Phil Harrison Defends PS3 Launch

Plus there's good news for the Euro launch too.

Between hardware delays, hording and problems getting enough onto shelves, the launch of the PlayStation 3 has not gone as smoothly as Sony may have liked. Just don't tell Phil Harrison it wasn't successful.

The Sony executive was in Las Vegas on Thursday for a Q&A session with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, at the opening of the D.I.C.E. Summit, during which he defended his fledgling console.

"By what measure is the launch of PS3 unsuccessful?" he asked, in response to comments from Valve's Gabe Newell that the launch had been a "total disaster".

"We had people lined up in stores in three continents," Harrison said, according to a transcript at Gamasutra. He did, however, admit that Sony "can always sell more".

Harrison took heat for Sony's online system too, which many have called inferior to Microsoft's second-generation Xbox Live. He responded by saying that Sony would be updating the PS3 over time, much as it has done with the PSP.

"The chipset stays the same but what it does in software changes over time," he said. "We'll continue to refine [the PlayStation 3 Network], not just for developer experience, but for consumers too."

One of the features PS3 owners have begged for is support for background downloads. Right now owners are forced to watch a progress screen, rendering the system useless while downloading content. During the session, Harrison showed off how background downloads work in the PS3 version of SingStar.

It's not clear whether this is something that is being readied just for SingStar or whether it would be an upgrade to the system. Sony could not confirm whether the PS3 will be updated to support background downloads by the time the system launches in Europe in March.

And will that launch follow the shaky trend set in Japan, Asia and the US, where stock was hard to come by at first? Harrison seemed confident it wouldn't. Sony said it would have a million PS3s ready for the European launch.

"The boat with the first supply is on its way from China as we speak," Harrison said. "I think it's a fantastic achievement."

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo