Phil Harrison, head of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, may have made a slip of the tongue when he told Official PlayStation Magazine that he wouldn’t want to make any hard calls as to the feasibility of the PS3’s planned European launch date in March 2007.
Sony followed up by immediately issuing a statement reassuring the public that the PS3 is on schedule for the European launch in March. But in spite of the official line given by Sony, doubts of the PS3 being released on-time continue to surface.
According to CVG, sources within the industry have indicated that a PS3 delay in Europe may push the console’s launch back as far as September 2007 due to more "component shortages." Sony has had a difficult time over the past year in securing enough blue laser diodes for the assembly of the PS3’s Blu-ray DVD player. The shortages were primarily responsible for the delayed launch of the PS3 in Europe. However, in response to the CVG story, a Sony UK spokesman replied and said, "We’re 100 percent on track for a March release."
Although Sony has reassured Europe that they are on-track for the PS3 launch, Sony’s track record, as far as being earnest and forthright about the PS3, has been less than admirable. All throughout 2006, reports of PS3 production difficulties related to faulty Blu-ray players, late dev kits, failed production quotas, system software problems and overheating issues were all denied by corporate headquarters, only to be substantiated by reports appearing later in the press, including here on GamerNode.
Whether the PS3 will make the March deadline in Europe or not is a crucial turning point for the company. If Sony makes the launch date, it will lend confidence to the fact that Sony has finally gotten things under control concerning production issues and internal affairs. If Sony fails to meet the deadline, it will mean more than just missing the launch schedule; it will put Sony in the extremely precarious position of looking like a company that is losing control of itself.
