Sony's PSPgo sells 28,000 units on first day in Japan, physical media points and laughs
By Tim Stevens 
posted Nov 3rd 2009 9:48AM
posted Nov 3rd 2009 9:48AM
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I think they really dropped the ball when they cut that UMD trade-in program.
Exactly! PSP "No Go"... I bet the US numbers were even more horrendous!!
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Yea, nice move on that trade in bail Sony, especially with the Fruit dudes breathing down your portable gaming neck with endless 99c App store games. You think you would have learned a lesson from getting your asses handed to you on the cell phone (and walkman) fronts. The PSP GO will be a "no go" for many who will instead keep their powder dry and wait for a PSP-4k.
The deal should have been a 1 for 1 trade-in on the UMD (trade-in the UMD, get the digital copy FOR FREE or at least heavily discounted)! Just remember, there is a $199 portable touch screen device (with a cell phone attached to boot) thats all in your ass right now and the games (some as low as FREE) ain't going away anytime soon. Its not to late to right this wrong so you don't risk loosing the portable gaming market too...
The minute this drops to the $149 level AND someone cracks the firmware...FORGET IT, this thing will sell like hotcakes. You know it, I know it and Sony knows it.
Yet, I feel that this is just a road bump as Sony must have the a REAL working PSP2 in the works. Please don't tell me this thing is going to have a 10 year life cycle as well. The graphics just can't go that long. Look at those crispy looking iPhone games. And don't get me started about DS, DSi or DSi XL.
Am I the only one alive that actually likes UMDs?
honestly, i was sure UMD was the worst idea ever until i heard the PSPgo was being released...
I don't think it's the UMD trade in program but the price that's putting most people off. To me "let's release the same console with a smaller screen for twice the price" doesn't seem like a formula for high sales.
I was going to get one before the announced the price but when I found it was going to be considerably more expensive than the current PSP I was completely put off. I suspect it's the same with many other people.
They should have implemented the 3 Free games promotion in the US & Japan like they did in Europe. Honestly, I don't go back and play my old games that often, I'd rather have 3 brand new games that I haven't played.
Either way they should have shut their mouth up about the trade-in program to begin with.
And the real issue is price, being that this system is being discounted by ~$50 at various retailer, it suggests to me that the retailer is getting around $50 for the sale of each Go. Most consoles have little to no profit for the retailer because they make money from retail games, the Go obviously needs an incentive for retailers to carry it since there isn't any physical media.
No, I think they really dropped the ball right after the success of the PS2. Ever since the PS2, they've released nothing but crap on the market and stuck with the cocky arrogant altitude that people will buy it if it has the word Sony on it.
Nintendo, Microsoft and soon Apple will put Sony's gaming division out of its misery.
The Nintendo DS uses some crappy tiny cards to store games on, the PSP uses UMDs. Why does everyone hate on the UMDs???
This site says it all about Sony and its PS3/PSP Go strategy:
http://lexluthorbeating.ytmnd.com/
Trust me, watch it and it says it all!
They didn't just dropped the ball, they dropped it and it snowballed into a tragic console lesson. Maybe if they have called it PSP2 it would have been easier to sell, but bad pricing, bad ergonomics, old technology, and dropping backwards compatibility is too much for the Playstation brand,
They're not doing any better than Nintendo and its DSi on my watch.
SONY made the screen smaller and took off UMD slot.
On one hand Nintendo made the screen bigger and took off the GBA slot.
It has nothing to do with the fact that its flash. The PSP Go is just plain fail. Everyone either already has a UMD PSP or have moved on to the iPhone for gaming purposes. PSP Go doesn't really offer much incentives to ditch your existing PSP.
iPhone/iPod isn't even popular among casual gamers as a gaming device... It's a secondary or tertiary function for people that already use them as media devices and phones, like solitaire or web browser games on a computer. You're not going to find anything like these games: http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/ http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/scores/ for iPod.
