Michael Pachter Apologizes for PSP Go "Ripoff" Comment

[WhiteTigerShiro]

But what he meant was something a little different. "I sincerely regret the choice of words in my response to Geoff Keighley's question in last week's Bonus Round, where I said that Sony is 'ripping off' the consumer by pricing the PSP Go at $249.99," he said in comments to IndustryGamer [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/pachters-podium-ps3-price-cut-iphone-3g-s-and-a-sincere-apology]. "I made a poor choice of words, and I do NOT think that Sony is doing anything nefarious in choosing their pricing strategy. The company has the right to price its products at a point that they think is competitive, and has no obligation to sell products at lower than a competitive price."

"They have been subsidizing purchases of the PS3 since launch, to the tune of 22 million sold at a loss of $100 or more apiece (on average), so if they are able to make a profit on the PSP Go, more power to them," he continued. "They are pricing at a point that positions the PSP Go competitively with the iPod Touch, and the PSP Go arguably has much more value than the Apple product. Notwithstanding my view that the price point is too high to generate more than a few million units sold, I really think my comment was unfair."

TLDR: "Sony's lawyers busted my door down and gave me some very compelling reasons to go back on my previous statements."

At least, that's how I read it.

 

[AceDiamond]

Actually, he's right.

The vastly more popular handheld system (DS) only costs $180 AUS, I'm pretty sure Sony's making the same mistake here as they did with the PS3.

Well clearly you haven't heard Indigo's counterpoint to this logic, but yeah, I don't think this is a smart move on their part. Then again, they "want some damn money" as someone put it when Patcher first made his ripoff claim.

 

[TheDukester]

Might be because quite a few people assume that he loathes Sony for some reason.
Whenever he comments about Sony (i.e. on the bonus round), it is mostly negative.

The only one I ever saw standing up against his opinions until now was David Jaffe.

Of course, this is all apart from his sometimes strange crystal ball talents.

Yeah, but if you look at a lot of what Sony does, they somewhat deserve it. I'm not trying to bash Sony, but I've been really confused about their marketing strategy and price setting for their products, and when I read things like the company taking huge losses last year, I'm not surprised, and neither is anyone else really.

I bought a PSX when it first came out and a PS2, both at launches, and I loved those consoles to death, but I look at the PS3 and I think it's awesome, but overpriced. Then Sony starts spouting their lines about how it's such a great value, but if that was so true, they'd be selling a lot more consoles. Their pricing makes no sense. Unless they plan on discounting the games for PSP Go, there's no reason to buy one. It's like with the Kindle: it's pretty expensive, but their pricing makes sense, since the books they sell are only $10 max (versus the $20 you'd pay at a bookstore).

In other words, he makes negative comments about Sony because they deserve to have someone call them out on the stupidity of their business strategy. And this is coming from someone who has owned more Sony consoles than any other.

 

[Jumplion]

Actually, he's right.

The vastly more popular handheld system (DS) only costs $180 AUS, I'm pretty sure Sony's making the same mistake here as they did with the PS3.

Well clearly you haven't heard Indigo's counterpoint to this logic, but yeah, I don't think this is a smart move on their part. Then again, they "want some damn money" as someone put it when Patcher first made his ripoff claim.

I think that was me? Sounds awfully familiar. In any case, I'm possibly quoted

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Actually, he's right.

The vastly more popular handheld system (DS) only costs $180 AUS, I'm pretty sure Sony's making the same mistake here as they did with the PS3.

Well clearly you haven't heard Indigo's counterpoint to this logic, but yeah, I don't think this is a smart move on their part. Then again, they "want some damn money" as someone put it when Patcher first made his ripoff claim.

I think that was me? Sounds awfully familiar. In any case, I'm possibly quoted

Yeah, it was you. ;¬)

 

[Jumplion]

Actually, he's right.

The vastly more popular handheld system (DS) only costs $180 AUS, I'm pretty sure Sony's making the same mistake here as they did with the PS3.

Well clearly you haven't heard Indigo's counterpoint to this logic, but yeah, I don't think this is a smart move on their part. Then again, they "want some damn money" as someone put it when Patcher first made his ripoff claim.

