PSN Game Delays

PAL customers often have a hard time of it. Delays, higher prices, that sort of thing. So Sony Europe have taken the time to pull up a chair, have a little chat, try and explain some of that stuff.

On the topic of delayed games - particularly those on the PSN - Sony's Angela Madronero says that when it comes to first-party titles, "We know how important this is to you, and I hope that you've seen an improvement in synchronised, worldwide releases over the past six months".

A fair point. But a lot of user rage isn't directed at first-party titles, it's focused on third party titles, Super Street Fighter II HD's agonising delay being a great example. On that topic, Madronero has a refreshingly honest, up-front explanation:

The decision about whether and when to release a game for sale is in the hands of the individual publisher (companies like Capcom, EA, Konami, Ubisoft, etc.).

In the same way that the publisher decides when to launch the disc version of a game, they also decide if and when PlayStation Network content is made available.

There are many reasons why our third party partners may not be able to launch content in one region on a particular time/date; this may be due to technical glitches, digital rights issues, localisation requirements etc. So the issues are a little more complex than may first appear.

We know that there is a lot of frustration when content is released on one store but not another. I can confirm that from a PlayStation Store point of view, we are committed to supporting our third party partners in bringing as much content as possible to the European Store.

In other words, you got a problem with a PSN game delay, you take it up with the publisher. That or the fact there are so many languages in Europe. But, yeah, probably best to start with the publisher.

http://kotaku.com/5335373/sony-europ...blishers-fault