Our friends over at PS3 Week have dissected an article from CNN claiming that Sony must launch the PS3 soon.

Personally, I don’t think there’s any “must”. If Sony launches the player late (gasp!) they can still make it successful. It just means a lot more work to do so. They’ll need to gain marketshare from a distant second position. That’s totally do-able. There are lots of people out there waiting for the PS3. When I pre-ordered my PS3, the clerk I was talking to said he was waiting for the PS3 as well, even though there were some Xbox 360’s for sale right behind me. (What shortage?)

So given that so many people are waiting for the PS3, I think that it’s really in Sony’s hands to screw up. They could bungle the PS3 if they really wanted to, but to make it succeed won’t be that hard. Just release the machine, and people will buy it. There are already 103 games in development for it. (Probably more now.) The question becomes: does the word “success” mean “doing better than the 360” ? I don’t think it has to. But if that is the measuring stick we must use, then maybe I’m wrong about all this and Sony should come out sooner rather than later. Sony will win Japan. But North America is up for grabs.

PlayStation 3 Week – What’s wrong with fall?