PS3 Delay

There have been some rumblings on the internet for some time now that the production of PS3 was not going as planned and it turns out that these were true. The end result of this is that the PS3’s release in Europe has been delayed from November 17th to a tentative March 2007!

Where have I hear this before? Oh yes, this sounds just like the European launch of the PSP which was originally scheduled to launch November 2004, but was then pushed back to March 2005, then May 2005 and finally July 2005. Microsoft must be rolling around on the floor laughing their guts out.

The launch date for Japan (Nov 11th) and the US (Nov 17th) remains unchanged.

For me this is great news, for 2 reasons.

1) I had decided not to purchase a PS3 on launch as this was going to be released at the same time as the Wii, and the Wii held priority. Not to mention the fact that I wouldn’t have time to play on two new consoles at once!

2) This will mean that the Wii will be the only new console launching (fingers crossed) in time for Christmas 2006 in Europe. A great boost for Nintendo, meaning that they will be able to establish themselves without needing to compete against the PS3 launching around the same time. Also any media attention will be focused primarily on the Wii as opposed to the PS3 (with the Wii as an afterthought).

Now, we just have to wait until September 15th to find out for certain the launch date for the Wii. If Nintendo are sensible, they will jump at the opportunity. Nintendo have always struggled in Europe when compared to the US and especially Japan. This is exactly what they need to build a firm foundation for the Wii. After all, originally the DS and the PSP were due to launch on the same day, and the long delay on the PSP certainly helped the DS establish itself.

What’s even more amusing is that Sony ACTUALLY started their marketing campaign for the PS3 yesterday. That’s one day BEFORE announcing that the PS3 was going to be delayed until next year. Utter, utter madness! Hell I know nothing about marketing, but even I know that’s pretty dumb.

Just read also that for the launch the PS3 will have 400,000 units available in the US and just 100,000 in Japan. That’s absolutely nothing in Japan. The DS currently sells around 100,000 to 200,000 a week in Japan (admirably the nearest competition, the PS2 is around 25,000) so that’s nowhere near enough.

I actually feel quite sorry for Sony.