Sony readies Asian PSP launch as Japan's supply sells out

This week in Hong Kong, at the Asia Game Show, Reuters caught up with Sony's chief technology officer, Masa Chatani, and secured some interesting information about the PSP launch timeline for Asian markets besides Japan.

According to Reuters, Sony plans to release the PSP handheld to Asian gamers at the same time the unit is released in North America and Europe--sometime before the end of Sony's fiscal year, on March 31, 2005. "We always try to do launches worldwide synchronized," Chatani told Reuters.

While Chatani didn't specify which Asian markets the PSP would be released in, speculation is that they will include South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia, where, Reuters said, "average consumers can afford prices that are usually in the hundreds of dollars."

Commenting on the PSP release in Japan, where the unit went on sale on December 12, research firm Media Create said in a research note that "a total of 160,019 units were sold [through December 12]."

"The absorption rate based on the sell-through figure was 85.03 percent," Media Create analysts said. "But if reserves are included in the calculation, PSP units are actually nearly sold out."

As for why the PSP sales figure trails behind that of the Nintendo DS last week (which Media Create says sold about 469,000 units), the research firm says it is because the "PSP had a smaller shipment volume than DS. With inquiries pouring in about shipment arrival dates, it appears that considerable demand exists for the PSP."

Commenting further on Sony's plans for the PSP in Asia, Reuters said Sony was "looking at the possibility of an eventual PSP launch in China."