Harrison declines to confirm March launch date for PS3

By Ellie Gibson Published 9 November, 2006

Plus: browser and F1 demo news.

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison has declined to offer a guarantee that the PlayStation 3 will hit Europe in March as previously announced.

In an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine, excerpts of which have been published on Sony's "semi-official" Three Speech blog, Harrison said, "Given that all of our previous statements about launching in Europe simultaneously with the US and Japan turned out not to be the case, I would not like to make any definitive statements on that.

"It's not my job to comment on hardware supply issues other than to say some very smart people are working very hard to catch up," he continued.

"In fact, the ramp up is already starting to happen in supply and output, just obviously too late for us to have launched in Europe at the same times as the US."

In the same interview, when asked if the PS3 browser will let users visit any site and download files, Harrison replied, "No. It has to be done through the store. Although it's built on the same technology as the open Internet browser, it's a special version. That's completely understandable from a DRM point of view. But some streaming sites, such as music on MySpace, will work."

Harrison said he is "delighted" that the PS3 is launching with a stronger first-party software line-up than the PSone, PS2 and PSP, adding, "Bearing in mind that we launched PS2 with Fantavision as a first party title - great game though it is - it's by no means the game on which you would rest an entire format."

He went on to reiterate that the PS3 will launch in North America with Resistance, Genji, NBA and Motorstorm, and revealed that a downloadable demo for F1 will be available from day one.

"That's a pretty compelling line-up," Harrison concluded.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SeesThroughAll #1 5 years ago

    OMG!

    Phil Harrison actually being careful about what he says? Did he suddenly develop a brain?

  • tenma #2 5 years ago

    ha!

  • octo #3 5 years ago

    I find nothing compelling about that line up. With the exception of resistance.

  • SeesThroughAll #4 5 years ago

    And MotorStorm.

  • George-Roper #5 5 years ago

    Fucking hell, is anyone actually bothered about the PS3 anymore?

    The availability/cost and initial hardware build (read, first revision hardware issues) are just too much to be fucking bothered with.

  • morriss #6 5 years ago

    Ellie's working late.

  • Beano #7 5 years ago

    "He went on to confirm that the PS3 will launch in North America with Resistance, Genji, NBA and Motorstorm, and revealed that a downloadable demo for F1 will be available from day one. "

    Maybe it should say "Europe" instead of "North America"?

  • Foundry #8 5 years ago

    8/10

  • Nostromo13 #9 5 years ago

    as it has already been stated that there have been substantially more sales of the ps2 in europe when compared to japan i feel that us lot are being royally screwed over. However: genji sucks...i imagine.

  • Steroyd #10 5 years ago

    Title could start a shitstorm.

    /battens down the hatches.

    Might get a PS3 in summer instead, too many PS2 games I want around February. :/

  • Hughes. #11 5 years ago

    I can't see this topping the 1300 posts of the last PS3 delay thread, but it might take the heat of the dwindling Gears review thread.

  • FooAtari #12 5 years ago

    No way are we going to see the PS3 in march, its going to be the PSP all over again. Just you wait...

    As for "compelling", well it's not the worst, but it's hardly a stunning line-up either. But I guess he can't really say anything else.

    Also, let me get this straight, Internet access is restricted??

    It would seem Phil has been to PR school at least.

    @Nostromo13 - Genji has been getting pretty average reviews from what I have seen. Technically impressive but shallow gameplay. A tech demo basically

  • OhWiseOne #13 5 years ago

    Word on the street is September...Oh yes, September. Quality.

    Enjoy wait Pony fanboys!!

  • BartonFink #14 5 years ago

    Oooo Phil being very reserved. I don't know about anybody else but his non statement on Europe and saying "In fact, the ramp up is already starting to happen in supply and output" might actually mean a little earlier than March. Yea I know optimistic.
    The launch line-up is far from compelling though with the exception of possibly Resistance.
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/06 @ 23:27

  • Psychotext #15 5 years ago

    "Yes, it's the last great hope for a proper next generation system."

    You be f*ck*d then.

  • SomaticSense #16 5 years ago

    "Fucking hell, is anyone actually bothered about the PS3 anymore?

    The availability/cost and initial hardware build (read, first revision hardware issues) are just too much to be fucking bothered with.    "

    Scarily enough, yes. I showed a mate my 360 a couple of days ago, it was the first time he's seen one running (he has a PS2). Despite being massively impressed with the realism of NBA 2k7 and literally dropping his jaw at PGR3 ("Wow!! Is that video cam footage, or are you really moving it about yourself?" - at the car selection garage), he still said "Nah, I'm still gonna wait for the PS3". I asked why and his reply was "Well it's Sony innit".

