PSPgo: Preparing for Failure

The PSPgo released in Japan this past Sunday, one month after releasing in America and Europe, and mostly anyone who was ever curious about Sony's new all-digital product was looking to see whether it would actually succeed or be a massive bomb. It's had a rather middling start everywhere else, and as you can see from the image above, the thing is quite a popular attraction. Just look at that crowd!

Yeah, sure it is. Famitsu's early numbers reported that the go only sold a mere 28,000 units on its launch Sunday, placing it right between the Wonder Swan Color and the Neo Geo Pocket. That's not very good! But really, it seems like Sony knew beforehand that this thing was going to bomb by proceeding with a why-the-hell-not price drop of the 3000 a month before the go even launched, to 16,800 yen (around $185).  That makes the price gap between the two incredibly steep. Not even the added portability is enough of an incentive to pay the go's 26,800 yen price (that's $294). Yikes.

And now they're trying to give potential consumers even more incentive to avoid the go. Sony of Japan announced earlier today that they will be releasing new Value Packs for the 3000 in Japan. In addition to the usual Piano Black, you can also choose from Pearl White, Radiant Red, and Vibrant Blue. The Pack includes a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, a cleaning cloth to keep the screen clean, and a very stylish little pouch. They're very similar to the Value Packs released at the launch of the 1000, and the fact that these are coming out in December in Japan, when the PSP celebrates its 5th anniversary, definitely isn't a coincidence. There will also be a special bundle for the "Best" version of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (aka Monster Hunter Freedom Unite). The Value Packs will release on December 3 and retail for 19,800 yen ($218), the price of the 3000 pre-price drop; the Monster Hunter bundle will be 18,500 yen ($203), and releases on December 10.

Of course, my question is: Why don't we get things like this? Whatever, Sony. At least give us the pouch.

It's almost pretty clear that the go is going to go nowhere (a hyuk!), with its release being an even worse scenario than the Game Boy Micro Nintendo released in late 2005; though at least that still played your old games! The thing is, that was only a test for Nintendo to see how a more, uh, "hip" audience would receive a more stylish device, an audience that didn't know they liked video games until the DS and Wii came along. Nintendo even said it was a limited edition device, so they didn't take too much of a loss on it. Unfortunately, the go is (was?) aiming for quite a bit more than that, so for the market to reject this is going to be pretty bad for Sony. I'm still hoping the PSP itself manages to stick around, though, because its current and upcoming lineup are pretty spectacular.