Sony Re-Confirms Spring 2006 Launch For PS3

A statement from Sony officials, quoted by news agency Reuters, has re-affirmed that the company is still targeting a spring 2006 launch for the PlayStation 3, despite continuing analyst suppositions that much of the world will see Sony's next-gen console significantly later. However, Sony's statement has, once again, not specified territories for the Spring debut. Many analysts still assume that the console will not be released in the West until the autumn of 2006, with Electronic Arts CEO Larry Probst also suggesting a late 2006 Western release in public comments earlier in the month, according to Reuters. Despite Microsoft's recent attempts to manage a global launch and Nintendo’s apparent interest in doing the same with the Revolution, Sony has never suggested it will doing anything similar. The recent launch of the PSP, for example, was marked by a three month period from Japan to North America and a further six month period from North America to Europe. The pattern of a spring 2006 launch in Japan for the PlayStation 3, followed by a pre-Christmas 2006 debut in the West, though not confirmed, follows exactly the schedule used for the PlayStation 2. Although Sony will be keen to launch as soon as possible, so as to not to give too much of an early advantage to the Xbox 360, the speed of manufacture of the console’s Cell chip and other proprietary processors is thought to be a limiting factor, as well as the readiness of the nascent Blu-Ray disc format. A spokesperson for the Blu-Ray format commented to Reuters: "When Blu-ray launches next spring, there will be both hardware and content", but did not specify the nature of the hardware.