Andrew House, the new president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has managed to talk almost 100% blather about the high cost of the PSP Go (not officially priced here yet, but £229.99 on GAME's website).
Asked by MCV, "Are you charging more for the PSPgo to protect retail margins as they won’t be selling software? Or to cover R&D costs?" House responded, "Those aren’t the factors. When you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account."
What "certain premium"? If it's certain, then what is it? As far as we can see, this is simply shorthand for "People pay more for new things because those things are new!"
If certain UK games retailers are to be believed, Sony might find itself facing a nasty backlash against the pricing strategy.
Asked by MCV, "Are you charging more for the PSPgo to protect retail margins as they won’t be selling software? Or to cover R&D costs?" House responded, "Those aren’t the factors. When you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account."
What "certain premium"? If it's certain, then what is it? As far as we can see, this is simply shorthand for "People pay more for new things because those things are new!"
If certain UK games retailers are to be believed, Sony might find itself facing a nasty backlash against the pricing strategy.
Read More Like This
Comments
DoctorDee 29 Jun 2009 06:36
1/1
"People pay more for new things because those things are new!"
But it is unarguably true that certain people do. I paid WAY over the odds to have an iPhone early - so much so that I flew to America to purchase one. Many people paid way more than me to have a PS3 earlier than me.
Early adopters DO pay a price premium, to have something new first. But as someone who believes they understand the early adopter mindset, let me say now that I would rarely pay a premium for a mildy re-worked piece of old technology. The cachet in having a PSP was pre-Christmas 2005. Four years later on, and £50 more expensive just doesn't get my tech glands salivating. Especially since the iPhone is a far better portable media player than the PSP.
To appeal to me now, the PSP should be £99 now and the PSP Go £125.