In an interview with UK web portal Spong, Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison has assured European gamers that over 1,000 PS2 games will be playable on PS3 from launch day, as well as commenting on reduced manufacturing costs and investment in internal development.

Sony has once again had to endure the wrath of online games fans in recent days following the news that the backwards compatibility functionality of European PS3s will be less extensive than it is with existing US and Japanese models.

“The situation is changing every day, but on March 23rd, we expect the list of playable PS2 titles to include over 1,000 games,” Harrison explained. “Our thinking involves being able to bring the latest hardware specification of the PS3 to Europe, although that does mean an initial slight reduction in the number of PS2 components.

“But it’s important to put that into context: there will still be thousands of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles playable on the PS3 at launch. It’s very easy to over-react. We’re working to introduce a resource on the web to detail which titles will have backwards compatibility. And as we make firmware upgrades, we will be able to add to that list.

Harrison also went on to discuss the possibility that the reduced manufacturing costs that have resulted from the removal of PS2 components from PS3 might lead to a High Street price drop for the machine.

“Price reductions are something that we wouldn’t comment on specifically,” Harrison insisted. “But you know the business model very well – we strive to get the cost of manufacturing down as soon as possible, and as soon as we can pass cost savings onto the consumers, we will.”

Elsewhere, Harrison also went on to speak of Sony’s vastly increased internal software development capacity.

“Moving resources towards in-house development is absolutely the strategy,” he added. “When we launched the PlayStation, it had no games developed by ourselves. When we launched the PS2, it had one game developed internally – Fantavision.

“But when the PS3 launches, it will have more exclusive, high-quality games from our own studios than we’ve ever done before. There are the likes of MotorStorm and Resistance: Fall of Man, plus Gran Turismo HD Concept, which is available for free download. flOw launched in the US last week, and it has become the number one-selling title on the PlayStation Network. And there are so many things coming.”