    Seems to be the general British public's reaction as well. I bet most of them STILL don't know the price though, as soon as they do I reckon their opinion will change as a lot of hardcore gamers don't want to pay that price for a console, let alone the uninformed casual ones. No impulse buyer on the planet who is in the right mind will pay that price.
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/06 @ 23:40

  • morriss #17 5 years ago

    As I've said before, in most 'normal' households the word 'Playstation' is synonymous with the word 'games console'. Until that changes, Sony wins.

  • BartonFink #18 5 years ago

    Aye, that or until they monumentally screw up.

  • morriss #19 5 years ago

    I was blown away the first time I saw PGR3. So was me mam. :)

  • Vin #20 5 years ago

    "So does that friend exist or did you just use him to pimp your argument? If he is real he is either a bit easily impressed or not very bright."

    Oh DO shut up.

    And good lord Phil, that ain't a very compellin' lineup.

    With Motorstorm perhaps the exception -- BUY A 360.

  • JayPee #21 5 years ago

    It is sad how quickly you stop noticing how good the visuals are in a lot of games, albeit 360 ones or PC ones.

    But then good graphix should just serve to immerse you more wholly into a game world, and thus if you don't notice how good the graphics are the whole time they have done their job well. (I'm sure even GoW will start to look 'normal' after the first coupla hours). I actually do double-takes in some games (like the RS:V demo) like "shit that looks really frikkin good".

    Wouldn't be surprised if the PS3 goes the same way as the PSP really. Europe a year later. - It's not as if demand will be any lower or supply higher for the PS3 than for the PSP!

  • Drakron #22 5 years ago

    March?

    Ha.

    Expect the "european march launch" end up restocking NA stores.

    July '07 maybe but I am not even expecting that, I fully expect a screw up and the PAL release being November '07.

    Smart of him to decline making any promises since its the so called "smart people" seem to misplaced a entire continent, the fact their Blu-ray player decided to not include then in the same region and Japan and North America speaks a lot of how they see old europe ... or sould we say "rip-off europe".

  • Basselito #23 5 years ago

    ---> rdexter

    You would be suprised over how many people that thinks this way. I have a friend that when got the question on why he's buying a PS3 over 360 or/and Wii this was his answer:

    -"Duh, just enter any games store and look on the Gamecube, Xbox and PS2 shelfs. Which one has most games on them."

    He just takes it sooo for granted that Sony will dominate. Not because of the facts around PS3 but on the fact around Sony's history.

    In my opinion I strongly belive that they are going to sell tons but they will definitly NOT dominate the market. For a couple of reasons:

    They have been screwing up way to much.

    Microsoft actually released a good machine.

    Nintendo are going to take a lot of Sonys family community with the Wii.

  • attep #24 5 years ago

    Dear God Mr Harrison. Just say November and then I can get through the disappointment and enjoy the Wii. Does this mean we'll pay less? I doubt it :(
    Edited by 1 at 10/11/06 @ 07:37

  • Blerk #25 5 years ago

    I still think it'll launch in March. With about 58 units for the whole of Europe, rising to 124 units by the end of April.

  • Xerx3s #26 5 years ago

    So, iow, he is basically saying that he doesn't comment on it because he doesn't want to be caught with his pants down again. A good thing imo. It's definitely a step in the right direction to counter the negative vibe.

  • Xerx3s #27 5 years ago

    Yes, it's the last great hope for a proper next generation system.

    Back to your cave! ;)

  • dadrester #28 5 years ago

    i reckon march, but he's not doing a ken and promising stuff he might not be able to deliver. he he goes on record and says march and then it doesn't come that's another notch against sony. by saying "no promises, but it's looking good for march" he's at least trying to protect sony's dwindling image and his own reputation (which to be fair is pretty good. he seems fairly straight with the facts and not quite such a spin doctor as the rest of the platform holder execs)

  • Tonka #29 5 years ago

    That threeSpeech blog has such a gamesite 101 design.

    Uh let's have dark background!
    Kewl dood. And let's have light grey text on it.
    Awsomez.

    Shame really.

  • Crashmasters #30 5 years ago

    I'm getting that PSP feeling all over again. :(
    They're just not able to solve their issues on the production side in the near future.

    I think they are following a strategy to accomodate the early adaptors in the US and Japan. They're an important target group as far as the launch is concerned.
    If you can't buy a PS3 in the first months after launchdate you loose interest after a while. Sony knows that word of mouth is the best advertising, and that bad worth of mouth can kill a console.

    Seems we'll have to wait another year.
    Too bad Sony lost control of the situation...some months ago.

