, Sony teased an upcoming announcement for February 20th, inviting gamers to discover "the future".

It was later revealed by the Wall Street Journal that this announcement would be to herald the 2013 release of the rumoured PlayStation 4.

The report claimed that Sony's flagship device would be timed to compete with Microsoft's next-generation Xbox – which is also said to be announced for this year.

Both companies' consoles are set to butt heads later this year over the lucrative Christmas market, however, it remains to be seen whether Sony's "complexities involved in European distribution" will disrupt Microsoft.

James Lee

@JeopikGoogle+more stories from James Lee

James Lee is a freelance writer and analyst with extensive experience in the technology, media and games sectors. For the past few years he has provided content for internationally published industry reports, SEO companies and a variety of news-focused websites. Prior to this, James was responsible for covering news and producing in-depth features for GamesIndustry.biz while occasionally contributing to its sister-site. Eurogamer.net. In addition to this he has contributed to other notable sites such as CVG.co.uk, Edge-Online and DigitalSpy.