The news is already out: PS3 game console will be released simultaneously worldwide in November 2006. But despite the grand global launch plan of PS3 game console, there are doubts about its market impact. What’s more, game analysts doubt that this global launch can help Sony regain the market lost due to Microsoft’s earlier release of the Xbox 360. There is also a lot of speculation as to why the release of the new PS3 keeps getting delayed.
Although Sony claims that the delays were due to digital rights management or DRM issues, many analysts believe otherwise. Analysts raise more pressing issues as reasons for the delays in the launch of the PS3 game console. Eiichi Katayama, a Tokyo-based analyst with Financial & Economic Research at Nomura Securities, suggests that the delays are likely due to slow progress in developing graphics chips. Others offer reasons such as insufficient appropriate software titles. However, Sony is quick to dismiss these rumors and reiterates the DRM problem for its Blu-ray optical drive.
Blu-ray chips provide the new console with removable PS3 storage capacity that is five times greater than the storage provided by DVDs on older consoles. Reports that PS3’s Blu-ray and DRM feature are nearing completion make them unlikely causes of delays. According to Katayama, ROM branding and BD+ licensing have already started, making copy protection technology an implausible reason. Analysts believe that if the DRM technology actually caused the delay, the PS3 game console’s earnings would not suffer too much. However, if the reasons are what they believe (graphics chip development), the impact on sales is probably the worst in Sony’s history.
Sony contradicts the analysts’ measure of the situation and denies that the delays put the PS3 game console and the company at a disadvantage against Microsoft and Xbox 360. Xbox 360 hit stores last year and remains the best console for games according to market trends. Jennie Kong, director of public relations for Sony’s European branch, defends the company’s strategy, saying that the company is not dictated by the moves of its competitors. However, history supports the opinions of analysts on the matter. It can be recalled that Microsoft and Sony once faced the same situation, only this time, Sony has the advantage with the early release of its PS2 over the first Xbox. Steve Kovsky of Current Analysis recalls that at the time, Microsoft suffered huge losses; Clearly, Sony suffers the same fate as PS3.
If Sony pushes for a November 2006 release, it gives the Xbox 360 a sales head start for the entire year. However, the PS3 game franchise’s problem doesn’t end with the release delays. Rumors and news are circulating that even before the launch of its game console, Sony plans to ban its resale. Different sources claim that Sony plans to sell the new consoles under their own individual licenses. This effectively prohibits secondhand sales in person or on online stores like Amazon.com and eBay.com. In essence, buyers only buy the license to use the consoles; Sony still has ownership of the product. Game analysts comment that this is a logical move, if it is proven to be true. Sony would need all the push it can get to increase individual PS3 unit sales.
The company refrains from commenting on the non-licensing allegations. They maintain that all the major announcements were made during the E3 trade show and that all other announcements would be made at the launch of the PS3 game console. This announcement, instead of putting an end to the rumor mill, only fuels the fire. But as it is, gamers can’t do anything but play their PS3 games and wait.