PSP to see $50 price cut, sez analyst
By Evan Blass 
posted August 15th 2006 10:40AM
posted August 15th 2006 10:40AM
With Nintendo's DS and DS Lite clearly showing the most momentum in the portable gaming space (who knew that a dedicated product could trump one with more bells and whistles?), word on the the street is that Sony is expected to drop the PSP's retail price down to $150. American Technology Research's P.J. McNealy feels that a slew of popular games such as Brain Age and New Super Mario Brothers have given the DS a much-needed boost in popularity, while the multimedia-centric PSP hasn't had a real hit since the last Grand Theft Auto title. Combined with the fact that the UMD is all but dead, McNealy believes that Sony's gotta do something to reinvigorate interest in its portable device, and a price cut seems like the best way to woo potential DS purchasers away. At $150, the newly-priced PSP wouldn't be that much more expensive than Nintendo's offering, and the company's recent push to offer movies on MemorySticks might be just the differentiating factor that would convince consumers to choose feature sets over games. Still, with its innovative input system and non-traditional titles, the DS would seem to appeal to a larger potential audience than the PSP, so even a price drop might not be enough to turn things around for Sony.[Thanks, Scott]
@ $150 and a cheapo memstick, I might buy one if I don't see the iPod video this fall. Besides, with locoroco and the MGS titles coming out it might be worth the purchase.
And of course, for the emulation scene. Screw Wii for a year if I can play all the titles of yesteryear on the go.
You know what the damn problem is? It's the price of the games. If Sony dropped their damn games into the price bracket of the DS, I don't think they would have a problem. I have a PSP, I think it's an awesome machine. But, I haven't bought a new game in like 4 months, and I only own 4. Damn.
This rumor has been debunked by Sony already.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=18944
That is awesome.
dropping the system price doesn't improve the "situation" the PSP is caught in where people see it as lower quality ps2 games. despite what anyone will argue with me about, this IS a situation that is hurting the PSP real bad. Yes i know there are original games on the system and coming soon, but try and tell that to a person already looking at the library and their eyes drown in what looks like a wall of ports from ps2.
i think they limitted themselves by making the greatest feature the graphics, but took out some of the ps2 controls to create something that is almost a ps2 in many consumers eyes.
I really wish this wasn't the case.
Drop the game prices and you might see people pick it up. but with all of the movies houses and stores dropping the UMD format, and stores shrinking thier PSP sections or dropping it entirely, even if it did sell better, no one would believe it.
It's just hard when everyone has a DS (lite) and the games keep coming in with better reviews at lower price points, and incredible online features. SUre there are releases for the PSP just as often, but these games seem to be no name games with bad reviews, or well known franchises that people would rather not pay 40-50$ for a playstation portable version of what they paid 20-30$ for on thier home console.
Grand theft auto: liberty city stories is the best example of this, and arguably the best game the system had... how insanely ironic.
would i buy it again? obviously no.
will i get assaulted by sony fanboys? game on.
They don't need a price cut, they just need to get on board with Gamefly and start cross-promoting each other. Imagining a world before Gamefly is kind of like trying to imagine a world before TiVo. Or electricity.
They are not going to admit that a price increase is coming as not to erode sales before the price drop. This would be a good move by Sony. Not so much that the PSP is a failure (the thing has sold pretty darn well), but to challenge Nintendo for #1 in the handheld space.
Put side by side with the same price that'd be a tough decision for the average consumer. For the tech crammed into that machine $150 is almost a steal.
Gamecube all over again :(
Just a suggestion, but in your title and the title and content of many a story you publish, why not just spell the word "says" correctly? The extra character saved will not bring down the narrow or broad pipes we use to access your fine content. It's not that sez is not cute, which it is. As a journalist with world wide acclaim, our expectations are higher (at least mine are).
A price cut isn't going to help. Most people don't buy a DS because it's cheaper, they but it because it actually has good games, and that's all gamers care about. You can offer a piece of crap for $150, but it's still a piece of crap.
AH! I just bought a PSP about 5 days ago!
yeah a price drop just isn't gonna do it. If you wanna sell psps, get games that arent carbon copies of ps2 games, get something that is original. And even with these improvements that still wont be enough most likely. It will be awhile before they can even dream to unseat nintendo as they have been at this for a while so they know what people want in a hand held system.
