Jack Tretton Suspects The NGP Will Only Launch In One Region This Year. Cross Everything That Its Your Region.

You may remember Tretton making a similar comment around the same time as the device's announcement. Back then Tretton suggested a worldwide launch would be unlikely. Now the exec seems to think that the device would be hard-pressed to get out of a single region.

"It may be the straw that says 'maybe we get to just one market by the end of the year,'" the SCEA president told Bloomberg. The website reports that damage from the earthquake and tsunami has slowed Sony's production line by forcing the closure of "several" factories in Northern Japan.

Of course, with only one region likely, it begs the question — which? Europe has been particularly kind to Sony this generation, but additional localisation of software and manuals will probably put the territory last. Which leaves North America and Japan. PSP is undoubtedly king in Sony's home turf, but the recent disaster and continued success of the current PlayStation Portable suggests the platform holder they could skip a domestic launch in favour of the US. Of the titles already announced for the NGP — specifically Call Of Duty and Uncharted — there's a very Western flavour. We wouldn't be surprised if NGP came to the US first, following in Europe and Japan next year.