Sony America scraps UMD-to-PSP Go conversion plans

[Onyxmeth]

Procrastinato said:

Onyxmeth said:

You must not be aware of the power of upgrading a console to a new model. It isn't just VGChartz. It's everywhere. I wonder would the PS2 Slim and PS3 Slim have been better off getting rid of the drives and become DD only? It sure would attract the new customers, however big that market is, but it would alienate everyone that did upgrade to those slim consoles just for the new look.

It's also a detriment to gamers. As UMDs go down in price and get clearanced out, PSP owners have their choice of pricing the market on both fronts and grabbing UMDs on the cheap. If you think the DD market is going to follow suit, you're foolish. Really the only thing the PSP Go gamer gets is the compact handheld, but they lose out on every other conceivable front and are paying more money to do so.

First, the PSP-3000 is still available.  This is a side-grade, not an upgrade, unless you want what the Go has to offer.  If the PSP-3000 and its UMDs appeal to you, as a consumer... you can buy it (at even more retailers, apparently).  I have to disagree on the upgrading for look/feel being a major player.. I don't believe that it is.  In any case, upgrading hardware isn't in any hardware manufacturer's best interest, because console hardware is almost always sold at a loss...  Even the Go's high margin most likely merely goes to the retailer -- I doubt Sony sees much of it at all, or big retailers wouldn't even carry it.

Second, DD prices will come down if/when it takes over.  We have capitalism to thank for that.  Competition and the basic laws of economics -- profit will be greater without CoG, resale/used, and retail margins (MUCH greater), thus competing economic bodies will have price as a stage on which to compete, plain and simple.  Look at Steam, as an example.

Your first paragraph is basically questioning the existence of the PSP in it's entirety. You say it's not remarkably profitable, that the compact design is not much of a factor in a hardware upgrade, and the PSP 3000 is still available. So then since the PSP 3000 does everything the Go does, and does it for less, where and what is the market for the Go?

Regarding DD reacting anywhere remotely close to retail in regards to price drops and clearancing out items, I give you PSN, XBLA and the VC/WW as the three major examples of why pricing will stand still. Most games that have come out haven't seen a single price drop and only XBLA runs any sort of discount program with it's Deal of the Week thing.