Sony Comments Leave PS3 Euro Launch Date In Question

Comments made by Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison, again speaking on semi-official blog Three Speech, have caused concern that the launch of the PlayStation 3 may be delayed again, beyond March 2007. The blog transcribes comments made in the latest, and as yet unreleased, issue of The Official UK PlayStation Magazine, in which Harrison initially responds to the question of whether the PlayStation 3 will definitely be out in March in Europe. His answer to this question is: “Given that all of our previous statements about launching in Europe simultaneously with the US and Japan turned out not to be the case, I would not like to make any definitive statements on that. It’s not my job to comment on hardware supply issues other than to say some very smart people are working very hard to catch up. In fact, the ramp up is already starting to happen in supply and output, just obviously too late for us to have launched in Europe at the same times as the US.” Europe itself is no stranger to delayed console launches, the PSP launch not taking place until nine months after the initial Japanese debut and six months after North America. The general assumption prior to 2006 was that the PlayStation 3 would not launch until spring 2007, following the same pattern as the PlayStation 2. The announcement and then cancellation of a worldwide launch has caused much confusion amongst European consumers and retailers.