Brain Age is $15 less than most other DS titles. It's moved 4 million units in its short life for a reason, you know. Sony's biggest problem is that Nintendo has just redefined the portable -- and possibly the entire -- gaming market by introducing the touch screen. Brain Age will ONLY work with DS. A similar game just wouldn't be as intuitive or as fun on PSP.
Cutting the the price would be just a temporary fix. Sony has found that people would rather play fun/interesting games than carry around a super-multimedia device. It seems kind of obvious in hindsight, but wasn't back in late 2004.
They're both going for the video game market, but just attacking different sections therein. I would say a $50 price cut would get some people on board, but they'd eventually run into the same frustrations that most PSP owners already face -- terrible media format and bad games. I would think it might better to address those issues first and then cut prices later. Start introducing games on Memory Stick to cut back on load times and maybe a few out-there titles at a significant price cut.
quashed by sony two days ago, where have you guys been???
linky:http://pspupdates.qj.net/Sony-Sorry-But-No-PSP-Price-Cut-/pg/49/aid/61712
"This rumor has been debunked by Sony already."
Price drops are always "debunked" right before they happen. Elsewise sales would drop to zero in the months and weeks leading up to it.
Look at it this way: rumors of price drops *always* come true. The only question is when. I could make the bold prediction right now that the PS3 price will drop to $50. And someday, I'll be right.
So there's no "debunking" a price drop rumor. It's going to happen sooner or later. And I think it's reasonable with the PSP to assume it's going to happen sooner rather than later, given that the DS has the clear sales momentum in all territories now, and is not just beating the PSP, but absolutely trouncing it at the moment. For a while they could at least have pointed to relatively equal sales in the US, but no longer - it's about 2:1 here at the moment, and about 10:1 in Japan. It's turning into a global rout. Sony has to put a stop to this any way they can if they want to stay in the game at all.
It's not going to work, though. I can't fault them for trying - the product's out there, they've gotta try to sell it - but the battle for this "generation" of handhelds is already won by Nintendo. Who woulda thunk it a couple years ago? Once a system gets this much momentum going, inertia takes over and it's practically impossible to stop it. Developers flock to the system that's selling, customers flock to the system with the games (and the system their friends have), and it becomes self-perpetuating. Sony no doubt thinks they still have a chance, but they're flailing right now. It's desperation time.
Copies of PS2 games...So what if they are, its supposed to be a portable console, not a replacement for the PS2.
The gameboy was just a portable SNES was it not? I love my PSP because it means I can play while the wife watches the TV, in a hotel, at work. Its a goddam portable PS2!!!
And as the other poster says, sony have said NO!
This is how much that Mylo device should cost. That thing is going to tank - even though its a good idea. They need to saw that price down. PSP for $150 though, thats cool :)
How about the white one though?
"but the battle for this "generation" of handhelds is already won by Nintendo"
Obviously the battle wasn't 'already won' by Sony when the PSP was winning the sales war (even in Japan, for a while), so it's just a tad premature (and more than a little fanboyish) to declare the victor so soon.
Christmas will probably tell the rest of the story, but even if relegated to a number two spot, the PSP has pushed its way into the market and established a userbase much larger than any other 'failed' platform in history. It's not going to die off anytime soon. When followed up by the next gen Sony handheld, they might even pull ahead, who knows?
Considering the Gameboy came out a year before the SNES and was technologically inferior to the original Nintendo, the answer to your question is a resounding no.
You've made everyone's point for them. It's a portable PS2... with a moderate battery life and a not-quite-PS2 level of graphics that the tiny screen hides.
If I already own a PS2... which I do... why would I buy a PSP? Just because it's a supplement to your home console rather than a replacement doesn't mean it shouldn't have original titles. If I wanted to play a PS2 title, I'd play it in my living room on my considerably-bigger-than-PSP-screen TV.
The PSP suffers entirely because of a lack of original titles that take advantage of its unique features. The DS is thriving because titles like Trauma Center bring a new gaming experience.
And trust me when I say I'm not a Nintendo fanboy. I bought my PSP at 6am the day it was released, and I refused to pick up a DS until long after I had accepted my poor decision.
Not sure what is so hard about spelling the word "says" right. It is one extra letter.
"Nintendo has just redefined the portable -- and possibly the entire -- gaming market by introducing the touch screen."
