PS3 Allocation Talk Is Bogus Says Sony
That figure you've been hearing is wrong, says Sony, and its previously announced estimates are still on.
Many people felt their heartbeat soar when rumours hit the net last week that Sony would not having many PlayStation 3s to go around on launch day. Only 150,000 units would be available in the UK, or so the line went. But Sony has called foul.
"Any stories about PS3 allocations is purely speculative," a Sony spokesperson told Kikizo this week.
The representative did, however, confirm that Sony is on track to launch with 2 million units worldwide by November, with 2 million more to come by Christmas and another 2 million by the beginning of spring.
Despite the high launch price, most observers expect stock to be scarce come Christmas.
(The PlayStation 3 will come in two models when it launches in November: one for $399/€399 that has a 20 GB hard drive and another for $499/€499 that comes with a 60 GB hard drive, an HDMI connector, wireless networking capabilities, and slots for consumer memory cards. Sony hasn't yet nailed down the British launch details.)
Retailers in the UK are wary of a repeat of last year's fiasco when Xbox 360 hardware was impossible to find. Some have started taking pre-orders with the caveat that they could only deliver the console after Christmas.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games