PSXE Poll Update: PSP Go Fails To Generate Much Interest
See Full ImageThe PSP Go just launched last week but the high price tag and a lack of a UMD-to-digital conversion program has kept people away. We don't have any sales estimates just yet but we're hoping Sony fares better during the holiday season, anyway.
As for right now, the PSXE readers really don't have much of an interest in the new unit; only some of you might consider a purchase if the price drops, but most of you just aren't thinking about it at all. For the record, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has predicted that Sony will indeed cut the price of the PSP Go down to $199 just in time for the shopping blitz in a month or so. It might be a good idea, despite the fact that Sony has prepared over 16,000 pieces of downloadable content and 225 full downloadable titles for the PSP Go; the PSP-3000 is still the choice for many, and $250 can be steep for others. For our part, the PSP go registers as a great achievement but one that will need some time to catch on, which shouldn't surprise anyone; such was the way for the first iteration of the handheld in question. Traditionally, if you give Sony time, they will emerge victorious...
As for this week, we figure we address the hot topic: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. We know you're all anxiously awaiting our review and to make things more interesting, we thought we'd pick your brains...what do you think our final overall score will be? The way everyone's going on about this game, you might think we'll give it the coveted perfect 10, although only one other title this generation - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - received that honor. Or maybe you have this sneaking suspicion that we're not as enamored as everyone else, and we're gonna give it a score that freaks everyone out. Who knows? Do you know? Take a shot.
10/4/2009 9:48:57 PM Ben Dutka
Put this on your webpage or blog:
Email this to a friend
Follow PSX Extreme on Twitter
Comments (80 posts)
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:22:24 AM
I also think that if Sony correctly positioned this thing along side the ludicrously expensive products that Apple pushes, there may be a little less push back. However, the fundamental problem remains. This updated version of the PSP which is now a platform that's 4 years (or is it 5) old only costs $50 (that's 16%) less than the state of the art, "does everything" PS3. Now, I don't know about you, but that immediately bothers my common sense filter. It really doesn't take the mind of a Harvard educated marketing statistician or economist to see that consumers in stores are not going to react positively to a device that's about the size of a small internal HDD costing $249 when the PS3 sold essentially right next to it costs $299.
A $199 launch price point would have been far more acceptable, and to be honest I don't see the point of the higher price. Unless they truly intend to drop the price to $199 during the pre-Xmas sales and then leave it there. If that's the case then they potentially create a wave of optimism because of the $50 price drop. However That comes at the price of a really negative product launch.
All that said, The slide opener, new screen,m built in 16GB with an additional external Memory Stick slot are nice features for a download only 'mini-PSP'. The BlueTooth features (tethering, controller synch and headset compatibility) are very additions. So, does this PSP do Skype? A lot of cell operators are offering pure data plans now. If I were Sony, I would explore the possibility of offering pure data plans to PSP customers, and include the appropriate chipset in the PSP Go. That way, the PSP Go can be a phone - without being a phone - thru VOIP.
0 up, 0 down
LimitedVertigo
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:18:51 PM
Reply
6 up, 1 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:56:36 AM
1 up, 0 down
shindelion
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:20:00 PM
Reply
3 up, 10 down
Alienange
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:27:58 PM
Reply
Sony should have released the PSPGo as a mini PSP that costs 100 and can play all kinds of mini games. Look at the DS. There's a market for cheap fun.
5 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:58:06 AM
I'll buy a Go when it hits $199.
1 up, 0 down
JMO_INDY
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:30:15 PM
Reply
3 up, 4 down
fluffer nutter
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:37:51 PM
1 up, 0 down
MadKatBebop
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:42:49 PM
0 up, 0 down
JMO_INDY
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:43:44 PM
0 up, 1 down
somethingrandom
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 2:12:47 AM
0 up, 0 down
nickert0n
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 11:48:57 AM
I will not be upgrading.
1 up, 0 down
nickert0n
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 11:51:03 AM
I will not be upgrading.
