GameStop's NGP Price Shouldn't Be Taken As Gospel
See Full ImageIt's the single biggest detail that is yet to be discovered: price.
Journalists, analysts and gamers are all waiting for Sony to price the Next Generation Portable, and estimates have been flying all over the Internet ever since that nifty handheld was announced. However, we did hear that GameStop had the unit in their database with a $299 price tag, and that rumor has now - evidently - been confirmed. You can see the leaked screenshot in question; it's a GameStop computer screen with price listings for two Nintendo 3DS models and the NGP. As you can see, the latter is priced at $299, as we had initially heard. The reason why some claim this is realistic is because if the retailer doesn't have a price, they often use a placeholder cost of $999 that shows up in the system. Those who have worked at GameStop say the emergence of this $299 price tag is solid evidence and quite reliable. However, we're not ready to fly with that for one main reason:
It seems Sony doesn't even have a set price in their heads. According to boss Kaz Hirai, they actually can't assign a price to the NGP because the device is still in the prototype phase. If Sony doesn't know, we're fairly certain GameStop doesn't know. Therefore, until we actually hear some sort of update from Sony that the NGP has exited that phase, we can't really tell consumers to expect a $299 price. That would be most agreeable, though, would it not?
Tags: gamestop, ngp, next generation portable, ngp price
2/9/2011 10:29:11 AM Ben Dutka
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Comments (32 posts)
Mounce
Thursday, February 10, 2011 @ 4:54:56 PM
If by any means, Sony doesn't match that price and it's actually a higher cost, more people will be pissed off because everyone was actually content with $299, it sorta forces Sony to have to go with the crowd for what GameStop listed the price as or else they could suffer a whiplash for people feeling it'd be a '$599 U.S. DOLLARS!' all over again....
So, it 'has' to be $299 no matter what now, if there's different models however and one has less but costs $250 and one for $300 and maybe a 3rd for $350, that'd be a good move varying on all of what a consumer wants. Not everyone will want 3G since 3G is going to add extra charges for it to be in use, not everyone will want a lage amount of internal storage, maybe there'll be a 12GB and 30GB model or etc...
Differently priced models would be a smart decision whether it causes minor confusion or not so that there is a better selection for those that don't want Sony's gestures of 'more features at the cost of, a higher cost'.
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ZettaiSeigi
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 10:57:07 AM
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godsman
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 11:32:21 AM
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FatherSun
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 12:00:06 PM
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godsman
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 11:30:11 AM
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The prototype still needs to be finalized, but being in this business for so long, Sony should at least know a price range. That $299 is probably the conservative upper limit given to retailers. It's safe to assume that the NGP is $299 or cheaper.
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kevinater321
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 11:46:39 AM
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The reason they aren't releasing it to the public is because if they say the system is 299, and then change the price to 350, a lot of people would end up not buying it. If they just come out of the dark and say it will cost 350, many of the people who would of been bummed and not bought it will because they aren't disappointed.
Last edited by kevinater321 on 2/9/2011 11:46:48 AM
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gumbi
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 12:01:24 PM
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Now, how do I tell the kids Santa only came for Daddy this year?
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Simcoe
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 12:29:56 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 1:38:20 PM
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FatherSun
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 12:03:50 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 1:39:53 PM
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AcHiLLiA
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 12:46:31 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 1:41:46 PM
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daus26
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 1:47:36 PM
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daus26
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 1:46:00 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 2:00:46 PM
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daus26
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 4:40:21 PM
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Shadow_Ninja
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 2:58:08 PM
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matt99
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 3:11:34 PM
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kevinater321
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 5:22:10 PM
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StangMan80
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 8:25:34 PM
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Nickjcal
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 10:52:31 PM
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StangMan80
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 8:28:20 PM
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But it better not cost more then that!
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sha4dowknight05
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 8:41:52 PM
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Nickjcal
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 10:50:41 PM
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marcusfrommo
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 11:35:38 PM
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Don't get me wrong, it was still released on Jan.11. "NEWS FLASH", True Crime is officially cancelled. Bummer.
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___________
Thursday, February 10, 2011 @ 1:10:43 AM
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EB had the 3Ds pegged for 350 bucks months before the price was announced!
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Veitsknight
Thursday, February 10, 2011 @ 9:26:07 AM
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DeathOfChaos
Thursday, February 10, 2011 @ 11:58:17 AM
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Veitsknight
Thursday, February 10, 2011 @ 11:43:02 PM
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poisonedsodapop
Thursday, February 10, 2011 @ 12:38:22 PM
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Highlander
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Wednesday, February 09, 2011 @ 10:51:46 AM
But yes, while it's still in the prototype phase, it's hard to set a price. I still think that the price will depend most on the cost of the CPU/GPU combination Sony is putting in the unit, and the OLED screen. Everything else is well established technology, and sold at commodity levels already.