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PlayStation (Games) Portables (Games)

PSP to Miss EU Launch Date 49

Posted by Zonk from the europeans-don't-play-games-anyway dept.
GamesIndustry.biz has the news that just one day after announcing the U.S. launch date for the PSP, the European launch of the PSP may not happen until after the first quarter. From the article: "Speaking with the news service, Sony's Kenichi Fukunaga admitted that the firm cannot manufacture enough of the devices to satisfy demand in all three major markets - which has pushed the schedule for the European launch back."
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PSP to Miss EU Launch Date More

PSP to Miss EU Launch Date

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  • No suprise (Score:3, Insightful)

    by pikakilla ( 775788 ) on Friday February 04, 2005 @01:44PM (#11573921)
    This is no big suprise. With sony losing 200 dollars per unit (it costs 400 dollars to make), and with the US release date around the corner, it isnt that big of a suprise that the eu date is off.
    • Weren't the PSP's going to be priced about $249 ?
      Makes the loss about 150 in that case ; Still quite a hefty ammount.

  • Gah! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PerspexAvenger ( 671820 ) <[perspexavenger] [at] [gmail.com]> on Friday February 04, 2005 @01:47PM (#11573950)
    This is starting to get old.
    Anyone care to explain why Europe tends to be the second-class citizen for practically all tech releases?

    *miffed*
    • Though it's hardly *fair*, more units are typically sold in the US than Europe, and there's no way Sony is going to push back a local release.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Well, I've been wanting a smart [thesmart.co.uk] Roadster [tiscali.co.uk]in the US for about 2 years now. Where the hell is it?? Yes, I know, it's only one car, and Europe does tend to get the shaft on the tech side rather consistently. But I really think it's just that (a) it's not made in Europe and (b) the European market for this, and other, technological toys is rated small, whether it deserves it or not.
    • Easy. It's due to the number of possible buyers, The number 1 country with electronic consummers is Japan, the rest follow. More or less the table is set like this.
      • 1.-Japan (Asia)
      • 2.-US
      • 3.-Europe (UK, spain, france, etc)
      • 4.-Latin America (we've got a pretty good share of consumers)
      • 5.-Rest of the world

      This is the reason why the PS2 beats the Xbox in sales by about 13 million (instead of a small margin in the US), because the Xbox is (barely) number 3 in sales in Japan and the Japanese market is huge.

      • If you mean the video game market (and not consumer electronic goods in general, because I have no idea), the US market is almost twice as large as the Japanese market [yahoo.com].
      • In terms of PlayStations per population it goes like this: 1 - Japan 2 - Ireland
      • The Xbox is not barely in third in Japan. They are dead last. Not only that, but the margin between the PS2 and XBOX is not that small in other regions. PS2 has sold something like 25 million to XBOX's 10-11 mil and GameCubes 8-9 million in North America.
    • "Anyone care to explain why Europe tends to be the second-class citizen for practically all tech releases?"

      It'd help if Europe used NTSC like USA and Japan does. Not saying it'd solve it, but it'd definitely help. (Note: I'm talking about the video game market in general. For obvious reasons, the PSP is exempt.)

      • NTSC was invented to deliberately be at odds with the EU.

        There is no way on earth we will change to Never The Same Colour, thank you.
    • I can think three things that don't help.

      -PAL Television system (not in the case of handhelds, but it stablishes a trend)
      -The need to translate to several languages, like german, french, italian, spanish in some cases, etc. This also applies to some localizations that may be necessary.
      -Wacky regulations. Think of the changes that games need in order to be published in germany. I remember that Acclaim had to change every human to robots to sell Turok there. Same thing with Contra (Probotector in EU). I don'

  • Imports? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by White Roses ( 211207 ) on Friday February 04, 2005 @01:50PM (#11573987)
    Since there are a few PSP Japan imports floating around the US, what's to stop EU consumers from doing the same?
    • I am waiting to hear the US launch has been pushed out once again.

      Now not to be harsh or anything its like the US is 2nd class and the EU is an after thought. Though I am sure there will be some US units to make it to EU before the launch there.

      • Re:Imports? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Firehawke ( 50498 ) on Friday February 04, 2005 @02:27PM (#11574441) Journal
        That's it entirely. Japan is treated first-class since it comes from there. The US is a large market but not as big as Japan, so it's second-class (doesn't help that the US division of Sony in particular has its head so far up its ass-- 3D gaming only bias, anyone?), however..

