Sony PSP - Pricing Hints Emerge?

Thanks to MCV for their interview with Sony Europe boss Chris Deering, in which it's mentioned again that Sony's PSP handheld "will be launched across the world in the final quarter of 2004." But Deering also talks price, suggesting that the PSP would launch at "closer to 200UKP [369USD] than 300UKP [554USD]" in England. Meanwhile, a Gamesindustry.biz article takes note of "information from Japanese retail sources earlier this week, who told us that a price point around 50,000 Yen [448USD], was being bandied about in Tokyo." Recent exchange-rate changes complicate U.S. launch pricing estimates, though - the PSP will likely launch at less than those raw dollar conversion rates Stateside, but is not intended to be a hardware loss-leader for Sony, with Deering suggesting: "The feeling is that this product should generate profit on hardware alone. We want to make it affordable for publishers to produce a wide range of entertainment and so [Sony-payable] royalties [on software produced for the PSP] will be lower down in the mix this time round."

Comments

Re:Handheld Pricing

[sladelink]

You can get a brand new GBA for $60. One of the reasons that many people get GBAs for their kids is that they are $60. Who would buy their 10 year old a $300 portable game system? I wouldn't trust one with something that expensive.

Sony is betting on selling the PSP to the market of teens-early 30 somethings, not as a toy for adults to get for their kids. That's what they think GBAs are for.