0 up, 0 down
Milonakis
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:33:02 PM
Reply
1 up, 1 down
MadKatBebop
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:37:02 PM
Reply
But for those who got is it really awesome? I read a lot of positive reviews on it.
0 up, 0 down
fluffer nutter
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:38:57 PM
0 up, 0 down
JMO_INDY
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:42:08 PM
1 up, 0 down
HeXeN
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:51:42 PM
Is it lower than the PSP 3000?
0 up, 0 down
SnipeySnake
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:53:07 PM
I already know that the screen smudges easily but does the frame(the parts other then the screen and the buttons) smudge?
0 up, 0 down
JMO_INDY
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:54:32 PM
0 up, 0 down
JMO_INDY
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:57:08 PM
0 up, 0 down
Kowhoho
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:05:15 PM
0 up, 0 down
HeXeN
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:06:43 PM
0 up, 0 down
JMO_INDY
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:10:18 PM
1 up, 0 down
SnipeySnake
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:30:42 PM
0 up, 0 down
Charger7302
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:37:56 PM
Reply
And I don't know about you guys but I hate how many websites have said that it is now time to buy a ps3, because of U2. Last time I checked there have been many great games and in IMO better games then U2(MGS4), that justify the purchase of a ps3. (sorry kinda went off topic)
1 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:54:22 AM
0 up, 0 down
Qwarktast1c
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:39:40 PM
Reply
just sayin....
5 up, 0 down
SnipeySnake
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:54:45 PM
0 up, 0 down
JMO_INDY
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:59:40 PM
0 up, 2 down
fluffer nutter
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 12:13:25 AM
I've seen PS3 slims go for $200 lately. Pretty cheap.
0 up, 0 down
___________
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 12:43:43 AM
and it only does everything ;)
2 up, 2 down
NiteKrawler
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:45:12 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
RustEDalex
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 2:32:51 PM
0 up, 0 down
HeXeN
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:05:43 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Kowhoho
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:17:09 PM
Last edited by Kowhoho on 10/4/2009 11:17:42 PM
0 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:32:39 PM
Reply
I can't believe they made the psp Go for small hands....that really kept me from getting one, or even thinking of getting one. I have big hands. I'll get a psp 3000.
1 up, 0 down
Qubex
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:54:22 PM
Q!
"i am home"
1 up, 1 down
Neurotoxiny
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:39:03 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
DIsmael85
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 11:51:48 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Shadow_Ninja
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 12:15:30 AM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
tes37
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 5:54:24 AM
3 up, 0 down
Hezzron
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:11:26 AM
Last edited by Hezzron on 10/5/2009 10:12:23 AM
3 up, 0 down
Milonakis
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 12:19:36 AM
Reply
4 up, 0 down
BigBoss4ever
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 12:20:28 AM
Reply
bad move Sony
1 up, 0 down
___________
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 12:41:36 AM
Reply
give me a way to convert my UMDs to memory sticks.
then will talk.
till then cheerio
2 up, 0 down
BTNwarrior
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 1:21:35 AM
Reply
so unless you go politician on all of us Uncharted 2 will get a 10
1 up, 0 down
chucknasty
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 1:50:31 AM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
kreate
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 3:12:18 AM
Reply
im sure all of u guys read the articles that flooded the internet where psp go is "ripping people off", a comment made by michael pachter in a interview with geoff knightly.
ever since than, people didnt have much interest in the psp go. and constantly we are reminded that we are stupid if we buy a psp go for the $250 price tag.
the price is just fine. its a new product. eventually the prices will go down. its a business. what do u expect?
at launch,the nintendo ds was overpriced. xbox360 was overpriced (c'mon how much does a dvd drive cost? surely not a 400-500 price tag). psp go is overpriced.
apple's line of products were(still arguably is) seriously overpriced. microsoft's windows software are overpriced. price price price is all i hear.
are we just hating on the psp go JUST cuz of its price? sure its not a psp2. its a psp go. i dont really care for it. but the price complaints seem little bit out of hand in my opinion.
sony dropped the price of the ps3. surely the day will come when psp go's price will drop. the question is... are U going to buy the psp go IF the price drops? or are u just complaining just cuz u like to complain?
