Yesterday, in reporting that Sega's Sonic Unleashed has been delayed until Spring 2009 in Japan for quality reasons, we commented that Sega of America would have to make one of two very difficult choices: either delay the game here as well, or explain to dedicated US fans why we would be getting the inferior game.
Today, Sega has seemingly chosen option number three: pretend that the problem -- whatever it might be -- simply doesn't exist.
"Some fans living [outside of Japan] have become concerned that there will be a difference in quality between the version of the game released in Japan and the version released outside of Japan. This is not the case and we apologise for this misunderstanding," a Sega Europe representative told Eurogamer. They continued:
The difference in the international release dates is based on the sales strategy and the manufacturing schedule. There will be no quality difference between the North American/European/Asia release and the Japanese version. Please be assured we are doing our best to deliver a top quality experience to people all over the globe.
This statement was accompanied by news of a December delay for Europe's PS3 version of the game, which matches up nicely with what US retailers are planning -- yesterday, we found that the US PS3 version seems to be slated for December 12th.
What doesn't match up is Sega Europe's statement that the Japanese delay is based on sales and manufacturing issues. The original Japanese statement clearly states that Sega had reluctantly postponed the game's release to improve the quality of the game's contents; and an accompanying post on Japan's official Sonic Channel blog by Sonic Team's Mayumi Moro relates that the entire staff is currently hard at work on final tuning efforts in order to bring the game to completion.
Sega of America has yet to respond to requests for comment.
Update: The official Japanese Sonic World Adventure website has the following retraction printed in both English and Japanese:
To Sonic fans living outside Japan,
In our previous November 7 post to this home page, we informed you that the release date of Sonic World Adventure in Japan on PS3 and 360 will be delayed. Based on that announcement, some fans living overseas have become concerned that there will be a difference in quality between the version of the game released in Japan and the version released outside of Japan. This is not the case and we apologize for this misunderstanding.
The difference in the international release dates is based on the sales strategy and the manufacturing schedule. There will be no quality difference between the North American/European/Asia release and the Japanese version. Please be assured we are doing our best to deliver a top quality experience to people all over the globe.
We still cannot announce the release date in Japan, but we should be able to do so shortly. Our apologies to Sonic fans in Japan, who we must ask to wait a while longer."
Sonic Team is proud to present you Sonic Unleashed (Sonic World Adventure). You will be able to experience the best Sonic ever in no time!
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