Nintendo didn't introduce the touchscreen. The Zodiac and Game.com both had them, and both were gaming centric devices. Prior to that, hardcore gaming on PDAs and smartphones has been around for literally years.
The DS (Lite) is a Gameboy Advance with better 3D, an iPOD look and a Game & Watch screen configuration. It's certainly a cool combination and I do enjoy mine (imported it from JP a while back), but the parts that make the whole ain't 'teh new'.
"they but it because it actually has good games, and that's all gamers care about. You can offer a piece of crap for $150, but it's still a piece of crap."
Gamerankings and Metacritic list more games rated over 80% for the PSP than the DS, and that's even with Nintendogs all listed separately. Gamespot also lists quite a few more PSP games over 8.0 than the DS, and gave the mega-selling Brain Age: Train your Brain a mediocre 7.2. IGN is not loading atm, but as I recall, their scores break down about the same as GS.
But hey, nice try, fanboy!
Pixelator is right, they should be raising the price with soooo many good games available, not lowering it. I mean with the library it has, PSP should totally be number one in the portable console. Oh but wait, it's not.
@Will
Yup I agree with you. I own a lot of games though and I can't remember why I bought them all but I bought like 6 or 7 games at launch and a few months after. But now I own about 8. I haven't bought a new PSP game since MGA2 because I can't see anything worth a console price (40 bucks). Field Commander and Valkyrie Profile tempted me but I couldn't bring myself to buy them. Its just to damn hard to spend 40 or even 50 dollars for a portable game and its one of the reasons I want a DS so bad now.
You know what would jump-start sales of the PSP?
Easy access to movies. If there was a mainstream way to load movies onto the PSP, sony would sell a ton more PSP's. Instead they chose UMD, which with the simplicity of Itunes for music and video, was pretty much still born.
It's funny that Sony's DRM is one of the big reasons why the PSP hasn't caught on more.
I'll wait another 2 months and it'll be $100!
"The DS (Lite) is a Gameboy Advance with better 3D, an iPOD look and a Game & Watch screen configuration. It's certainly a cool combination and I do enjoy mine (imported it from JP a while back), but the parts that make the whole ain't 'teh new'.
Posted at 12:20PM on Aug 15th 2006 by pixelator"
- - -
there is a super super super rarely used and super incredibly esoteric saying about a thing and like it not just being the combo of smaller things. but like the whole thing. you know that saying?
gosh! i wish i could remember that super rare and never used saying. since i can't i'll just concede that you are absolutely 100% correct in every way possible. and that any time a new device comes out that is merely a new recombination of something that occured in widely varient devices from the past... that it is NOT innovative. AT ALL. (sorta like the "new" menu items at Taco Bell made from the exact 9 ingredients as everything else. CAN NOT BE COUNTED AS A NEW THING. EVER.)
From my experience, the problem with psp sales is that they are not marketing it correctly. There are people out there that care about the multimedia abilities just as much or more than the games available. You have no idea how many times i have told people about the internet browser and they were dumbfounded. This thing has been out for over a year and still there is a lack of general knowledge about it's wonderful abilities. I for one bought my psp because I found out it can get on the internet and that it had built in wi-fi. I have faith in Sony and I believe it won't be long before we start seeing great games for the platform. Hey, look at the gameboy. When it first came out alot of the games were weak, and just scaled down versions of NES titles. Just be patient and you will see Sony climb to the top.
As the previous owner of both, I have to say that while an awesome machine, the PSP has had its opportunity for showing people what it can do, and failed in most accounts.
The DS however, including its new Lite incarnation is an awesome machine, with the game titles released capturing users and keeping them coming back for more.
I guess there's a lot to be said for one thing and doing it well, as well as the old jack of all trades, master of none statement.
My PSP sadly sits on my shelf gathering dust, while the screen protector on my DS Lite needs replacing. 'Nuff said.
"Pixelator is right, they should be raising the price with soooo many good games available"
Way to distort what I said beyond reason. I never said the PSP had a perfect library (it could use more creative and original titles like Loco Roco, Mercury, etc.). I DID say the price reduction was likely to have a positive effect on sales. It also took Sony too long to bring the Basic Pack sans accessories at $199 from Japan - the $249.99 Value Pack was generally viewed as a ripoff considering what came with it after the Spider-Man 2 UMD deal expired.
