Sony halves PS3 shipments in 2006, delays launches
updated 11:05 am EDT, Wed September 6, 2006
Sony Halves PS3 Shipments
Game enthusiasts and investors alike were concerned when Sony maintained its claimed goal of shipping 4 million PlayStation 3 systems by the end of 2006 despite idle production lines as late as last month. Such anxieties were justifed today when Sony announced it would drastically scale back the number of PS3 consoles available this year, according to Gamer Scan. Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi said that only 2 million PS3 systems would be produced by the end of 2006, with 500,000 of those systems available by the official mid-November launch window. The smaller production figures have forced Sony to delay the launch of the console for all regions outside of North America and Japan until March 2007, when the company expects manufacturing can properly supply all regions. The company attributes the altered launch estimates to manufacturing problems with the blue laser diode at the core of the Blu-Ray drive used in the system.
