Sony Confirms Another PSP Delay For Europe

SCEE said no firm date had been set yet for the European launch. Amazon.com’s U.K. website said the system wasn’t expected to be released there until June 24 (CED March 16 p7. HMV indicated a June 6 launch. But Electronics Boutique (EB) CEO Jeffrey Griffiths told analysts in a conference call this week that he believed the European launch could come in May. Amazon’s U.K. site said in Feb. that PSP wasn’t expected to ship there until April (CED Feb 10 p5). SCE revealed a year ago that although PSP would ship in Japan by last holiday season, it was delaying the system’s launch in N. America and Europe from late last year until the first calendar quarter this year -- the end of parent Sony’s fiscal year -- to make sure there was strong enough software support from the start (CED Feb 25/04 p2).

The latest delay was good news for Nintendo, which said Thurs. that “nearly 87,000 units” of its Nintendo DS dual-screen handheld game system were sold in the U.K. the first 2 days it was available. About 600,000 DS hardware units, meanwhile, were sold across Europe in the first weekend, a Nintendo of Europe spokesman said. He said those were the most current figures available because Nintendo typically provides results for the first weekend, week and month.

Another delay in PSP’s European release gives DS an even wider lead. Nintendo of Europe declined to comment. The PSP delay was also good news for Gizmondo Europe, which plans a wide launch for its Gizmondo handheld entertainment device in the U.K. Sat. after a limited launch there late last year (CED March 7 p8).

The U.K. DS number didn’t sound that high - especially compared to the U.S. launch, in which more than 500,000 units were sold in the first week (CED Nov 26/04 p4). But the Nintendo U.K. spokesman boasted that the DS launch there topped those of the first 2 days for Nintendo’s GameCube home console (69,000 units), Game Boy Advance (67,000) and GBA SP (47,000). Claiming that DS also “outsold any competitors’ hardware, including the PS2 [and] Xbox” in their first 2 days there, he said DS was “officially the fastest selling console ever in the U.K.” Xbox reportedly saw first week sales in the U.K. of only about 52,000 units and only about 46,000 PS2s were sold initially there.

Nintendo had said it planned to ship 650,000 DS units for the European launch, along with 2.5 million units of game software. Nintendo said more than 3 million DS hardware units had been sold in Japan and the U.S.

The company also reported strong Nintendo DS software sales “across the U.K.,” with its first-party games Super Mario 64 DS and Wario Ware: Touched!, as well as Ubisoft’s Rayman DS the top 3 sellers. But it didn’t provide any software sell-through data.

David Yarnton, Nintendo U.K. Gen. Mgr., called the launch “an unprecedented success, breaking all expected sales figures and even exceeding our expectations.”

A spokesman for U.K. retailer Game said his company was “delighted with sales over the first weekend.” He said Game offered some exclusive software offers for customers who shopped at midnight, as well as bundle deals for all customers in the days following the launch. “As always, the midnight launches were very popular with Game customers,” he said. Also reporting a strong DS launch was Gamestation Commercial Dir. Martyn Gibbs, who said “demand for Nintendo DS has been unprecedented and many of our stores sold out over the launch weekend.” He said Gamestation opened more than 220 stores early across the U.K. “to satisfy gamers who couldn’t wait to get their hands on the DS first.” Neil Martin, head of games at HMV, echoed him, saying that “demand for the DS in HMV’s stores has been phenomenal.”

Separately, Bigben Interactive unveiled an exclusive line of officially licensed Nintendo DS carry cases, including a compact carry case at Pounds 9.99 ($20.02 at $1=Pounds 0.540), deluxe carry case at Pounds 14.99 and backpack at Pounds 14.99 ($30.04), each with the DS logo.

In other Nintendo news, Nintendo Pres. Satoru Iwata told Business Week that software development kits for the company’s next home game console, “Revolution,” were “already out there” for at least some game publishers. He also said the “new interface” for the console, which he told the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco will be backward compatible (CED March 11 p7), “will allow some new forms of innovation.” Pointing out that DS had a microphone, input pen and touch screen,” he said “we have a number of candidates for a new [home console] interface but are not ready to reveal them. All I can say right now is that whatever we choose will be intuitive and easy to use for everyone.”

Nintendo of America (NOA), meanwhile, filed a development proposal reserving its right to significantly expand its Redmond, Wash., hq but said it didn’t now have a specific plan to develop the land, the Seattle Post- Intelligencer reported. The proposal called for NOA to more than double its space, adding about 550,000 sq. ft. in new buildings on a vacant 27-acre site it owns north of its hq. The move might have been an attempt by NOA to make sure neighbor and rival Microsoft didn’t limit NOA’s growth under a development cap, the report said. Proposals by both companies would have exceeded a limit on new commercial development in the area and leave no room for other companies to expand. But the report said Microsoft, in an unusual move, planned to hold about 251,000 sq. ft. of planned space out of its proposal, to accommodate NOA and other companies in the area and stay below the development cap. - Jeff Berman