Sony Officially Puts PSPgo to Sleep

[Tom Goldman]

Sony Officially Puts PSPgo to Sleep

Through tears, Sony has revealed the official stance on the PSPgo: It's dead.

Anyone that has strong feelings for the signs [http://www.amazon.com/PSPgo-Pearl-White-Sony-PSP/dp/B002CZ756I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303315359&sr=8-2] indicated impending doom for the download-only handheld, Sony has officially confirmed that it's dead. Retails outlets will continue to sell their remaining stock, but once the system is sold out it'll be gone for good (aside from used sales).

Sony told Japanese website AV Watch that the PSPgo will no longer be manufactured or shipped so that the company can focus on its Monster Hunter [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107394-Sony-Uploads-Entire-PSP2-Conference-Online-in-HD] and will continue to be sold and manufactured.

I wish I could say I was surprised. Everyone, even Sony, saw this coming a long time ago. Retailers called the PSPgo called it a success [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94805-UK-Retailer-Says-PSP-Go-Will-Be-Dead-on-Arrival] at the same time.

With the PSPgo, the value just wasn't there for the price, something Sony talks a lot about now [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109030-Sony-Price-Doesnt-Make-or-Break-a-Platform] in regards to the NGP. On the plus side, anyone that owns a PSPgo now has a system that'll be pretty rare, but I'm not thinking it'll be much of a collector's item.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/#!5793843/its-official-the-pspgo-is-dead]

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[WrongSprite]

Anyone that has strong feelings for the PSPgo [http://www.amazon.com/PSPgo-Pearl-White-Sony-PSP/dp/B002CZ756I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303315359&sr=8-2] might need to sit down for a moment.

*Looks around*

Well, looks like everyone's on their feet, shall we carry on?

 

[merman]

Would have been kinder to strangle it at birth, and concentrate on creating some PSP games that people actually wanted to play, rather than watered-down console ports...

 

[Asuka Soryu]

I knew this thing was a joke the moment they released it. I couldn't see a 250$ PSP without a UMD drive trying to compete with the PSP 3000 wich you could get for 200$ with a game, movie and memory stick. (I got lucky and Walmart had added two extra games with the one I bought)

Honestly, Sony thought people would want a 250$ device that doesn't do anything amazing, and would make their UMD library obsolete unless they kept their PSP, defeating the point of getting a Go in the first place.

I mean, you're trying to sale a 250$ console in competition with a 200$ version that has a WAY larger library of games, with used games as options and a 160$ competitor who has also a freakin huge library and a lower price.

 

[Macrobstar]

I bought a psp go, because at the time I doidn't have a back catalogue of psp games and they where doing a summer deal where you buy a psp go and get 10 games free

 

[Regiment]

Eventually, with the death of the Go and the replacement of the normal PSP, the prices will drop enough that I can rationalize buying one for two or three games.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I knew this thing was a joke the moment they released it. I couldn't see a 250$ PSP without a UMD drive trying to compete with the PSP 3000 wich you could get for 200$ with a game, movie and memory stick. (I got lucky and Walmart had added two extra games with the one I bought)

Honestly, Sony thought people would want a 250$ device that doesn't do anything amazing, and would make their UMD library obsolete unless they kept their PSP, defeating the point of getting a Go in the first place.

I mean, you're trying to sale a 250$ console in competition with a 200$ version that has a WAY larger library of games, with used games as options and a 160$ competitor who has also a freakin huge library and a lower price.

Yea.
Most of us saw this coming the moment the price was announced.

I still think most gamers are suckers but maybe not as bad as I assumed.

 

[mew4ever23]

I never understood the point of the PSP Go - Oh wait, yes I do. It was a blatant cash grab by Sony. No UMD port meant you had to pay to download every title, including some games you might already have UMDs for, a point most gamers saw.

The PSP Go. Another cash grab that shall not be mourned.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

I never understood the point of the PSP Go - Oh wait, yes I do. It was a blatant cash grab by Sony. No UMD port meant you had to pay to download every title, including some games you might already have UMDs for, a point most gamers saw.

The PSP Go. Another cash grab that shall not be mourned.

Not to mention, the part where you can't buy used games for it at a lower price. Heh.

 

[BritishWeather]

Hopefully Sony will use their brains and allow you to trade in old psp umds for a digital copies for the NGP.

 

[Mahorfeus]

Hell, at least the Gameboy Micro had novelty. This piece of crap was just doomed to failure! The PSN store just hadn't progressed enough for this to be a viable handheld - it was before its time, to say the least.

 

[Jonathan Quartey]

Oh well, the design of the PSP go was alright to an extent but the analog stick position was stupid, it was better on the original psp and of course the price was "OMG are you serious Sony?". Anyways the NGP looks fab, definitely will be getting that as some great games coming on it like Uncharted, Killzone etc and some games that are on the PS store are worthwhile buying too.

 

[Mr.Petey]

Would have been kinder to strangle it at birth, and concentrate on creating some PSP games that people actually wanted to play, rather than watered-down console ports...

The PSP's catalogue of games doesn't generally contain ports. A lot of their games are either sequels tailor made for the console (nine out of ten times they make a smooth transition such as both Ace Combats and Syphon Filter titles) or original games such as the Patapon saga.
I hate to say it but the 3DS looks to hold nothing but ports, just upped in 3D. But I'm aware that a few months after it just might pull off original titles of it's own someday

OT however I'da thought that when the PSPgo was launched, they were gonna offer some kind of electronic transfer or some way of trading in the UMD disc for the downloadable version. That was stamped on wasn't it, so I wonder if that contributed to it's downfall.

It wasn't really desirable in the first place, with it's smaller screen and the aforementioned missing UMD drive. But I still have faith in the PSP as a whole with it's use as an MP3+video player, which see just as much uses as the games

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

Well, considering that you can still download games off of PSN, at least the people who bought one can still get games for it.

It was still a stupid idea, though.

 

[Marik2]

Doesnt the NGP also have download only capabilities?

Sorry if I havent been keeping up with the news.

 

[Great North]

Aww, man. Shit. I mean, it wasn't a great idea, but it looked pretty cool. My old PSP has been broken for a long time; If I had a bunch of disposable income I would have replaced it with a PSP go.

But I've never even seen a Go PSPgo in person. Not a good sign when not a single one of my gamer friends or acquaintances has one.

 

[CMD_Obvious]

I saw this a loooong time ago (and so did others), that taking the UMD drive out was the biggest mistake sony has made since they started making PSPs. mind you an educated (ish) guess would be that Sony wanted to milk more money out of PSN by making a PSN download only console. no offense intended of course, because it did look cool.

 

[Callate]

I'm surprised they've been manufacturing them this long. The Game Crazy at Hollywood Video near where I live was offering them at fire sale prices when the chain was closing and they still couldn't get rid of them.

It was a bad idea from the outset. If the device's market life is long, the owner is faced with having to swap things in and out of memory. If it's short, he or she ends up getting screwed when their downloads and/or networks supporting the device cease to be available.

Sony managed to take the problem of an optical drive that limited battery life and offer a solution that was far worse.