Full FeedIs Sony ripping off consumers with PSPgo?
Dubbed the “worst kept secret” of E3 by Kaz Hirai himself, the PSPgo was given a release date of October 1, 2009, with a $249 price tag. This is the same price that accompanied the release of the PSP-1000 in 2005. A lot has changed since then in terms of production costs for the handheld and some feel the PSPgo is overpriced. One such person who believes this is Wedbush Morgan Securities Analyst Michael Pachter.
On the most recent episode of The Bonus Round presented by GameTrailers, Pachter said Sony is ripping off the consumer with the price of the PSPgo . That is certainly an interesting standpoint when you consider the PSPgo’s specs.
The PSPgo basically has the same capabilities as the PSP-3000 with the exception of integrated Bluetooth technology and 16GB of internal storage. Hirai also mentioned the PSPgo is 50% smaller and 40% lighter than the PSP-1000 and that development costs for the PSP have been slashed by 80%. Making a console that’s lighter and smaller tends to suggest that it is also cheaper to make so it’s hard to justify why the PSPgo is so expensive.
Pachter said the PSP-3000 is actually cheaper to produce than the PSPgo because the UMD drive is more expensive than 16GB of memory. Selling the PSPgo to early adopters at a premium price will make Sony a lot of money until the demand starts to decrease. That’s probably the most likely time a price drop will be announced.
So what do you all think? Is the PSPgo too expensive for its own good?
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totally agree with the comments Michael Pachter makes… I think it is very over priced and Sony should rethink their position with the console being at that price… It’ll kill their opportunities of getting any closer to the DS :(
on June 12, 2009 at 06:33 AM - LINKi agree, the system is to high, and i personally wont be purchasing it..partly to do with the price, but mostly becuase i still wonder if i have a UMD disk..how do i play it on the new PSP without having to repurchase it? but even if it was free to get it on the psp somehow, it still doesnt justify the price, i would consider 180-200, but not 249. count me out.
on June 25, 2009 at 03:13 PM - LINK