Sony Japan says earthquake will not delay NGP

[wraggster]

A Sony Japan spokesperson has denied reports that the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan will delay, or at least stagger, the release of the NGP later this year due to damage to production facilities.
Comments to the effect that the release would be delayed had been attributed to SCEA president Jack Tretton (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-04-05-japanese-earthquake-could-stagger-ngp-launch) in an interview with Bloomberg.
In that interview, Tretton said that the earthquake "may be the straw that says 'maybe we get to just one market by the end of the year'".
However, SCEJ spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka has now claimed that the disaster has not affected production, saying "So far we see no impact from the quake on our launch plan" and calling Tretton's assertion "wrong" in a statement to Nikkei (http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110405D05JF001.htm).
Nonetheless, it would appear that a staggered launch, beginning in Japan, might have been the plan all along, with Fukuoka seeming to imply that that plan would still go ahead.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-04-07-sony-japan-says-earthquake-will-not-delay-ngp

[Qmark]

Trying to release worldwide all at once is just silly anyway, even under optimal conditions.

[Fonixx]

Japan's used to playing second fiddle with Sony always releasing in US and Europe first anyway, so probably just business as usual.