A recent EA earnings report included a rather surprising but fascinating piece of industry analysis, from the highly respected Wedbush Morgan Securities. The report suggests that contrary to almost all official word, Sony may opt to delay the Playstation 3 until 2007. This shift could only come to pass if a series of criteria came to fruition however; and current popular opinion has a PS3 debut in Japan around spring next year - with a North American launch following by the close of 2006. However, Wedbush senior analyst Michael Pachter believes that the launch of the Xbox 360 this festive season will see the original Xbox dropped to a $99 US price point, sparking Sony to do the same with the aging PS2.

On the PS2 price cut, the analyst believes Sony are hoping to distract consumer attention away from the next-generation launch: "We believe that the company will attempt to disrupt the Xbox 360 launch with a price cut, and as a result may succeed in diverting attention away from the higher-priced next-generation console." Sony's PS2 can be made for under $99, meaning that the extended life-cycle is good for the company's profits. Next-generation systems meanwhile are sold at loss, and even if the Xbox is cut to $99 this too will be a loss-maker.

Much of Sony's release planning however still hangs on Microsoft's decisions and subsequent performance, Pachter commenting: "Should Microsoft fail to garner sufficient software support to gain an insurmountable lead, we think that there is a possibility that the PS3 launch will slip into early 2007."

We'll keep you posted on all this conjecture.

By Luke Guttridge

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  1. DooM Unregistered 3 years ago

    That would be a stupid move an a lak in credebilaty for Sony, they anounce a realese in spring 2006.

    When they are pussing back the realese its a bennefit for Microsoft, the userbase will be large. Look now at de DS and the PSP. Nintendo has an advantange that is to big for Sony to overcome. I believe still in a realese of the PS3 worldwide in 2006.