Sony announces release date for PlayStation 4

Sony revealed that the PlayStation 4 is due out Nov. 15 in North America, the publisher announced during its press event at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. In Europe, the console will launch Nov. 29.

The PlayStation 4 is Sony’s next-gen home console. It retails for $400, which is $100 cheaper than Microsoft’s Xbox One (and which doesn’t have a release date yet, though Microsoft has said it’s coming out in November). The Nov. 15 release date is important — it’s two weeks before Black Friday, which is Nov. 29 this year. Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and electronics dominate such purchases.