Analyst Michael Pachter has put Sony in the corner and given it a firm spanking following the announcement of the PSPgo at E3. Criticizing the company's decision to charge so much money for its new handheld, Pachter has deemed the PSPgo a "rip off," stating that Sony is asking too much money.
"$249 is too much. Period," claims the analyst. "The [current] $169 PSP-3000 is a profitable device -- the disc assembly, for a UMD, costs more than 16 gigs of flash does. So this new device doesn't cost them as much to make as the PSP-3000 and they jack the price up $80.
"I'm sorry to say it. I don't want to get bad fan mail from the Sony fanboys, but... They're ripping off the consumer until they sell a couple million and if consumers don't buy it then the price is going to come down. They're making a lot more money on the PSPgo than the PSP-3000. And the PSPgo helps them because there's no piracy."
It all comes down to what Sony thinks it can get away with, and I fear that those aforementioned Sony fanboys will be more than happy to justify the price hike by shelling out money for the fourth iteration of the water-treading handheld. As much as I love the PSP and would like to get a PSPgo, this is one of those rare occasions where I'm 100% with Pachter -- $249 is downright cheeky.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
Likes
PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
55 comments | showing # 1 to 50
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
8:40 AM on 06.11.2009 | 
Though I do see this kinda is ripping of, I think Sony should have dropped the price at the same level/below the current 3000, then they would sell A LOT more. I also hope they drop the price on the games, if they sell them at a cheap price, people will download twice as much.
I thought Sony knew better, oh no I didn't...
The 360 was never $599.
also the 16GB ipod touch is 300 and doesn't play real games, and to be honest its sound quality is shitty.
Really, I swore I heard someone say that the PSPGo would be cheaper than the 3000 because of the lack of UMD drive for one, but costing as much as a console? Yeouch. Of course it's inconsequential to me, as I'm happy with my 2000. =P
This is typical Sony, really. They make great products, sure, but they just have to screw themselves over in some way. This redesign should have happened before the PSP 3000, or been delayed until a true PSP 2 (and thats gotta be due for announcement in a year or two). They're now in competition with themselves, with THREE types of PSP already on the market, all considerably cheaper. They cant win.
But it's even funnier how all the blogs are copying each other.
That's not the point though is it? By now the produciton costs should be tiny and as stated above there is no UMD drive anymore, where is this extra cost coming from? It's not so bad in US dollars but for us in Scotland (or the UK I suppose) and the EU it's a shocking price.
PSP Go is overpriced, but a new Ipod is due shortly, which will also cost a lot. Thing there is, at least Apple are cutting the price of previous iPhone's in order help them sell too.
Take a hint Sony. Cut the price of old PSPs across the board, to about £60 ($99), and prove that you love us. £150 ($250) is too much for go though.
It was argued somewhere else that this markup may be there to make it buyable in-stores. With everything digi-stributed, there's no incentive for brick-&-mortar businesses (or any besides Sony, I guess) to sell the thing, since the customers wouldn't be coming back for software. Thus, the price I hiked so these places can make some profit in place of the disc sale losses (though there's still accessories?).
I'm hopin' that this good-will program could enable me to, say, buy Dead Head Fred new on UMD and get a digital copy, which'd be cheaper and more material than d/l from PSN. I can also see post-October releases having a download voucher bundled in the physical copies.
Where the hell do you stay? Thats hella expensive, try ebay uk and get it shipped to you...if you needed one of course :)
...except that the Go doesn't include the greater expense of an optical drive so, yeah, still a ripoff.
Also,I agree with Pew; iPods are also a ripoff. A nice Creative Labs media player is WAY cheaper and you can get one the size of a Nano WITH an OLED display and much greater functionality for <$100. Additionally, fuck iTunes. And fuck the status whores who buy them *hides under desk*
They have to convince Gamestop and Walmart to stock it somehow. Why would retailers take the same tiny margin as they do on normal consoles / handhelds when they have ZERO opporunity for (new and used) game sales?
@Naim Master
I think they very casually mentioned it in the Dtoid interview.
I've been trying to post this as much as possible. It wasn't argued, John Koller said directly in an interview with Ars Technica that the margin was changed (increased more than likely, why lower it?) to make it more inticing for retailers to carry it. Also, here's an interesting tidbit that Koller revealed: "We've changed the model from a margin perspective from the 3000, so there are changes throughout," he explained. "We've made it very worth their while to carry the PSP Go." The question nobody has answered yet is how much.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/06/ars-talks-digital-distribution-with-sony-plays-with-psp-go.ars
Yes the optical drive is gone but setting up an digital support network wasn't free either(well reinforcing it for the expected traffic), and devs aren't gonna make umd and digital versions of games ready out of the kindness of their hearts either.
However the obvious reason for the price(and the reason I won't complain) is piracy, when piracy happens someone does pay for it (its just not the pirate).So if you really wanted a low priced psp go go grab that freind of yours that thinks he's dealing justice to the man by stealing software and drop kick him, because all he's doing is screwing us over.
He funny thing is a lot of people complaining about the price are probably the cause of it in the first place.
Sony might of kept the price of the go high even without piracy but will never know because said pirates gave sony an excuse.
So far, I've never had any problems with any Sony product I've purchased. *knocks on wood*
Maybe I'm just lucky. I just had my Sony Vaio delivered today, so we'll see if my lucky streak continues.
I also detest piracy. My two unmodded PSPs ( a 1000 I passed on to my girlfriend, & a 2000 ) will attest to this fact. But regardless, piracy is Sony's problem not mine, and I'll be damned if I pay for it. Will you?
Also, the only support I'm throwing at the iPod touch is that there's going to be so much more functionality with that than a PSP. I can use my lphone in the smae manner and looking beyong gaming, music, video apps the iPod touch would prove to be far more useful beyond those three main uses. But, YMMV.
We all pay for it pone way or another, wether its that over seas game you wanted to see in your contry not getting a port, the price cut that will never happen, an issue like the rrod never being totally fix (right away,remember when 360 piracy was somewhat heavy they really didn't care about he rrod),or that niche title you wanted gets cancelled.
We will always pay for it, so you might wanna pick your poison, unless you want them to pick it for you.
I'll get it day one.
Because like I said, Sony needs some damn money.
If they tried the same for PSP, even in the light of the DSi success, they would get the same result. I'd certainly buy a second PSP for £60/$99, but they fail by keeping pices high and its a no go.
Sony are also deluding themselves if they think Go is going to stop dedicated pirates, who live to crack stuff open. Many still crack their PSP to play retro games more than new product. It makes me think the whole PSP piracy thing is a bit overcooked than it actually is.