Moved onto ipod/iphone... Are you kidding? If this is the state of things in gaming, then I'm giving it up. Fortunately, I think this belief is bunk, and that anyone who plays anythign on iphone/ipod for a while will realize the control scheme is clearly inferior to a d-pad and tactile buttons. Casual games like sudoku are great, as well as mine sweeper play just fine. When you try FPS, its a joke, the play control is simply bad. Also, even simple games like Tetris suffer from the delay in screen conductance when the player is skilled. I can play the game for hours and hours with a d-pad, but the delay on the screen is VERY noticeable after 20 minutes of play on iphone.
@adam- FPS suck on the PSP without a second analog stick. But thats my opinion.
@ the apple fanboi's- the Iphone can have 100,000 titles to it, but that doesn't make the game worth it or even good. It's a phone with a few extra features. When it displays graphics like a psp and contains as much data as a psp game; maybe we could call it more than a phone. Otherwise it isn't a gaming machine and never will be.
@ben: "It's a secondary or tertiary function for people that already use them as media devices " - umm, hate to tell you this but that same description can be applied to the PSP. Certainly in the first, what, year or more of its life I didn't know a single owner who brought it primarily as a PSP gaming platform (especially once homebrew let users play emulated titles or, gasp, pirate software).
As for the iPhone / iPod Touch... no, it doesn't offer as good a quality gaming experience as a PSP or DS but you know something? It doesn't matter. As a portable solution it's leagues ahead of either platform providing a superb music player, fantastic web browsing, a range of applications including facebook, twitter and *shudder* myspace AND a huge library of games most of which are a fraction of the cost of a title for the other portable systems. No, those games might not be as long or quite as good (although some are getting AWFULLY close now and some are actually better suited to a touchscreen scheme) but they're more than good enough for gaming on the go.
Look, I'm a gamer and have been since the days of the Atari 2600. I've owned a DS, I own a PSP but my portable gaming is entirely done on my iPod Touch at the moment. Why? Games that actually give me different experiences than just a scaled-down version of a game better played on a home console.Games that offer new experiences which is becoming increasingly rare these days. Games that are designed to be played for a few minutes at a time on the go. And most importantly games that cost me a few pence per go, not £30. At that cost I don't mind not having the physical media and nor do I mind taking a punt on something that I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy.
@Steve- For some it the quality of the gaming experience is key. It does matter to me. Poor quality games suck and I would rather spend $100 on 2 quality games than $100 on 100 games that suck. The PSP does music, movies, and now (with the go) apps. The web browsing is better than archos pmp by far even on the old PSP1000. Most of the PSP games are designed for the use on the go. You can stop and save pretty much anywhere on most games. Yes the I-phone games come close to the graphic's of say a DS but still no where near the length or quality.
I have been a gamer since commador 64, still have it. I own an Atari, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega, Dreamcast, N64, WIz, Pandora, DS, PSP, Wii, Xbox, PS3, blah blah blah. Lets put it this way I have a problem with throwing away electronics. It's a curse. It is nice to hear you can get an experience from the I-phone/touch but to me the games feel like priced flash games I can play for free on my WIZ. I am not willing to pay for such games but if you are go ahead its your money.
There are certainly games that show that the iPhone is a real gaming platform. For example, Robocalypse Mobile Mayhem is one and it sells for peanuts. RMM is a very solid RTS game with a pretty extensive single-player campaign and good online play. There's a lot of junk, sure, but there's a lot of good stuff too and it's only getting better.
@Steve
I'm glad someone gets it.
The only thing that Sony has going for it vs iPhone/iPod is buttons, and the only thing Nintendo has going for it is Mario. I love a lot of games on both portables, but if I had a couple real buttons on my iPhone and Super iMario, it would be very different. Either way... the DS and PSP have long been retired.
