ShopTo: PSPgo is "almost dead before it has arrived"

***wraggster*** · September 17th, 2009, 16:01

ShopTo has empathised with European retailers boycotting PSPgo, and reckons the format "is almost dead before it has arrived".

Analyst Michael Pachter, on the other hand, thinks they're all being "foolish", and calls the entire situation "ridiculous".

"It's just silly for a retailer to say that they won't sell a big ticket gaming device because they can't sell the games. Consumer electronics stores sell refrigerators and not food, everyone sells iPods and not the music for them; this position is just ridiculous," Michael Pachter, analyst for investor Wedbush Morgan Securities, told Eurogamer.

"I think that it's foolish for a retailer to be selective about what they carry, unless they truly don't believe it will sell well."

A much better course of action, he argued, would be to buy limited stock and then re-order if appropriate. "Refusing to carry them subjects them to the risk that Sony will bypass them for Gran Turismo or Uncharted, in which case they lose," he said.

The ball began rolling when Dutch outlet Nedgame publicly opposed the PSPgo for being too expensive and for not featuring a UMD drive, thus providing no opportunity to sell games. And controlling all sales via PSN gives Sony a "monopoly" on software sales, argued the shop.

Media Markt, a German retail chain that spans Europe, took up a similar position, with Spanish and Italian (and no doubt other regions) outlets prohibited from selling the device.

ShopTo will not follow suit, but agrees with the sentiment. "We do have it listed on the site, but we are not concentrating any big marketing behind it," boss Igor Cipolletta told Eurogamer.

"Sony has decided to cut publishers and retailers for the software of the PSPgo and deal direct with developers, giving them a 70 per cent margin for any items sold on Sony PSN. I believe if they had lowered that to 50 or 60 per cent, and given the opportunity to online retailers, it would have enjoyed greater success and retailers would attempt to promote the console to the market."

Cipolletta, however, feels the damage may have already been done, and the format - which launches here on 1st October for GBP 224.99 (EUR 249.99) - will be a flop.

"I have the feeling that as a format it is almost dead before it has arrived, and it relies far too heavily on a customer base that is prepared to pay more for download content than the equivalent disc based product, and I suspect this market will soon dry up based on the technical limitations of the hardware," Cipolletta shared.

But, Pachter added, while retailers wield "some power" now, their foot-stamping won't be entertained for long.

"As far as the argument that 'it's about time' retailers received their comeuppance: I think that will occur soon enough anyway, as the large hard drives in the PS3 and 360 (and the larger ones coming) will encourage a greater number of downloads in the future," he offered.

"Retailers have to face the fact that games will be increasingly offered over Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, and cope with the outcome. "To draw a line in the sand," Pachter said, "is wrong."

Sony has currently not responded comment on the matter.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...it-has-arrived

**Baboon** · September 17th, 2009, 16:17

£224 for a pspgo is hilarious.

Not sure what $ony are thinking with the silly price tag? lol

**symbal** · September 17th, 2009, 17:24

What! food, music.. Did Pachter even think before he made that comment? Why would a store sell the Psp go when they can convince people to get Psp 3000 and a load more money from umd sales, untill consoles go completely digital i don't blame anyone for boycotting Psp go.

**neckilljo** · September 17th, 2009, 17:46

It's just silly for a retailer to say that they won't sell a big ticket gaming device because they can't sell the games. Consumer electronics stores sell refrigerators and not food, everyone sells iPods and not the music for them; this position is just ridiculous,

he made a good point for me...

if pspgo were shipping at this price with a umd drive, they'd be confident about it, but they are pissed off about not being able to sell games... so they make all this scandal...

**symbal** · September 17th, 2009, 18:08

You have to remember nearly everything they sell relys on people buying one of 5 consoles and the Psp go going digital really is the begining of the end for that so they will want to hold off, because without physical media all you really need is a cash machine giving out psn vouchers to replace gaming stores, or stores just selling gaming collectibles, and you can't compare kitchen appliances and music to this because every house will always need those.

**kojiro7** · September 17th, 2009, 22:12

psp go is crap,i agree with them

***wraggster*** · September 17th, 2009, 22:44

personally ill stick with my PSPs with custom firmware

and get my screen fixed on my star wars PSP

**John Vattic** · September 17th, 2009, 23:20

lol wraggster is cool!

no umd drive? memory stick m2 not pro duo? differnet video cables?

anyone else suspect this will fail?

i'll buy a 3000 but no go on the go.

**stanfy86** · September 18th, 2009, 02:16

If theres one thing i learned from working at wally-mart it would be that retailers dont make that much money off of consoles themselves, its the games/accessories that do it......

**chuggman** · September 18th, 2009, 21:13

His quote about the ipod music is lame. I have bought music off of Itunes before but I would estimate more than 80 percent was cds that I ripped to itunes that were bought from stores. Now if he had said ipod games then apple has more of a monopoly on them by approving which ones can be put up on there store. That would be more correct but what he said was bogus.