Europe Getting PS3 Soon After US

Sony's Euro boss puts the kibosh on talk that there'll be a big gap between the two again.

Until Sony officially confirms when we'll be getting the PlayStation 3, every comment from the company will be examined in excruciating detail. With this in mind, it was encouraging to hear Sony's European boss, David Reeves, recently say that the North American and European release dates for the console wouldn't as far apart as many suspected they would.

"It is my job to match day and date with the US launch," Reeves told trade paper MCV. "I am doing my very best to make that happen." He added that production of the console is "on track".

Until now, many people had assumed that Sony would roll out the console much like it did the PSP, with Japan going first, followed by North America a few months later, with Europe bringing up the rear months later still.

Reeves said last year that he likes to let Europe go last, because that gives Sony ample time to build up stock to avoid shortages and to iron out any hardware bugs.

This is not the first time Reeves has said the Western launches wouldn't be as separate as before. Speaking at the International Games Summit in London last year, Reeves said that the North American and European launches wouldn't be as far apart as most people thought.

For now, though, it seems that Sony is asking us to put our faith in the company.

"There are so many rumours out there but no-one really knows the facts," Reeves told MCV. "I know what's going to happen and I am honestly very, very confident about it."

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games