It’s inevitable. Sony hasn’t announced it officially yet, but I guarantee it will happen. The current launch sales numbers are even lower than expected. The PS3’s production has been mired with problems with its Cell chip and the Blu-Ray drive (both experiencing extremely low yields). Coupled with the repeated production problems Sony has experienced the last three years (which we’ve previously highlighted), there is no reason to believe Sony will launch its new console in Europe on time. It just won’t happen.
Sony will already struggle to meet its “target” of 2 million units by the end of the year, and will absolutely not meet their target of 6 million units worldwide by the end of the financial year (March 2007). The production issues will simply not allow Sony to ramp up quickly enough to meet the demands of all three major markets (US, Japan and Europe) by March.
I predict the PS3 won’t launch in Europe before May 2007, handing at least a few more months over to its major competitors.
[…] It turns out that contrary to our predictions, Sony will launch the PS3 in Europe in March after all. Some cynics might point to reports of PS3s sitting on shelves in North America, and low sales in Japan to explain how Sony managed to pull off the European launch in time, but that is a narrow-minded view. […]
Left by Inner Bits » Blog Archive » PS3 to Launch in Europe in March After All -- Changing the Games Industry, One Bit at a Time. on January 29th, 2007