PSPGO...a Sony learning experience

[akugami]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/39317/Sony-Weve-learnt-a-lot-from-PSPgo

SCEE president and CEO Andrew House replied: “It was introduced in a mature lifecycle to learn more about what the consumer wanted and we’ve definitely learnt a lot.

“Is that measured by success in sales? I don’t think it is.


“One of the reasons we launched PSPgo was to understand where that consumer behaviour was going. We were getting signals from consumers that this was the kind of device that they wanted. But we need to recognise that consumers like their packaged media library.”

I know I'm not saying anything new when I say that Sony needs to invest in some duct tape and wrap it around the mouths of their employees.

I'm sure it was astonishing to discover the PSPGo would fail. You create an "update" to a decent hand-held console that is more expensive but with less functionality. You then sell downloadable games for equal or more than the retail costs of the same games and with the added benefit of not being able to recoup some of your costs by selling it back to the game store, or even lending it to one of your friends like you can with physical media. Amazingly enough, people aren't flocking to the system.

Normally when a company wants to find out what a certain group wants they take a survey and usually release a beta product it is testing to focus groups to gauge interest and note down likes and dislikes. If what Andrew House says is true, Sony customers (and I own a PS3) are paying Sony for the privilege of becoming test subjects? WTF? I know this is not true but Sony feels a compulsion to put some positive spin on the PSPGo when they should just let it die a quiet death.

Downloadable games will sell. You just have to do it right. Sony went about it the wrong way from the beginning.

 

[Kromis]

Broadband proliferation. That is all.

 

[mugs]

“One of the reasons we launched PSPgo was to understand where that consumer behaviour was going. We were getting signals from consumers that this was the kind of device that they wanted. But we need to recognise that consumers like their packaged media library.”

What he means is that they saw how well the iPod Touch was selling, despite being substantially more expensive than the PSP and mostly having inferior games.

The thing Sony somehow didn't realize is that the iPod Touch is primarily a media player + PDA with some gaming. The PSP Go is primarily a media player + portable game system, and it isn't particularly good at the PDA thing. They were trying to compete against the iPod Touch (I think they explicitly said that, or at least implied it), but they were really competing against the Nintendo DS + generic media player. They already failed against the Nintendo DS, and who doesn't already have a generic media player?

I said this stuff (and so did many other people) when the PSP launched. Even the Sony fanboys weren't too excited about the PSP Go (except Ackmed). It's the kind of product that you wonder why no one in the company spoke up and said that it was a bad idea. A lot of people just have the attitude that as long as they have a project to work on, they still have a job; who cares if it's successful? And management, what the hell do they know?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Broadband proliferation. That is all.

That wouldn't have helped the Go. +$80, -UMD playback, no trade-in for existing games to get download codes, weak library at inflated prices with no sale prices. PSPGouge was a well-earned nickname.

They tried to price it like the iTouch but without iTunes, the App Store and the Jobs-is-God fanbase. It's even more of a miserable failure in Japan than in the US, and most of us just point and laugh.

Things would have been quite different if they'd priced it at $129-149, had better prices on downloads, and tried to pump out more PSN/XBLA style bargain titles.

 

[waggy]

What he means is that they saw how well the iPod Touch was selling, despite being substantially more expensive than the PSP and mostly having inferior games.

The thing Sony somehow didn't realize is that the iPod Touch is primarily a media player + PDA with some gaming. The PSP Go is primarily a media player + portable game system, and it isn't particularly good at the PDA thing. They were trying to compete against the iPod Touch (I think they explicitly said that, or at least implied it), but they were really competing against the Nintendo DS + generic media player. They already failed against the Nintendo DS, and who doesn't already have a generic media player?

exactly. i said from the start the PSPgo was a very bad idea for those exact reasons.

No way was i going to pay $39 for a downloaded game. i want the media so i can trade/sale/destroy if it sucks. with the PSPgo i was stuck with it.

IF it had a great PDA with it then sure i would think about it (though got a smartphone for that now) and my DSlite is a better gameing system.