High street declares PSPgo dead on arrival
'Almost dead before it has arrived,' says major retailer
It doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it's still sad to hear that Sony's disastrous price point for its forthcoming PSP hardware rebound, the PSPgo, is having a negative effect before the device has even gone on sale.
The first major retailer to put the boot in to Sony's unloved handheld is Dutch firm Nedgame, which announced it is refusing to stock the PSPgo.
What's particularly interesting about this boycott is that Nedgame isn't giving up on PSP support entirely, but disagrees strongly that Sony has decided to "...cut the consumer choice and thus create a monopoly on PSPgo game sales."
Today, major online retailer ShopTo has also expressed its lack of faith in the PSPgo. Although it will be stocking the device, ShopTo says it won't be pouring any money or effort into promotion of the console.
"We do have it listed on the site, but we are not concentrating any big marketing behind it," says ShopTo's Igor Cipolletta. "Sony has decided to cut publishers and retailers for the software of the PSPgo and deal direct with developers, giving them a 70 per cent margin for any items sold on Sony PSN. I believe if they had lowered that to 50 or 60 per cent, and given the opportunity to online retailers, it would have enjoyed greater success and retailers would attempt to promote the console to the market."
Stores across Europe and the UK have expressed very similar opinions on the PSPgo, and on Sony's attempt to encourage them to sell a device that will mean customers don't return to buy their software.
And while analyst Michael Pachter makes a good point when he says that most of these shops are happy to sell an iPod, and not sell music, the PSPgo's woes are further compounded by an apparent lack of consumer interest and pre-orders.
We've asked you this quite a few times already, but as October 1st draws closer we thought we'd run a poll over on the forums to gauge the pocket gamer's pre-launch reaction to the PSPgo device. Click here to go and cast your vote before launch day.
