Sony Delays PlayStation3

I don’t know why this stuff interests me so much, but it does.

Anyway, they are cracking open the champagne at Microsoft. Not only does Sony have to delay the revenues/profits it is going to get from PlayStation until pretty much 2007, but they are losing something even more valuable: time.

The video game console lifecycle is about 3 years. Microsoft has taken the initiative and launched in Holiday Season 2005, the PS3 delay will put Sony an entire year behind with the choice of either accelerating the demise of their product (not likely) or accepting a loss of market share.

And all of this just so they could make sure they put the next generation high-definition DVD player into the box. Pretty risky move, given that they are in a format war with Microsoft and Toshiba.

Perhaps Sony thinks that including the Blu-Ray technology in their PS3s will be a way for them to strike the decisive blow in the format war, but it comes at a heavy heavy price. You’d have to know how much money Sony will gain from winning the format war to know if it was worth it.

From the outside, it looks like the good of the games division was sacrificed in the interest of the greater good of Sony the entertainment conglomerate.

Time will tell.