AfterDawn: News

PSPgo sales are 'slow,' says ShopTo

According to online retailer ShopTo, PSPgo sales have been slow since launch on October 1st, mainly due to its higher price, and lack of UMD drive.

"PSPgo has seen a slow start for ShopTo and we have kept stock quite tight in consideration. We remained at the RRP for PSPgo so that we can achieve the maximum margin considering that there will be no further software sales for this format for us as an e-tailer," noted company CEO Igor Cipolletta.



Just yesterday however, Sony announced that the handheld was selling "within expectations" and sales were up 120 percent week-on-week.

Cipolletta also noted that the PSP-3000 wasn't seeing the sales rise expected by Sony. "PSP-3000 has not yet seen an uplift and until the stronger software titles are released we don't expect a significant upturn. We had a fantastic pre-order quantity for the PS3 slim and consumer appetite for that has remained strong with the great bundle deals promoting the new release games such as FIFA 10 and NFS Shift."

Specifically noted for the slow sales was the lack of the UMD drive. "Not being able to bundle the PSPgo with physical software or accessories means that the consumer offer is standard and then price becomes the key issue."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 6 Oct 2009 13:45

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• 5 comments

• 5fdpfan

  Well if Sony had done the smart thing and made the first PSP this way it probably would have sold quite well. But now, after so mnay already own a handheld and spent money on umd's, why would you wnat to(assuming your finances will allow it)spend tons more money on essentially the same thing but without a umd slot and then to have to go to the brouble of driving to a store to exhange all the games you already own? No wonder this thing isn't selling well. Sony are a bunch of morons. Oh my bad. The landscape wasn't ready for a umd-free psp when the first one came out. Well look how well that logic is paying off now. Haha!

  6.10.2009 14:25 #1

• Josipher

  exactly what i was thinking..i hate sony but i love my hacked PSP2000 which already does what the stupid go does: play games right from the MemoStick. thats why im just loving the way sony's investment is buried deep under a pile of crap.
  Amen 5fdpfan

  6.10.2009 16:01 #2

• Mysttic

  Technically under a pile of piracy crap; after all they didn't really take this serious until they discovered people knew how to do Pandora's hack. It practically took off to the mainstream, so some ass in Sony's marketing decided that it'd be a great idea that if people were willing to do the hack to put games on a mem card, that those very same people have no interest in buying retail software packages, must mean that maybe these same people who apparently "never" spend money on UMD's may spend their dollars on something that installs directly the to the PSP!
  
  
  I hope he get gets fired....
  
  It would be better if you didn't need kiosks, if they would let you hook up the PSP to any net connection, even via USB to a device to install directly from the download. It would be nice it wasn't restricting the collection value which on some games actually gross really high. It would have been nicer still to let people own the software title on download for no extra cost providing proof of payment for the UMD versions, with the exception of second hand purchases.
  
  But they didn't do that, and they won't do that, cause Sony is so far blind to fight against piracy, they didn't realize they took that very fight to the people who are innocent and actually spend their hard earn dollars for themselves, or for their loved ones. Gimicky at best, like the N-Gage, the reality of this system will likely be realized by xmas, and then it will flop hard.

  6.10.2009 20:30 #3

• SProdigy

  Actually, I wasn't thinking the piracy/UMD owning route at all. WTF would you want this abomination of a handheld, with poor support when you could own a brand spanking new slim PS3 for only a few bucks more? Precisely why it's doomed to fail.

  6.10.2009 23:29 #4

• KillerBug

  I am thinking of buying a PSP just for gran turismo...and I would almost certainly download it through PSN. All the same, I would still rather have a refurbished FAT/Slim model for under $100 than a go model for $200.
  
  If it was a PSPhone-GO, then it would be a whole other story...but sony seems content to make phones and PSPs, but never both at once.
  

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  7.10.2009 01:09 #5