Research Analyst Michael Wallace warns that the delay of the European release of Sony's PS3 may have a pretty negative impact not just to Sony but also to game publisher's bottom lines this year. Wallace expected that Sony will Ship about 500,000 PS3 systems to Europe by the end of the year, but with news that the console will not see European release until March 2007, he's a bit concerned.

Factoring in the delay, that's around 500,000 less consumers to sell games to. Publishers will most probably delay games that they have previously set for release this year to 2007 just to take advantage of the user base. Wallace says that Activision in particular has built its quarter around the PS3 launch more than other publishers and they may suffer the largest loss. At the opposite end of things, Wallace says that EA has the most balanced portfolio this quarter.

Publishers in trouble may make up for any losses if they've invested in releasing multiplatform games.  Wallace did not mention anything about foreign based publishers. France-based Ubisoft probably expected the delay already and has planned around it.

So, what will happen when the PS3 is finally released in Europe? Well, let's just cross our fingers that both the publishers and consumers get their money's worth.