A recent earnings report included a rather surprising but fascinating piece of analysis, from the highly respected Wedbush Morgan Securities. The report suggests that contrary to almost all official word, may opt to the Playstation 3 until 2007. This shift could only come to pass if a series of criteria came to fruition however; and current popular opinion has a debut in around spring next year - with a North American launch following by the close of 2006. However, Wedbush senior analyst believes that the launch of the this festive season will see the original dropped to a $99 US price point, sparking Sony to do the same with the aging PS2.

On the price cut, the analyst believes Sony are hoping to distract consumer attention away from the next-generation launch: "We believe that the company will attempt to disrupt the Xbox 360 launch with a price cut, and as a result may succeed in diverting attention away from the higher-priced next-generation console." Sony's PS2 can be made for under $99, meaning that the extended life-cycle is good for the company's profits. Next-generation systems meanwhile are sold at loss, and even if the Xbox is cut to $99 this too will be a loss-maker.

Much of Sony's release planning however still hangs on Microsoft's decisions and subsequent performance, Pachter commenting: "Should fail to garner sufficient software support to gain an insurmountable lead, we think that there is a possibility that the PS3 launch will slip into early 2007."

We'll keep you posted on all this conjecture.

By Luke Guttridge

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  1. DooM Unregistered 4 years ago

    That would be a stupid move an a lak in credebilaty for Sony, they anounce a realese in spring 2006.

    When they are pussing back the realese its a bennefit for Microsoft, the userbase will be large. Look now at de DS and the PSP. Nintendo has an advantange that is to big for Sony to overcome. I believe still in a realese of the PS3 worldwide in 2006.