Due to the recent tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Sony decided to delay the release of MotorStorm: Apocalypse in the country until further notice. Questions rapidly arose as to whether the PlayStation 3 exclusive racer would be delayed in other territories, something that now seems to be the case; at least for the United Kingdom as Sony has delayed the off-road racing title in the country.
MotorStorm: Apocalypse, which was due to be released in the United Kingdom this Friday, has been delayed by Sony which was confirmed in a recent statement by the company, they also confirmed that the game will be delayed in Ireland. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said:
We are shocked and saddened to see the impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and our thoughts are with all those affected, including our colleagues within the Sony family, living and working throughout Japan. We are very conscious of the parallels between these events and the underlying theme in MotorStorm and are doing everything we can to be as sensitive as possible to the situation.
Another statement by Sony Computer Entertainment UK continued:
Although the game itself is already in distribution, we are ceasing any further shipments and removing as much of the marketing materials as possible. Although we have shipped the game into the channel last week, given that we are able to do so, we have chosen to postpone the launch in the UK. In the meantime we will continue to monitor the situation very closely.
Sony is donating 300 million Japanese yen to help those affected by the disaster. The company will also donate 30,000 radios to the country. The North American release of MotorStorm: Apocalypse, meanwhile, is still on course to be released in mid-April.
[Via]
