The Power Review

Upset about PSP: Go Pricing? Don’t Blame Sony!

Disclaimer: This is an editorial based on opinions that may or may not be rooted in fact.

The announcement of the PSP: Go (worst kept secret of E3) was met with mixed reception by consumers.  The main deterring factor was that despite the exclusion of a UMD drive, this new PSP model is set to retail for $80 more than the core PSP-3000 SKU is selling for currently.  Granted, this new system is lighter, slimmer, and altogether sexier, but when the only added feature is Bluetooth connectivity, how can that pricetag be justified.  The answer is simple:  Sony’s not making the money on it.  Because there isn’t a major difference in the actual innards of the system from its predecessor, the manufacturing cost cannot be that much higher.

With a console that is strictly dependant on digital distribution, retailers would be reluctant to stock such an item unless they were actually making a good deal of profit on it.  Remember the articles about European retailers refusing to carry the PSP: Go?  Well, despite Sony refusing to admit that there was ground to theses claims, it leads me to think that retailers are getting compensated with their cut from the console sales since these purchases won’t lead to further game sales from their retail location.  Essentially, gamers and their wallets are being punished because Sony is trying to make portable gaming more accessible to everyone, since they are trying to bypass the middleman in the process.

So, keep this in mind on October 1^st when you’re staring at a $249 price tag on a PSP: Go!  Your hard earned money isn’t going to end up in the hands of Sony, but the retailers that are getting a bigger cut of the profits just so that won’t be tempted to refuse to carry the stock.

Please leave your comments and thoughts below!