        Europe not only needs multiple languages in localization but frequently massive cuts need to be made due to anti-violence laws that aren't uniform across Europe as compared to a single set of laws for the US (Contra to Probotector changes, anyone?) and for consoles there's the whole reformatting to PAL issue.. localization for Europe is considerably tougher than for the US. While the PAL thing doesn't count for a handheld, it's the overall "Japan first, US won't take so long, but Europe will be slow going" mindset.

        I won't be surprised if the US launch date slips for having difficulty producing enough hardware. Not sure if I'm going to be in line for one or not, but I'll probably wait until the initial warfare dies off and it's easier to get one in the stores if I get one at all-- or possibly even wait for the second revision since I've had *really* bad luck with first rev Sony hardware to date.
        • I don't think there's much problem with censorship anymore. I can't think of any massivley changed games apart from Contra (although Ninja Gaiden had some bits removed apparently[1], but not in a major makeover way). Apart from Germany, they're still a bit weird. A couple of years ago the ratings systems were mostly combined (apart from Germanies, and I think a few countries have 'local variations').

          Hell, Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt are both European games (Scottish, to be precise).

          The localisation thing
    • Nothing.

      People that really want them will get them. Normal consumers, won't go through the efforts.
    • "Since there are a few PSP Japan imports floating around the US, what's to stop EU consumers from doing the same?"

      Price.
    • Dubious legality :

      The legality of importing goods from outside the EU without the authorisation of the brand owner was tested last year with the drawn-out Tesco vs Levi Strauss case, which the clothing manufacturer won. Tesco had imported jeans from a US supplier and therefore bypassed the manufacturer's authorised channel.

      Because it dealt directly with a US supplier it managed to keep costs low and sold the jeans at reduced prices, much to the pleasure of Tesco's customers.

      But this was an infringement o

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday February 04, 2005 @02:10PM (#11574247)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • 3.) You get yet another Wipeout and Ridge Racer game, and since there's so few decent launch titles, people actually care.
    • 3) It will produce wave after wave of crappy game, with a few games good enough to make you finally have to buy the system

      4) It will be the best selling system on the market
  • ... because the Q/A testers who make sure they work are having too much fun twisting and popping the UMD drive out of every unit they test.

  • Dont forget also... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    from the europeans-don't-play-games-anyway dept.

    They also don't take baths, brush their teeth, and the women don't shave their pits anyway.

  • They should have launched in Europe first. It isn't like the first half of the year is a major American buying time. The DS would not claim that many more users by June. Sony had the chance to launch alongside the DS in Europe, and I'm a little surprised they didn't take it.

    Maybe they had to localize their games, but I think it was an oppertunity lost. Now the DS will have more than a month head start in 2 of the 3 regions.
  • At least European users will get to see if Sony actually fixed any of the problems with the PSP since the JP launch.

    Personally I plan on going to place my pre-order in the next week. Lost my PS2 when my apartment got broken into and I've wanted to pick up an mp3 player so I'm hoping to kill 2 birds with one stone. Hopefully it won't be killing them with a flying UMD!

  • Dollar vs. Euro? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Not-a-Neg ( 743469 )
    With the current low dollar value, wouldn't it be cheaper for Europeans to buy their PSPs from the US anyway? If you're pissed, just get someone in the states, or an import shop near you, to pre-order all of ours for yourselves! Personally, I'm waiting for the inevitable $50+ price drop that'll probably come in the summer or winter of 2006, and picking up an XBOX and/or PS2 this year to tide me over until the next-gen consoles drop in price as well.

    • Re:Dollar vs. Euro? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Wirr ( 157970 )
      With the current low dollar value, wouldn't it be cheaper for Europeans to buy their PSPs from the US anyway?

      Theoretically yes. But first there is the arrogance of American companies which seem to think that shipping to Europe is not worth the hassle (e.g. Amazon - we can order books from them though) and then there is customs and VAT.
      It's much easier for me to order from an Asian specialist like Lik-Sang, which is what I actually did, after hearing that the European release is delayed.

      BTW: Does anyone kn

  • I'm not going to buy a PSP until I can buy Metal Gear, Wipeout Pure, and Gran Tourismo on it... Pure's release slipped, so frankly, I couldn't care less how far they slip this launch. I'm pissed that they do it to Europe though, and include the UK in it (no PAL/NSTC excuses this time...)

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