@Fatima: I was about to rank you up until I heard you mention the iPhone...
the iTards really are delusional if they think the touch has anything remotely resembling a chance at really impacting the gaming industry. first off its a touch screen. No real controls. That alone is once in an eon epic fail for anyone who wants to do gaming on the go. I've also played around with the touch and some of these 99 cent games. At least the wii gaming is designed to be entertaining. Most of the games I've tested on the Touch look to be a time waster in 5 minute increments. That is all. Sorry Apple fans. I really hate to break this too you but the Touch and iPhone aren't gaming platforms. They are PDA's that can do some time wasting games, that is all.
why would anyone want this honestly? its the same psp, not enough difference. and not to mention its over priced. i love my ps3 but i see no reason to get this. they need to make an upgraded version with better graphics or something else worth having
Well the psp3000 is worth it but this, I don't know. Not surprise it debuted well in Japan, they are gadgets freaks and I'm beginning to think that they must have everything first.
I which Engadget had compared these numbers to first-day sales of Rolly in Japan, so I could get a better understanding of just how giant this news is.
I totally agree Johnny, the PSPGo does nothing better than the regular PSP 3000. There really is no reason for Sony to have the PSPGo out on the market either. Sony's whole reason for the Go's existence, is to push digital game distribution while taking the main focus off UMDs(could be as a test for PSP2). But as it stands, they didn't need to create the new handicapped PSPGo for that purpose, the regular PSPs already had download capability/ability to play digital copies of games. If you own a PSP 3000 already and don't like/or want to use UMD, you don't have to, just download games from the PSN Store. No one really wants the nonsense that is the PSPGo, Sony should have just focused all their energies on advertising the PSN Store and increasing it's content.
Yup, it's like being punished for upgrading to a newer, more expensive product.
Consumers are smart enough to know when they're getting a raw deal.
and yet, they still keep buying monster cables.
buying monster cables isnt a raw deal, you pay a premium to think that your watching a clearer "Antiques Roadshow"
here in holland you'll be hard-pressed to even find one since a lot of stores don't even carry it.
What a waste of plastic. Dang, they must like losing money! All the people wanting two analog sticks and they give them this. And all that talk about "older games" don't support dual sticks? What a lame excuse. What about games moving forward?? I wouldn't be surprised AT ALL if sony in less than a year stops FULL UMD SUPPORT, forcing everyone to upgrade to the psp go. Watch.
As a casual Engadget reader i'm beginning to believe that the site's editors have a UMD agenda. The only downside to removing the media is that Sony believes that doing so requires a price premium. UMD is a vestige of Sony's old way of doing things and should disappear.
If only that were their only agenda.
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In defense of the PSPgo: its smaller and it got rid of the moving parts (UMD) - those are good things in a portable unit (always thought the idea of an optical disc drive in a pocket size device just doesn't seem right in terms of durability or battery suckage).
I don't think its failure is caused by the lack of UMD as the article suggests. The problem is that this thing should have been CHEAPER than the PSP 3000 - not $50 MORE expensive. Bring it out at $169 and I think people would have had a lot less to complain about. Still has its shortcomings - but at that price they are easier to justify and it becomes a better option than the PSP3000 for a lot more people.
The Go also fails by:
1. Using 802.11b for wireless, you don't even get 802.11g.
2. Charging more for downloaded games than the UMD disc costs, yet including DRM on them.
3. Misleading about UMD disc trade-in.
This isn't a question of physical vs. digital media. It's a question of pricing. If the cost of this thing reflected cheaper, but better-performing and updated parts, it would be selling much better. The device itself is great, but the fact that it's priced wrong has nothing to do with the fact that physical media is about 5 years from becoming a thing of the past.
Well i bought a psp go on day 1 and i'm quite happy with it. while the specs are the same, the display is much better, with no pixelation like on the 3000 that i own. i am however, discontent that they have yet to release Dissydia digitally.