  • Carpathian #31 5 years ago

    Harrison stands straddling the honesty / muppetry line AND goes on to admit that the browser will basically let you go to only where Sony want you to.

    Even with all the fun (on here et al) this causes, part of me wanted the PS3 to be decent as competition always drives a good market better than one side dominating.

    Looks like little chance of that though.....at the moment, anyway.

  • Pie0hPah #32 5 years ago

    Release in Europe could well depend on how sales go in the other areas.

    America such a massive market it can't be ignored but the take up of the 360 has been pretty good so Sony can't afford to let them get too well established, so if take up is good they will throw most of the stock at it.

    I can't imagine the japanese will be too happy with there allocation at launch but you can't give away a 360 over there, so Sony market dominance is pretty much a certainty, but they won't be able to leave their home territory short for long.

    Europe, is an after thought really, they take their market dominance as granted and as long as people are prepared to accept getting shafted it will continue.

  • Takeuchi_Riki #33 5 years ago

    So what in the world is going to happen to Europe??? First we have SCEI closing Lik-Sang.com for importing. SCEI has prohibited to the EU folks to import JP PS3s!!!!!!! And now we don't know whether or not the PS3 is going to launch in MArch here in Europe!!!!


    Folks don't forget-->
    http://ww w.petitiononline.com/doa4ps3/pe...

  • El_MUERkO #34 5 years ago

    unlike the PSPs launch Sony do have competition, if they dont hit the March window and push it back to Q4 as they did with the PSP then they may lose europe

    cause Q4 is near enough two years from the release of the 360 and M$ could say "Well you could buy a PS3 for £450 or ours for £200" while at the same time they start hinting about how powerfull their follow up console is going to be in 2009

  • T4RG4 #35 5 years ago

    Waiting for ANY game for PS3 to interest me... tick.tock.tick.tock...

    F1 would but its always been shite on PS1/2 and will be on 3 if made by Studio Liverpool again.

  • dadrester #36 5 years ago

    ...the browser will basically let you go to only where Sony want you to.

    no no no! read the damn article again... the browser will let you surf where you want! it won't let you download whatever files you want however, though some media will be streamable (e.g. music from myspace and presumably youtube video content). the downloads are restricted to the sony store which uses a more secure version of the browser. This makes perfect sense as it restricts what content can be put on the hard drive, thus lowering the risk of the system being hacked (which, unforunately for sony, is inevitable at some point)

  • Nobuo #37 5 years ago

    "goes on to admit that the browser will basically let you go to only where Sony want you to."

    He says you can't go to any site to download files, you can only do that through the store. You can view (i.e. browse, stream) pages from anywhere. Otherwise it's not a browser.

    That, or I'm reading it wrong.

    EDIT: ^ Bah, you bastard ;)
    Edited by 1 at 10/11/06 @ 12:17

  • chupachups #38 5 years ago

    "As I've said before, in most 'normal' households the word 'Playstation' is synonymous with the word 'games console'. Until that changes, Sony wins."

    But it CAN change, a lot of people used to refer to consoles in general as "Atari" in the 70s and "Nintendo" in the 80s. Both those companies had 80% to 90% shares of the market and seemed unstoppable, until they were stopped.

    Some people seem to think the PlayStation is also unstoppable and will sell well whatever its like and whatever the price, which isn't true at all.

  • Psychotext #39 5 years ago

    Umm... I was under the impression that Motorstorm was delayed. At least that's the current news.
    Edited by 1 at 10/11/06 @ 13:21

  • sanctusmortis #40 5 years ago

    I've seen the reaction of a normal person with PS3. This, by the way, is a real happening, not one made up.

    My wife works as a youth worker, keeping teen kids off the street and busy. One of the lads said that, as part of adding new stuff to the centre, they should replace the old SNES and PS2 with a PS3 when it comes out.

    Wife: Why a PS3, and not any other? Just out of interest.
    Kid: Because all the games will come out on that. I'm getting one at launch, me.
    Wife: do you know about all the Blu Ray stuff, or the price?
    Kid: what's Blu Ray?
    Wife: a high-definition DVD format.
    Kid: Oh. Do I have to buy all my DVDs again?
    Wife: well no, it's DVD compatible, but if you want to get the best out of it yes. But it is going to be £425.
    Kid: £425?
    Wife: yep.
    Kid: Sod it, I'll just get a 360 for Xmas.

    They identify with the brand, but the price drives them away.

  • brown504 #41 5 years ago

    it better lunch in march ffs if any 1 finds out anything plz e-mail me at sbrown504@yahoo.co.uk

  • Jas315 #42 5 years ago

    "Kid: £425?
    Wife: yep.
    Kid: Sod it, I'll just get a 360 for Xmas."

    Haha what a load of crap.