Sony Shortens Shipment Forecasts for PS3 Launch... AGAIN

Reports that Sony will miss initial shipment targets for the Playstation 3 are not just confirmed - they're brutal. Or at least in Japan, anyway - and that's where Sony has already dropped the second-worst news to future PS3 owners (with the worst still being everything other than the U.S. and Japan, which are already waiting until March to get their PS3 consoles).

According to a report from IGN, initial shipment targets for those under the rising sun have been reduced from 100,000 to just 80,000. That's based on news from the Japanese newspaper Nikkei Keizai Shimbun in today's morning edition that "due to component shortages, Sony will have only 80,000 units ready for the PS3's 11/11 Japanese launch. This cuts back by a fifth (or about 20 percent of) the initial launch target" that Sony originally planned. Ouch.

In fact, reaction to the report must have been equally brutal for Sony. GameShout reported that you can "add to this their problems with the battery recalls and Sony is now facing a 94% profit loss this quarter, and now [with] the troubles in the gaming division [this] will [only] add to Sony's woes" even more. Afterdawn.com said that because of the uncertainty ofer the PS3, Japanese retailers "have obviously had problems with their preorders," but more on that in a minute. Sony itself, and Sony Computer Entertainment America vice president Jack Tretton in particular, recently have gone on record to state just how tough a time they're having in trying to even get the PS3 out the door as well, adding that "Clearly we've had production issues." And HEXUS.gaming reports that "the North American launch was set to see 400,000 units hitting online stores and shops on November 17th, but these figures are now looking [to be] extremely difficult to meet."

And like I said, preorders for the PS3 in Japan are fast becoming a hard sell because of all the shortages. Afterdawn.com says that "the Japanese Nikkei claims that Tsutaya Online ended preorders after only six minutes and Amazon Japan after 20 minutes." And IGN adds that some "major [Japanese] electronics chains like Yodobashi Camera won't be taking pre-orders... so there's only one option left: line up the day before launch. Although with fewer units to go around, we're considering getting in line starting from the week prior."

Thankfully, U.S. customers can still take heart in knowing that they will not be affected by the shipment cuts at the present time - launch shipment numbers for North America still remain unaltered at 400,000 units on November 17th.