Following Sony’s announcement of the delay of the upcoming racing simulator Gran Turismo 5, has been many disgruntled Japanese gamers. So speculations all over the web on what the reasons for the delay could be are making their rounds. Speculation that it could be because of the sheer size of the game or buggy problems etc.
An article on Geeks today got my attention on what several analysts have speculated, and being in the ‘large corporate budgets’ environment myself, it actually makes sense. Sony have announced figures that show Playstation 3 sales figures have been very steady, and with the recent success of FF XIII in Japan Sony may have met its fiscal target for the unit in 2009 and therefore can afford to roll over the massive title to help keep the revenue for the next fiscal year steady. They may also be confident in the success of God of War 3, Dark Rain and Bayonetta revenue that will keep console sales relatively buoyant through the next few months. So such a massive title like GT5 is guaranteed to bring in the numbers and therefore giving Sony an additional boost into the 2010 fiscal year which starts in April.
Those of you in large-budget sales will know that it is not uncommon, even from month-to-month budgets, to roll over potential turnover once you have made budget. It’s always good to start a new budget with a boost.
This is of course calculated speculation… but I for one would not be surprised if it is the reason.