"a new recombination of something that occured in widely varient devices"
The DS, Game.com and Zodiac are 'widely variant' devices? Odd, I thought they're all gaming handhelds. Do I infer your 'non-sarcasm' properly, that ANY device is innovative as long as the old tech it employs is presented differently..?
This kind of logic begs the question: Does DS stand for 'Double Standard'?
""they but it because it actually has good games, and that's all gamers care about. You can offer a piece of crap for $150, but it's still a piece of crap."
Gamerankings and Metacritic list more games rated over 80% for the PSP than the DS, and that's even with Nintendogs all listed separately. Gamespot also lists quite a few more PSP games over 8.0 than the DS, and gave the mega-selling Brain Age: Train your Brain a mediocre 7.2. IGN is not loading atm, but as I recall, their scores break down about the same as GS.
But hey, nice try, fanboy!"
Whoa whoa whoa!
Who is the fanboy again?
Let me ask you a question, what was the most touted game of the entire system? GTA? Oh, right, a remake.
Then? Tekken? Oh, another, that's cool.
Hell, almost every game with a 9.0+ is a remake! Almost every game with an 8.0+ is too, for that matter!
Fanboy, what say you?
Wait, nevermind, I don't care.
Jesus Christ everybody - RELAX.
Buy the one (or, OMG, two) that you want and stop taking this stuff personally. I love my DS, it is exactly what I want. But - that doesn't mean the PSP doesn't have a lot of redeeming qualities.
There are good games for both systems - they just happen to be very different types of games.
Spewing hyperbole only shows you to be tool for your favorite console's marketing department.
$150 PSP + $20 Loco Roco...and Sony may have a sale....
My PSP screen is cracked. Unit still works, but the screen is busted. Has anyone out there repaired this yourself?
I have a PSP and love it. While it might just be a "lesser" version of a PS2 with the same games and a smaller screen as earlier posters have said, I can't take my PS2 on the go. I love being able to play Madden 06 and Grand Theft Auto, all the games that I could play on my PS2, on a subway, plane, or wherever I want.
Wait… pixelator… YOU’RE calling somebody else “A FANBOY”? That’s a laugh. Talk about the Pot calling the kettle…
You are the poster child for the WORD FANBOY -- Absolute and unquestioning loyalty to Sony, completely unreasonable to hear another point of view different from yours, and 2 steps from drinking the Kool-Aid.
"You are the poster child for the WORD FANBOY"
I've probably owned more Nintendo product than any two or three average Nintendo fanboys COMBINED, and it took me until Christmas _2005_ before I finally broke down and bought a PS2. I've also been on more Nintendo dev teams than Sony. In 2001 when I worked for a now-defunct publisher that got PS2s for cheap, I gave mine to a friend for Christmas rather than keep it for myself. But hey, I'm a Sony fanboy, unquestioning and absolute. Whatever.
"Hell, almost every game with a 9.0+ is a remake! Almost every game with an 8.0+ is too, for that matter!"
And most of the big games on the DS are also remakes or sequels, so what? BTW - Liberty City Stories isn't a 'remake' or port of an existing game, it's a sequel or prequel, depending on your point of view. Just like NSMB, Mario Kart, Castlevania, etc.
What I wish sony would do is release a psp with a harddrive built in, with a headphones slot that takes normal headphones, and with a lock on keys while you're listening to music so you can't accidentally press a button while it's in your pocket and it changes song on you mid awesome tune(that annoys me!)
You can use a regular headphone on the psp's headphone jack, and you can put the system on "hold" if you don't want to accidently change a song. What they needed to do, which they didn't, was devote their gaming studios to produce original titles for the PSP. I agree, aside from Lumines, you can get better versions of the PSP games on the PS2. Also, the cost of PSP games are way over-priced, and having expensive propietary memory sticks at launch made it worse.
I just bought a cell phone and was mad because Sony hasn’t made the psp a cell phone yet. really Sony misted the big idea. That’s cell phone, gps, camera, hand held game device. And lose the umd so the batteries don’t have to motor that thing. If there’s to be any motors let it be for rumble
I fogot touch screen
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
I just bought the giga pack + gta: liberty city stories for $290.
Why??? Why do I always get screwed every time I purchase something?
I only bought my Archos AV500 a month ago to find that the Archos 604 is coming soon to replace it.
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!!
@ Rodney
If your screen is cracked just on the surface, not the LCD itself. Don't fret. Sony sells replacable faceplates for the PSP for $25 CAD.