I couldn't agree more, I love the screen on the psp go. But I have been really been wanting to play dissidia and it "and some other square games like crysis core" are still not on the psn! Although this is more squares fault because they still have not gave the green light to put it on the PSN.
Even though it appears Capcom and Rockstar have dumped a few good games on the psn, so its square's fault if I spend all of my money on megaman, darkstalkers, and gta; and am unable to buy dissidia and CC when they decide to stop being foolish.
I don't mind the download media. It would have been great instead of wandering the streets in Akiba, looking for English titles and then costing almost double. Finding used UMD's was even tougher.
I personally like the form factor of the regular PSP and I've got a feeling that having to purchase an accessory, just so I can use my accessories isn't going over well. I'm not having it.
This design is just so wrong and the price point isn't doing it any favors. I'd buy a PSP-3000 over this.
Sony needs to go back to the original 3000 and add the following.
- Dual cameras (Rear and front facing for video chat)
- Bluetooth and support a bunch of profiles
- The Unicorn of the PSP world...a second analog joystick
I disagree. You've come up with a classic engineering solution to the wrong problem.
The major issues are pricing and availability of games both past and present. These can't be solved by adding Bluetooth, cameras and other such stuff that you propose - in fact that'll just put the price up even higher.
obviously nobody wants to buy a system that does the same things as it's predecessor, it's lame
It's not a successor. It's a variant. Big difference.
I'd bet my cat's whiskers that Sony is testing the waters for the media distribution model they have in sight for the PSP2. They probably spent peanuts developing the PSPGo (It IS the same hardware, innit?) and would be ok as long as one form of the PSP or the other is selling.
your right but the point of new hardware would be to attract new consumers. the psp go is scaring people away with that high price tag. i do see a future in download only media though, it works for iphone. yeah Sony was probably testing people for whats coming next.
I've held the PSPGo. It lighter then my iPhone 3G and the recess buttons feel cramped. I'll stick with my heavy durable hack'd out PSP-1000.
This has less to do with the UMD (Which I still hate) and more to do with Sony completely ignoring the public's want/ need for user created content for their handheld consoles. That said, who in their right mind shells out 300.00 every two years so that they can pay another 50.00 for every title that they have already played because the new console is not reverse compatible with previously released software?
UMD: Unloved 'til Mandatory Digitial
Unusual Media Decision?
My 2 kids each have a PSP2000 and share their numerous game disks. If I was to upgrade them to the PSP Go would I need to buy 2 copies of the games they like?
Sony isnt doing so well these days, to many lame products that no cares about
Had Sony Redesigned it correctly, it would sell.
"If you make it, they will come"
....dumbasses
It amazes me how this compnay just "DOESN'T GET IT". Sony swears that they are the japanese equivalent to APPLE inc. but the only problem is that Apple has the SMART idea of only release a certain number of products and supporting those products immensley throughout their lifespan. Whereas SONY on the other hand releases any number of ridiculous (proprietary) products that they dont support at all. How do you expect consumers to back your products if you as a company dont even back them yourselves. Then you blatantly go about telling people "this product costs alot because we dont want to lose money but your more than welcome to waste yours". The PSPgo's biggest problem is price, but the hilarious part is the fact that its price structure vs benefit is exactly the same as it was during the PS3 debacle. They keep taking stuff out and charging more for it. You would think following the success they had after lowering the price of the PS3 that may be an indication that people are more than willing to buy your products as long as they are priced accordingly, but i guess not. Another big FAIL for SONY.
Apple? open products? they are bad or even worst than Sony! The only product that Apple sells that offer a non-propietary choice is the ipod and that's why is keeps selling.
Their typical product would be the Apple tv. That's how they roll.
When it gets really laughable is that supposedly 150k units were shipped to retail channels as initial shipments in Japan. There must have been some people over there with lofty expectations for this thing.
"while Sony still hasn't given us any domestic figures" -- rather a chauvinist way of putting it, isn't it? For Sony, "domestic" means Japan.
