Sony has delayed the European launch of the PlayStation 3 to March 2007. Sony had originally planned for a simultaneous worldwide launch on November 17.
According to Sony, the delay is caused by an issue in the mass production of its Blu-ray disc laser technology. Sony predicts only 400,000 PlayStation 3 machines will be available for its North American launch on November 17 and about 100,000 will be available for the November 11 launch in Japan. Mass production of the machine is scheduled to begin at the end of September.
Sony still hopes to achieve its original shipment goal of 6 million PlayStation 3 units by March 2007. This is despite the fact that Sony now plans to ship only 2 million units by the end of the year, half of its original 4 million estimate.
This is good news for those of you who relish in the misfortunes of Nintendo-competitors, however it's an unfortunate turn of events for the rest of us in the industry, including those publishers who've bet their company on the console's holiday release.
Microsoft also faced supply shortages of chips used in the Xbox 360 console during its 2005 launch. The company released the console in North America first with 400,000 units and followed a week later in Europe with 300,000 units and again a week later in Japan with approximately 159,000 units. These shortages affected earnings of major publishers such as Electronic Arts and Activision. This domino effect of harm is likely to again occur this holiday season with the impending launch of PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii.
Publishers, retailers, and gamers alike are anticipating news concerning the Wii launch. There are unconfirmed rumors that Nintendo has also run into manufacturing problems with the Wii remote control. Can Nintendo pull through or will they too fall into the dark hole of botched next-generation launches? A media event is scheduled for September 14 where we may find out.