If the PSP Go has one thing going against it, it’s the fact that the bloody thing costs so much money. Sony loves expensive hardware, and when it was revealed to cost a princely $249, people balked. Even worse is the case of Europe, where it’ll ship for 249 Euros, with absolutely zero concession made for the higher currency strength. That’s akin to almost $350, but luckily for Sony, it doesn’t give a crap.
“I don’t think so,” states SCEA CEO Andrew House when asked if the price would be a problem for the system. “If it’s cheaper would we sell more? The answer would probably be yes.
“I think on PlayStation 3, and the potential with an extension of PSP, we’ve got an opportunity to go even further on that. The overall value proposition which, by the way, European consumers get very, very well, I don’t think they are as price driven as other markets.
“So the overall value proposition is really strong and trends towards that lifecycle. And then you’ve got for the first time a networked community for the business and the strength that implies. That’s a huge factor in retaining people for a longer lifecycle with the product they have, because now they’ve bought into not just a packaged media relationship with games, but they’re bought into a community that they’re sharing with people and they’re interacting with”
I ask our Europeans: Are you really not price-driven, as House suggests? Could Sony effectively charge anything and you’d be more than happy to buy it? I know I’d be uncomfortable buying something that costs the same in Euros as it does in Dollars. I only dread to think how badly Sony will shaft the UK when it comes to pricing the system there.
