The PSP Go was a MAJOR flop. We need to talk about it.

[Procrastinato]

Gnizmo said:

Procrastinato said:

It was impossible for the PSP-Go to flop. It doesn't take much money to reduce a chipset, honestly. That's probably all it cost Sony, really. Digital downloads spurred by the device make like 2x normal revenue, since cost-of-goods and retail cuts are missing from the equation, and we don't even see those numbers reported here on VGC -- just "100K FF7 sold in first month" and random other quips. For all we know, the PSP-Go has an unbelievable attach rate, and each of those software units rakes in a load more money than a UMD unit does.

I'm sure Sony hoped it would be the next big thing, but the retail demand for a high price stunted that somewhat, I think.

Honestly I think that calling something a "flop" requires some risk involved. I don't really think there was much risk associated with the Go.

It is a little known fact that R&D on a new machine is completely free. Getting the entire system to work cost Sony a non-trivial sum of money for certain. The advertising likely also cost a non-trivial sum of money. Not being able to recoup those costs in a reasonable amount of time would mean the system is under-performing, and probably "flopped." Not having those numbers in-front of me  it is hard to say definitively one way or the other. I find it extremely unlikely that they are satisfied with the sales. The PSPGo likely will push back any potential switch to a system that is digital distribution quite a bit. Not just for Sony, but for the gaming business as a whole.

Oh sorry Gnizmo.  You were under the impression that the PSP Go was a "new machine", or that something had to be "completely free" to be relatively risk free in an environment that garners millions in revenue in a single day?  You, um, think shrinking and rearranging some chips is pretty rough R&D work, eh?