And the reason for that couldn’t be more understandable or obvious: the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. President for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Jack Tretton, has revealed the likelihood of a delay in an interview with Bloomberg.
According to Tretton, some of Sony’s factories in the northern part of Japan have had to close for repairs. Additionally, a number of non-Sony factories that manufacture components for the NGP have also had to close for similar reasons.
The result of all of the repair closures is that the NGP might only make it to stores in 2012 and not holiday 2011 as initially announced. Clarifying his remark, he said: “It may be the straw that says ‘maybe we get to just one market by the end of the year’â€. In other words, Sony might be able to squeeze in an NGP release in just one territory this year. No prizes for guessing which territory that would be.
Tretton was also quick to point out that the flipside to this potential delay is that game developers will have more time to polish titles and get themselves back up and running if they too were affected by the earthquake. It could also mean that by the time the NGP releases globally, there might be a larger release line-up of games available.
Source: Eurogamer
Last Updated: April 5, 2011
