ALKHOBAR, 7 September 2006 — In a shock announcement, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has advised local distributors that it has revised the launch date of its PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system in the PAL territories of Europe, Russia, Middle East, Africa and Australasia from Nov. 17, 2006, as previously announced, to March 2007.
Launch dates for Japan and North America will remain the same, which are Nov. 11 and Nov. 17, 2006 respectively. Even though there was no official commentary on the specific reasons for all available product being allocated on schedule to the North American and Japanese markets, it is apparent that Sony felt it could not afford to be absent from the Christmas shopping season in North America and the company didn’t want to offend consumers in its home market.
Sony stated that the revision of the launch date in the SCEE territories is caused by the delay in the mass production schedule of the blue laser diode within the Sony Group, thus affecting the timely procurement of key components to be utilized in PlayStation 3. The company advised however, that even with the delay, that the previously announced PlayStation 3 shipment forecast of six million units globally within the fiscal year ending 2007 is not changed.
The delay will once again cause enormous grief for Sony’s official Middle Eastern distributors, as they will lose sales. Gamers desperate for the PlayStation 3 are certain to turn to the grey market to purchase the machines. A similar situation occurred in the Middle East when the PSP was unavailable for purchase through official channels for nearly a year after it was launched in the in the Japanese market. The PS2 launch was also a debacle with the majority of machines initially going to the North American and Japanese market. Sony had planned to launch the PS3 in the region at the huge GITEX IT trade show to be held in November in Dubai. “It’s just the same old thing again,” said Noor Ahmad Shinwari, a teenage gamer in Riyadh. “It won’t matter. The day after the PS3 launches in the US, we’ll go out to the market and the machines will be available here for double the US price.”
