Christmas shortages loom for PlayStation Portable

[wraggster]

Source - GamesIndustry

<blockquote>The early signs suggest that videogames retail is facing another Christmas of hardware shortages, with the PSP already in short supply in the UK - so where does media-friendly desirability end and a revenue-damaging understocked channel begin, asks Rob Fahey.

It's a common complaint in the UK, and probably in most of the rest of the world - Christmas seems to begin earlier and earlier every year. The decorations appeared in some shop windows before Hallowe'en was upon us, you can already buy mince pies and Christmas cake slices in Starbucks, and stores and catalogues have been urging us to consider gift ideas for months. This year, another traditional sign of British Christmas arrived early - namely retail shortages of a Sony console.

It's only the beginning of November, and already it's looking grim for anyone who wants a PlayStation Portable for Christmas. A trawl through London's high street stores will prove fruitless unless you're extremely lucky indeed; a trawl through central London's top retailers last week revealed that not a single unit of the PSP was available. "They come in and go straight back out again," we were told in more than one store. Online, the story is not much better; Amazon cites four to six weeks as its delivery estimate for orders made at the moment.

We can already imagine the outraged headlines as we get closer to Christmas and the mainstream press discover that this year's must-have toy is nowhere to be found - and, of course, when the inevitable ridiculously priced auctions are found on eBay. Even now, almost two months from Christmas, some enterprising - or gouging, depending on how you look at it - London retailers will happily sell you PSP hardware for around twice the standard retail price.

A little shortage, of course, never hurt Sony too badly. Grabbing the headlines and making your product into the most desirable and sought-after toy for Christmas is no bad thing. What every retailer must cross their fingers and pray for, however, is that this year genuinely does see a little shortage, and now the huge shortages which crippled videogame sales last December, as a critical lack of slimline PS2 consoles lopped 2004's traditional winter sales spike off near the root.

One thing is clear; Sony's projection of a worldwide launch for the PSP last Christmas was not merely a bit wide of the mark, but was hugely, vastly inaccurate. Twelve months after the PSP hit retail in Japan and was originally projected to hit retail worldwide, Sony still can't supply ongoing demand for the console, despite the eventual vastly staggered launch.

There's a school of thought which says that as long as the device is selling, in the long run, it doesn't matter - but looking at this Christmas, the potential for frustrated retailers to be sending even more frustrated consumers away empty-handed is worrying. Xbox 360 will also be thin on the ground, and if consumers can't get their hands on either of the hot consoles this Christmas, the money that would have been spent on videogames won't burn a hole in their pockets through to early 20006 - it'll go instead on other desirable products. Expect a lot of new iPods to take the place of PlayStation Portables under Christmas trees this year; revenue that will be permanently lost to the games business.

Besides the immediate worry over Christmas, there's also a wider concern about Sony's overall ability to deliver on its hardware commitments. If the can could miss its targets for the PSP by such a huge margin, what message can the industry take away about the prospects for the launch of the PlayStation 3? Already, many commentators expect the PS3 launch to be a painful process; Sony could do with delivering a little reassurance to its long-suffering partners that it's actually going to improve its performance on launch date and unit targets this time around.</blockquote>

Im not sure about the availability on the streets but online stores Success HK, Divineo China and Lik Sang have all informed me they have plenty of PSP consoles in stock.

[urchin]

I know people who've been unable to buy from high street retailers. Stocks seem to be very limited in some places.

[Sanka]

Hi Ya,

I work in the Games industry in the UK and I've found that the best way for any retailer to cover themselves is by Buying Jap machines.

Sony have turned off the heat on Importers, distributers and retailers for selling grey jap stock in the UK. I know many companies who always have PSP's in stock and still offer a full 1 year Gurantee.

Their is going to be a lot of UK PSP's floating around the end of November and beginning of December, MS and Sony are fighting for that most desired xmas spot.

So Screw CentreSoft! Screw SCEE!

Lets supply the UK with the Stock it needs........................

[slayer2psp]

thers is no problem in the usa i work at a gamestore and we have over 20 in stock plus 4 gig a packs and any other store i have been to have lots in stock we will see after thankgiving whats going to happen in the states thats when all the mind less people come out of ther holes to buy gifts for people. suckers every day is xmas for me buy what you want when you want it i dont need no special day to get stuff

[wraggster]

Is this just a UK/Europe Problem then?

[iball]

Hi Ya,

I work in the Games industry in the UK and I've found that the best way for any retailer to cover themselves is by Buying Jap machines.

Sony have turned off the heat on Importers, distributers and retailers for selling grey jap stock in the UK. I know many companies who always have PSP's in stock and still offer a full 1 year Gurantee.

Their is going to be a lot of UK PSP's floating around the end of November and beginning of December, MS and Sony are fighting for that most desired xmas spot.

So Screw CentreSoft! Screw SCEE!

Lets supply the UK with the Stock it needs........................

Only Mom-n-Pop outlets that are privately run can risk the lawsuits from future PSP buyers when they find out their "Imported-from-Japan-yet-didn't-inform-the-customer" Sony PSP can't play ANY UMD movies they bought just down the street.
Major store chains and distributors don't dabble in grey-market ANYTHING unless it's proven that it will work properly in the U.K and/or Europe.
So selling a Japanese PSP that can NEVER play U.K.-region-locked UMD movies is stupid. Most consumers are "plug-n-play" and aren't going to go around the internet looking for a fix to their problem. They're just going to take it BACK to the store and ask for a refund.

[Fanjita]

Only Mom-n-Pop outlets that are privately run can risk the lawsuits from future PSP buyers when they find out their "Imported-from-Japan-yet-didn't-inform-the-customer" Sony PSP can't play ANY UMD movies they bought just down the street.
Major store chains and distributors don't dabble in grey-market ANYTHING unless it's proven that it will work properly in the U.K and/or Europe.
So selling a Japanese PSP that can NEVER play U.K.-region-locked UMD movies is stupid. Most consumers are "plug-n-play" and aren't going to go around the internet looking for a fix to their problem. They're just going to take it BACK to the store and ask for a refund.

Luckily the UK and Japan are the same region for UMD discs, so actually it doesn't matter

[Hevyduty]

I simply can't see the PSP being hard to find in the US this season. The XB360 is going to be the super hot item this year. In fact, the used PSPs are starting to pile up high behind the counter of my local EB. When I asked why, they said people are trading them in toward the 360.

Last I checked, my Target still had launch PSPs from March with the free Spidey 2 UMD. The systems just haven't sold very well, at least around me.

[bobcobb]

Everyone wants a crappy Xbox 360. I played COD2, and its nothing special.

[Sanka]

Hi Ya,

as already said, there is no region problem with Jap PSPs ........

So selling them in the uk is no problem