Massive fail Sony!
The sony style at my local mall wouldn't even let me handle the pspgo. It was behind the glass case. I was so pissed. I figured they couldn't get their act together tech wise to offer proper presentation of the product. Sucks considering sony is well, sony. I told the guy, just to piss him off, that if Apple had a gaming unit like that it would be shoved in the consumer's face! He gave me a look so nasty I walked out thinking he may drop the F-Bomb on my ass. No sweat, I have the first generation psp and the Lord Of War edition. I gave Sony enough of my money, for now. I plan on getting a 52 inch bravia 1080p for my ps3.
Seems pretty simple to me, the PSP Go cost more then the old PSPs, the DOWNABLE content cost more then the UMD and to top it off they still decided to not do a real gamepad. It's not backward compatibility, what the hell I suppose to do with all those old games? Play it on my old PSP!?
Like the dude said from PCWorld.
"Where's the GPS? The touchscreen? The microphone? The built-in camera? The gyrometer that lets you tilt the system", and they want $250 huh?
Hmmm not gonna happen.
To be fair, Nov.1 is right in the middle of a long holiday weekend (Sat-Tue) in Japan.
Also the previous WEEKLY total sales figure in Japan for DSi was approx. 60K units. With PSP3000 about the same.
So 28K for 1 DAY is not too bad. Lets just wait and see the combined PSP3000/Go sales figure for the week.
My biggest problem is with downloadable media. They price it at same price as the physical media. At least with physical media when I'm done playing it I can trade it in for 10-20% of what I originally paid for it. Also I can give or loan my games to my friends and family.
Evryone was psyched about bye-bye-umd, until they announced the price :(....
I bought one and I think it is a good product.
I live in Japan. I just popped by my local game shop last night (launch day) to pick up some Xbox points and noticed a stack of PSPgo's behind the counter, just below eye level. There wasn't a display anywhere in the shop and it seemed the shop was contractually obligated to stock the PSPgo but they weren't going to push it an inch. I asked the shopkeeper what he thought of them and it seems people aren't buying it because of the lack of UMD. There isn't a game rental culture here, people trade in their used games instead - which is of course impossible without physical media.
Interesting.. perhaps Sony's first real flop?
I'm changing my mind about the PSPgo. I just returned my iPod touch and got a GP2X Wiz (for my emu/homebrew games) and now I need something with WiFi, a web browser, and newer titles. I'm not waiting on the Pandora (If anyone has theirs by Christmas, I'd be amazed) and I think the PSP 3000 is still a bit too big to shove in a pocket, so the PSPgo is looking halfway attractive to me.
The price is what bugs me. They severely overpriced it considering that it's got FEWER features than the PSP. I get that smaller=more expensive, but really, they cut out UMD and expect me to live with DLC only; That's gotta balance out the difference, price-wise.
It's annoying that I can get a PS3 for only a little more than a PSPgo. The portable should not be within $50 of the home console.
I've been waiting forever for a PSP *without* UMD,
but the PSP Go just doesn't cut it. Too *#$%^ ugly.
I like UMD.
Unfortunately it has taken a while for the developers to figure out how to get the best out of it.
Gran Turismo PSP is the perfect example about how to distribute games on the media. With it's install option it eliminates the two biggest problems being the load times and the power drain.
Bring back Mylo, landfill the PSP GO.
Every Japanese person who didn't buy one of these should get a high five. This system is so unnecessary, so I'm glad to see it selling poorly [by comparison]. I'd want one myself if it took UMDs, but I like physical media and will never give it up.
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I'll chime in too and say I was one of the ones set to buy the PSP Go... until I found out they canceled the UMD trade in program. I have about 15 games for the PSP on UMD (which I don't play much anymore), but would have probably gotten the newest model if there was a way to get those games to come along with my upgrade if I traded up.
That was the main reason for not buying; price was a close second.