I think that was me? Sounds awfully familiar. In any case, I'm possibly quoted

Yeah, it was you. ;¬)

It's more "They need some damn money" rather than "want", actually.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Psh, I doubt any of those corporate types mean half of what they say most of the time, if you don't mind my cynical viewpoint. I'm pretty sure he only said what he said to avoid legal action. Now, that said, I'm very excited about the potential this new PSP Go has, but it'll take a heck of a lot for it to divert my attention away from my 360 for too long.

 

[dnadns]

Yeah, but if you look at a lot of what Sony does, they somewhat deserve it. I'm not trying to bash Sony, but I've been really confused about their marketing strategy and price setting for their products, and when I read things like the company taking huge losses last year, I'm not surprised, and neither is anyone else really.

I bought a PSX when it first came out and a PS2, both at launches, and I loved those consoles to death, but I look at the PS3 and I think it's awesome, but overpriced. Then Sony starts spouting their lines about how it's such a great value, but if that was so true, they'd be selling a lot more consoles. Their pricing makes no sense. Unless they plan on discounting the games for PSP Go, there's no reason to buy one. It's like with the Kindle: it's pretty expensive, but their pricing makes sense, since the books they sell are only $10 max (versus the $20 you'd pay at a bookstore).

In other words, he makes negative comments about Sony because they deserve to have someone call them out on the stupidity of their business strategy. And this is coming from someone who has owned more Sony consoles than any other.

Same here, I owned every PS console and usually was quite happy with it.
I agree with you that Sony does a bad marketing. Best example would be the quote of Kaz Hirai saying that they made the PS3 hard to develop for on intention in order to achieve a learning curve for the 10 year livecycle.
If he had said something like "it is inevitable to face a steeper learning curve if you bring out a hardware that offers a more specialised architecture for gaming tasks", there would be less turmoil about it. Because that is what they did, they wanted to go beyond current limits by creating something new, but failed to communicate it properly. At least if you are not into reading the development documentation and are into vector calculations (and let's admit it, I count myself as a tech-nerd just for saying so).

My biggest gripe however is how Sony is still focusing on local markets with different strategies which somehow collide with what global marketing has to say.
For example, they announce the PSPGo at a hilarious price point, then ask us to bring in questions about the Go on the EU blog and a aside from pricing, a lot of people asked "what is the incentive to buy one?" or "how do we buy games with different stores for each region that do not allow access and no prepaid cards available".

Not only that the incentive is meager overall, you can't even use or access it, depending where you live.

I really like the games and the hardware itself, but most of the times Sony just begs for a slap on the neck.

But back on topic, Pachter has some points, but on the other hand also loves to throw up numbers to back up his statements that are not true (i.e. said once that there are just like 1 million PSN users online). Where others seem to discuss these topics, I always feel that he sides quickly with whatever looks successful within the short term.

I'm pretty sure that he is capable of working with numbers, but sometimes I think that he applies market and brand theory to a market that works entirely different than others.
That said, I just sometimes get the feel that he points out Sony's faults more often than others and ignoring some things they might have done right.
Even after a great press conference (especially if you look at where Sony is coming from), he goes on about that MS had the upper hand because of the celebrities on stage. I mean, come on, it is a nice thing that rounds up an experience, but I am pretty sure that there are a lot customers who would have preferred to see their membership fees go to something more gaming related than paying some popular people to appear on stage.

That's my 2 cents on him and Sony at least

 

[Frankydee]

I'd probably buy a Wii for that price instead and get a few retro titles. Think I'll hold onto my 3000 for a while, with a few nice applications it already has i don't see any reason to "upgrade." If anything I'll just keep the larger screened model and buy a hefty memory stick.

 

[Alone Disciple]

Not sure why he felt the need to apologize.....at it's core, his statements and sentiment are dead on. Yes, Sony can and will charge whatever they think they can get for it.....we are the dummies who are willing to pay for it.

I don't think the Go look bad, and I'm sure the tech is all still there, but I can't see myself dropping $250 on it...especially in these times.

It may not be very sporty of me, and I really am not against Sony, but I hope this pricing tactic fails epically for them. (I'm still waiting for the PS3 to drop before I buy one...no way at $399).

I hope we all vote with our wallets, and hold out until Sony gets a little more realistic in thier expectations of the whole market and economy and realize in order to justify that cost, it better have a bit more than just reducing size and taking out the UMD drive. They really aren't re-inventing the PSP here...heck, they said it themseleves "This in not PSP 2.0".