*correct me if im wrong but, arent the games in physical media as well as digital? both ps3 and xbox360 has physical media and digital downloads. so whats up with the complaints about psp's approach of the same concept?
u can get a psp with umd. or the psp go without it. its an option.
Last edited by kreate on 10/5/2009 3:17:51 AM
2 up, 0 down
Hezzron
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:24:45 AM
0 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 11:09:05 AM
0 up, 0 down
SkantDragon
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 3:39:39 AM
Reply
The PSPgo represents a new market concept. The big thing is not it's size or anything like that.. but that retail stores have no part in selling software for it. Businesswise, that's HUGE. It turns the standard bussiness model on its head.
And so what is Sony doing?
They're experimenting and moving very carefully.
Sony doesn't want the PSPgo to be flying off the shelves. At least not yet. I'm sure they know their current pricing will limit the number of buyers.
And that's exactly what they want.
It keeps that user base small enough that they can experiment more safely, and see how customers and retailers and everyone else reacts to all this.
And that approach makes sense. If you think about it, there are a lot of ways that an aggressively priced PSPgo could have Sony undermining itself. It has the capacity to collapse a lot of Sony's own existing business as well as seriously damage their relationship with retailers and developers.
Consider the effects if Sony were to, for instance, sell PSPgo's for $130 and sell the download games for half of their former UMD prices. That'd be great right? For consumers, sure. Think about what it would do to retailers and developers. Think about all the developers that have their UMD titles out there _which would be orphaned unexpectedly_. And retailers would obviously have their source of revenue cut as well.
I think when you look at it from this sort of perspective, Sony's pricing of the PSPgo suddenly makes sense.
4 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 7:14:13 AM
It's probably to get test for the ps4 and how they might go all digital
The good thing 'bout all digital consoles is that they won't have to worry 'bout load times and all that stuff.
But still, downloading 20GB games doesn't sound fun lol
0 up, 0 down
frylock25
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 7:40:39 AM
0 up, 0 down
CH1N00K
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 8:58:24 AM
I agree that the PSP GO is a bit of a test run, even a bit ahead of it's time. But as far as sales go, remember that the old PSP's took a bit for them to start catching on too. (compared to the success of the DS, they never really did get moving that great)
I think the PSP will sell more after a price drop, but I'm more interested in seeing how people adapt to the not having to go to the store to buy games.
1 up, 0 down
Hezzron
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:36:06 AM
1 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:47:52 AM
Someone supposedly has a mod chip for the PS3 - according to a recent news report that was more of a rumor than a report. However to install it you must first remove your PS3 from it's casing, completely disassemble it to expose the motherboard. Then you have to attached the mod chip, and solder it to thirteen separate locations on the motherboard (13 - lucky for some?). Then you re-assemble the PS3 and hope that you haven't just bricked your $300 gaming investment. ("Are you feeling lucky, punk? Go on. Make my day...") After doing all of that, there is no indication of what this wonder chip supposedly does for you, apart from make your PS3 almost certainly incompatible with all future firmware updates.
Now, the PS3 is based on an IBM design, I know for a fact that IBM can incorporate various 'trusted computing' security measures into their hardware - at the chip and motherboard level. The idea is to build hardware that is capable of detecting when it's been tampered with, as well as enabling the hardware along with it's system software to detect when the software it's running has been tampered with. IBM builds into the hardware various capabilities including crytography to ensure that the system can protect itself. A lot of people believe that Trusted Computing is all about Digital Rights Management because it makes systems uniquely identifiable. However that is not the focus. The focus is protecting consumers against unauthorized use/abuse of their systems. TCP is about preventing hardware and software tampering that breaches system integrity. With all the malware and virus software around these days, detecting/ preventing intrusions would seem to be a good thing.
