Japan loses more PS3 units at launch

Sony reduces the number of consoles available at launch

3 November 2006 17:45 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Reports from Japan indicates that Sony is planning to allocate even fewer PS3 units to the launch in Japan than previously thought.

Japanese gamers will have to divvy up only 80,000 consoles at launch, 20,000 less than originally promised. US gamers, in contrast, are scheduled to have 500,000 consoles available at launch, and there are some rumblings that Japan’s units have been cut in order to ensure that the US receives its full quota. Europeans get to twiddle their thumbs until March.

Kyoto-based Dylan Cuthbert, the head of Star Fox Command-developer, Q Games, told SPOnG that “a few thousand unit doesn’t make a difference in the long run. This is especially the case in Japan, where the competition is non-existent in the case of Microsoft’s Xbox 360, or yet to be proven in the case of the Wii”.

Although it’s not clear what has caused this latest delay of sorts, it’s suspected to have something to do with production routine problems in manufacturing.

Full tags

Gaming, PS3, Gaming hardware, Sony