Sony’s commitments on PS3 falling through?

Posted on February 27th, 2006 by PS3Vault

Rob Fahey, a regular writer for Gameindustry.biz, has written a comment in regards to Sony’s commitments on PS3. This commentary focuses specifically on Sony’s promised delivery date of PS3 which is supposedly due out in the spring of 2006. So far, Sony has not broken any of the commitments they had made since the beginning of PS3 propaganda. However, confirmation from reliable sources suggests that the delay of PS3 launch is inevitable and could possibly be pushed further back to spring of 2007.

All of that may be about to change. Every sign now suggests that Sony is about to break the first of its PS3 promises - specifically, the very tentative “Spring 2006″ date which has been attached to the system since the very first official pronouncements were made about the PlayStation’s next-generation sibling.

The problem is that the first day of spring on the calendar falls next Wednesday, and from that day Sony has a three-month window in which to launch the console, at least in some form, in order to make good on its commitment. That may not sound unreasonable, but bear in mind that as yet we have no idea what price point is planned for the console, what territory is to be targeted for launch first, what software will be available, what the marketing campaign will look like or even whether the system is being manufactured as yet.

Despite this, Sony is adamant that it will get the machine out the door on schedule. Third parties are less convinced, and we know of few if any in the west who are working on products for a Spring release - although we can’t speak for Japanese publishers, who for all we know could be supporting a Spring launch to the hilt, however unlikely that may seem. Retail, meanwhile, is preparing for an autumn / winter launch for the system, and the industry in Europe is hopeful of a pre-Christmas launch, but will express little surprise if we end up seeing the PS3 in March 2007 - despite constant assurances to the contrary which European publishers claim to have received.

If Sony indeed breaks one of the commitments, this one is the biggest of all. The timing of properly released consoles in the past have either made or broke the companies. Microsoft Xbox 360 is quickly gaining market share in U.S and Europe and another delay could possibly hurt Sony more.

Read rest of the comment