So, on the assumption that the PS3 design includes at least some of the Trusted Computing Platform technology, I would think it is a vary robust device. If anyone attempts to disable or get around the trusted computing platform (which is what I expect this rumored mod chip tries to do), I would be **very** surprised if it worked for more than a single firmware revision. In fact I would be very surprised if it worked for very long at all since the hardware is built to detect exactly this kind of tampering.
2 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 2:47:38 PM
Nice analysis. I agree with you. Except I do expect the price to drop to $199 by January.
1 up, 1 down
Aftab
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 5:16:14 AM
Reply
This might be an attempt by Sony to simply cut down on piracy in a market where they could be making a greater chunk of their sales. The PSP Go is in the same price range, and keeping games in the $5 range would still allow them to be profitable and affordable, while eliminating the rampant and widespread piracy.
In other markets, like Japan, PSP GO still has a great chance due to the how receptive the market is towards trendy portable devices.
So as it seems, the PSP Go most likely won't have much of a chance at it's current price in the NA market, but as far as the rest of the world is concerned, it still has huge potential.
1 up, 1 down
NoSmokingBandit
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 7:37:26 AM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Solid Fantasy
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 8:19:28 AM
Reply
2 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:52:52 AM
Mobile CellBE, Nvidia GPU (RSX lite) capable of emulating PSP's original GPU, analog (pressure sensitive) buttons, two analog sticks, touch sensitive screen, accelerometers, bluetooth, wireless Ethernet (802.11n), OLED or LED screen technology, no UMD, Memory stick micro and micro SD memory compatibility, multiple flash memory card ports, complete PSP and PS1 compatibility, 12 hour battery life.
Did I skip anything? Oh, yes, it makes my tea in the morning, gets my slippers inn the evening, and validates my existence.
0 up, 0 down
NoSmokingBandit
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:55:11 AM
Sony would make a ton of money from people downloading Jak, God of War, and other AAA games from PSN to play on their psp2.
Last edited by NoSmokingBandit on 10/5/2009 10:55:40 AM
0 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 11:10:21 AM
0 up, 0 down
NoSmokingBandit
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 1:46:37 PM
I know it probably will never happen, but it would be awesome.
0 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 2:50:03 PM
0 up, 0 down
JackC8
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 8:25:00 AM
Reply
I also don't like the idea of downloadable only games. It means there's absolutely no competition when it comes to pricing. You'll never have a retailer who says "This game isn't selling well, let's put it on sale and clear out the excess inventory". Nope, you'll have to wait for Sony to drop the price. And Maybe the game is selling well in Japan, so Sony's still making money off it, unlike a US or European retailer who bought a bunch of copies and can't get rid of them.
Last edited by JackC8 on 10/5/2009 8:27:22 AM
1 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:28:02 AM
Completely reesigned, new slide opener, new case, new screen, new chipset, new motherboard, new battery, new features (BlueTooth), 16GB built in Flash, updated wifi hardware...
Of course none of that jus5tifies the price which is only 16% less than a PS3. Hell if you apply UK value added tax (sales tax) you'd pay $294 on a base price of $249.99. That's PS3 money. Which genius at Sony HQ came up with the concept of paying so much for something so little? I want their job, apparently you can suggest illogical, crazy things and get paid for it. Director of Rumor Confirmation? Ha! How about Director of stupid MSRPs?
0 up, 0 down
maxpontiac
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 12:00:36 PM
Reply
Speaking of games...
GT PSP is an amazing title. Pick it up, you won't be disappointed.
0 up, 0 down
Nynja
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 12:11:29 PM
Reply
One thing keeping me from buying the PSP Go is the cost it will take to repurchase all my UMD titles. This could even boost sales for new owners.
Clearly the $250 price point is just a bit too steep, though with 16GB of internal memory it is understandable that $199 price tag may be just out of reach at the moment.
0 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 2:51:35 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
johnld
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 2:58:32 PM
Reply
Damn, i want to play psp games on my ps3 too but thats never gonna happen cause psp sales are gonna go down.
0 up, 0 down
kevinater321
Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 8:22:52 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Kowhoho
Reply
Sunday, October 04, 2009 @ 10:18:03 PM