Sony Corp, the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, said a delay in sales of its PlayStation 3 video game console can't be ruled out after Merrill Lynch & Co reported a postponement of as much as a year.
"There is always a possibility of a launch delay, but at this stage we are still aiming to launch in the spring," Satoshi Fukuoka, a spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, the company's games division, said in Tokyo. He said adding features such as the Blu-ray high-definition player may "affect the launch date," without providing specifics.
Any delay would give Microsoft Corp and Nintendo Co time to win market share with their new consoles leading up to the Christmas sales. Sony, which is adding the Blu-ray DVD format and the faster Cell chip to the PlayStation 3, is facing about US$900 in costs to make the device, more than double the retail price of Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console, Merrill said.
"Given the increasing competition from Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony can't afford any delays that may help its rivals get ahead," said Taiji Yoshida, who helps oversee US$6.7 billion at Yasuda Asset Management Co in Tokyo.
Sony may start selling the PlayStation 3 in Japan in autumn and by late this year or early next year in the US, Merrill Lynch's Joe Osha said in a report dated Feb. 17. Costs for making the PlayStation 3 may drop to US$320 in three years, Osha said. Sony doesn't comment on the machine's price, said Kei Sakaguchi, a Sony spokesman in Tokyo.
Sakaguchi had earlier said today that there was "no change" to the spring launch of PlayStation 3.
Shares of Sony fell 3.6 percent to ?5,300 (US$45) at the 3pm close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, following a 3.6 percent decline on Feb. 17. The two-day slide is the biggest in 10 months.
Merrill Lynch's Tokyo-based analyst Hitoshi Kuriyama on Feb. 17 downgraded Sony's stock to "sell" from "neutral." At Bic Camera, a nationwide Japanese electronics store, no preparations have been made for a PlayStation 3 release, said Yumi Kawahara, the retailer's spokeswoman in Tokyo. Microsoft began in-store advertisements for Xbox 360 almost two months before its Dec. 10 release in Japan, she said.
Sony in 1999 provided the sales date of its PlayStation 2 almost six months in advance.
Sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 machines may rise to more than 10 million units by December, because of a Sony delay, Merrill said in the report. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is on track to sell 4.5 million to 5.5 million consoles by June after overcoming component supply shortages, the company's Financial Officer Christopher Liddell said last month.
Microsoft loses about US$153 on each Xbox 360, which retails for between US$299 and US$399, researcher iSuppli Corp said. The Xbox 360 went on sale in November last year.
Nintendo's Revolution console may sell for less than US$300 and will go on sale before Thanksgiving in November, Reggie Fils-Aime, executive vice president marketing for Nintendo America, told Cnet News.com last month.
Sony is counting on Blu-ray as one product that can help fuse its unprofitable electronics business with its movie unit as rising sales of larger flat-panel TVs drive demand for high-definition video content.
The PlayStation 3 will also include the Cell chip developed by Sony, International Business Machines Corp and Toshiba Corp.
The Cell allows more lifelike or intricate game graphics by using multiple central processors to speed operations.
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