Wondering why Sony's redesigned PSP costs $249, $80 more than the existing model? You're not the only one. During an interview on Bonus Round, noted games industry analyst Michael Pachter accused Sony of "ripping off the consumer" and asserted that the PSP Go will actually cost less to make than the current machine.
A waste of money?
The cost savings, Pachter said, stem in part from Sony's decision to replace the current machine's UMD drive with 16 GB of Flash memory.
"The $169 PSP...is a profitable device. They make money," he said. "The disc assembly costs more than 16 gigs of flash does. So this new device doesn't cost them as much to make, and they're jacking up the price $80."
Pachter -- who works for securities firm Wedbush Morgan and regularly comments on games industry news -- went on to raise the possibility of a hasty PSP Go price cut.
"I'm sorry to say it. I don't want to get bad fan mail from the Sony fanboys," he said, "but they're ripping off the consumer until they sell a couple million and if consumers don't buy it then the price is going to come down."
Would you buy a PSP Go for $249? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Update: Looks like Pachter had second thoughts. In an interview with IndustryGamers' James Brightman, he retracted his remarks -- though some industry observers (and the majority of you, judging by your comments) felt he was on the mark with his first statement.
As Pachter told IndustryGamers: "I made a poor choice of words, and I do NOT think that Sony is doing anything nefarious in choosing their pricing strategy. The company has the right to price its products at a point that they think is competitive, and has no obligation to sell products at lower than a competitive price. They have been subsidizing purchases of the PS3 since launch, to the tune of 22 million sold at a loss of $100 or more apiece (on average), so if they are able to make a profit on the PSP Go, more power to them. They are pricing at a point that positions the PSP Go competitively with the iPod Touch, and the PSP Go arguably has much more value than the Apple product."
 |
 |
 |
Posted: 11 Jun 2009
