"PlayStation 3 delay --a good thing?"

[Tap In]

more from the New York Times article

While Mr. Kutaragi did not reveal a price on Wednesday, analysts said Sony would probably try to sell PlayStation 3 for about $500. While that is far higher than the $299 introductory price of its predecessor, PlayStation 2 — and $100 more than the Xbox 360 — analysts said that would probably be far below the new console's actual building cost.

Analysts also said Sony was unlikely to have delayed PlayStation 3 unless it absolutely had to, because of the console's prominent role in the DVD format war.
Blu-ray backers have continually emphasized how PlayStation 3 consoles are going to aid their cause by doubling as low-priced Blu-ray players. Toshiba has already announced that it will sell players this year using its HD-DVD standard at around $500. With most Blu-ray players expected to cost $1,000 or more, PlayStation had appeared the only hope for matching Toshiba's price.

Sony has already had a bad couple of weeks in its quest to ensconce Blu-ray as the next standard. In a sign of growing frustration with delays in the Blu-ray format, LG Electronics of South Korea said it might make machines capable of handling both formats instead of the Blu-ray-only players it originally planned.


Some analysts and people in the industry also said that the delay might reflect problems with the Blu-ray format that run beyond the copyright protection delays. Some companies have complained of difficulty finding crucial parts like the blue diode lasers used to read the discs.

Warren Lieberfarb, who helped create the first DVD format in the early 1990's while at Warner Brothers Home Entertainment, and who is now an adviser to Toshiba, said problems with Blu-ray's copy protection are "the tip of the iceberg."

"This is further evidence to anyone who has been through format wars that there is a repetition of premature and fictitious product announcements also known as vaporware," he said.

 

[damisa]

The new york times actually had two seperate articles. I found them online

PlayStation 3 Pushed Back for Delivery in November

Gamers Voice Some Annoyance With Sony


The exact quote was:

In his presentation in Tokyo yesterday, Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony's game division, said the delay was largely a calculated effort to give developers more time to create hit games. But analysts and game executives in the United States said that was a valid explanation only in that game makers do not yet have final PlayStation 3 prototypes to work with.

"Let me just put it this way," said Jeff Brown, an Electronic Arts spokesman. "I don't think we've signaled to them that we need more time."

They have some other quotes from other people also.

 

[Carl B]

That's odd, EA seemed to be one of the publishers that were pretty much set on a fall launch from early on... And EA stuff isn't exactly big in the east, so I'm not really sure where this disgruntled dev is coming from. But, I suppose theres always more to the story than just a couple sentences.

Exactly - regardless of what that particular dev said (and it seems he may have been taking that stance to make sure it was clear to the public that EA themselves wasn't actually behind on anything, where Sony's comments could be construed to mean otherwise) EA was one of the first to come out and say that they expected November for PS3 in the US, I believe during an investor conference call some time ago.

 

[Sethamin]

From a software readiness point of view, it can certainly be argued that the delay is a good thing. But as an overall strategy for Sony, this delay is most definitely a very bad thing. The word of the day here is availability. While a Spring launch would not have directly helped gamers in Europe or NA one lick, what it would have guaranteed that the PS3 was ready and rolling off the factory lines and that production was ramping up. Now, with a three territory launch in November, you can bet that the PS3 will be severely, severely, severely supply constrained. Sony is trying reassure us with claims of being able to produce 1 million units a month, but that's a total fiction. There is absolutely no way they can ramp up to that manufacturing capacity by the end of the year, but even assuming they could, they would still have to start full-scale production in June to even have a chance of getting acceptable supply levels. And I don't think a start of production in June looks very likely; more like August or September.

A Spring launch in Japan would have meant enough units shipped to assure that they would be near parity with 360. With a simultaneous launch in November, they're going to be very lucky to have half their install base by the end of the year. Granted, demand will still be there, but if 360 and/or Revolution are fully unconstrained with respect to supply this holiday season, then they're very liable to lose some purchases to those systems. I can see the software argument and it makes sense, but looking at the bigger picture, you can see why Sony's stock dropped on this announcement.

 

[Carl B]

Well I don't even think we're talking about the thread topic any more per se here. I imagine most of us can agree this delay is worse for Sony than it is better - in fact I think by the word 'delay' alone... I mean anything that takes control of the situation out of your hands and forces you to adjust, that's not a good situation. But to their credit, the best of it that they can.

With final dev kits shipping in June, I don't think it's outlandish to think PS3 stockpiling could begin shortly afterwards. Obviously November will see a very supply-constrained launch though.