Sony talks PSPgo the day before launch, plays down retailer resistance
'They were really quite fine with it'
UK PSP product manager, Claire Backhouse, has been chatting with gi.biz over Sony's expectations for the big PSPgo launch tomorrow.
Asked about who the electronics giant expects to be selling to tomorrow, Backhouse indicated that trade-ins and upgrades are likely to make up round 60 per cent of the early adopters, as well as poaching customers from other areas of the handheld gaming market.
"There'll be those who are currently playing mini games on their iPods, and one thing that PSPgo offers them is an amazing gaming console that's just as portable as what they're carrying around at the moment," Backhouse said, optimistically, adding, "And with the launch of Minis as well, that's going to cover off that market."
But while Apple is closing up shop in the shadow of Sony dominion, the question of retailer resistance to the PSPgo was also raised.
"I actually expected a lot more negative responses than we actually got," she explained. "They were really quite fine with it."
Hmm, about as fine as consumers have been over the hefty £225 price tag, anyway. A difficult question for a product manager to answer, true, but sidestepping is always a good option.
And on the subject of pricing, Backhouse was equally positive. "I think we're quite lucky we're launching two months before Christmas – I think that'll really help boost sales."
Not a particularly sterling effort to push the PSPgo on the eve of its launch, perhaps, but October 1st is looking like more than the appearance of a new hardware tier. It marks (hopefully) the beginning of the PSP platform's rebirth into the digital distribution age. Whether the PSPgo will play a particularly major role in that new life is a different story, but now is definitely the time to get your old PSP charged back up.
