NGP Launch Won’t Be Affected by Japanese Disaster

Those awaiting the launch of Sony’s Next Generation Portable (NGP) were met with bad news earlier this week from Sony Computer Entertainment of America President Jack Tretton. He mentioned to Bloomberg that the devastating earthquake that hit Japan a few weeks ago could delay the shipment of the NGP as well as other products assembled there.

Luckily, shipments are being prepped on time. “So far we see no impact from the quake on our launch plan,” Sony rep Satoshi Fukuoka told The Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall). 1UP reported that Sony will be keeping an eye on the situation, which isn’t bad as they first thought.

Fukuoka also dismissed Tretton’s initial perception that the disaster was cause to release the device in only one region, calling the report from Bloomberg “wrong.” It’s true: Sony never promised a global launch from the start, instead announcing its release in stages at the year’s end. The date that’s circling the web for “at least one territory” is around November.

The NGP isn’t called the Next Generation Portable for any reason. The console is expected to last a “long time” according to Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida, and it will offer same-day digital release for cartridge games.