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Sony Produces Fewer Units, Not Sorry About Delays
Sony has ordered its suppliers to produce fewer units of the PSP handheld, 1up reports. From the article: "While meeting with suppliers, Sony reportedly plans to manufacture only 12 million units, reports Next Generation from Japan's Nikkei BP. Previously, suppliers had expected orders in excess of 18 million units for the portable hardware. No reasons were cited in the original article, and representatives for Sony Computer Entertainment America were not available for comment." Meanwhile, GameIndustry.biz is reporting that the company is unrepentant about the PSP's launch delay and the consistent PS2 shortages. From the article: "...despite the constant criticism of the company, which will launch PSP in Europe in September nine months after the Japanese launch, in fact, 'we like this - we don't want to go first.'"
The square button/mis-aligned sensor feature has never been fixed. All that was fixed was the problem where the button would get stuck. I consider that completely broken, and Sony had damn well fix those/
The UMD is currently used by one device... One. I will not consider it a success until there are non Sony products using it. Some people would call Mini-Disc a success. They would be wrong. Considering that a portable DVD player with a much larger screen is available at your local Sam's Club for $100 less than a PSP, I don't see the PSP pushing any UMD revolution.
All the comments I've read so far deal with some kind of theory about making supply short to increase demand.
Maybe they just realized that they aren't selling a gazillion PSPs and decided to only produce enough for current and future demand? I know it sounds crazy, but maybe it's just a duck.
-- I have fans? Wow.
"Hmmm. Well. Here I am at the old game store and there's still no more PSP games out. On the other hand, there are some UMD movies here. Yeah. I think I'll spend my money on a movie with fewer features than a DVD with worse audio/visual quality. It's a good deal because the price is only a LITTLE higher than DVD and I can play the movies on my PSP...well, only my PSP...Come to think of it, I think I'll head over to Blockbuster and get some DVDs."
The difference is that the PS2 had little or no competition, while Nintendo is expecting to sell 20 million DSs in the next year. It's a good strategy to create artificial demand, but only when you have no chance of driving consumers to your competitors.
Let me tell you what Sony meant a couple of years back.
Let's try to go back a bit further than MP3 players and TFTs. After all, they're more an example of the company's current state of crappiness than anything else. You're only going back, say 3-5 years?
Through the 70's, 80's and 90's Sony was a great brand known for innovation and quality. We're talking the guys who launched the portable television when market research and wisdom of the time stated there was no market for it. The problem happenened in around 1990 when the company acquired CBS movies and Columbia pictures and began focusing on entertainment. The electronics business has been going downhill ever since.
I'm not a big fan of Sony anymore... I've gotten burned a couple times recently, but it's really not fair to say that Sony was NEVER known for quality.
If Sony actually wanted to increase demand, they'd have display units like Nintendo do. I'm sure as hell not going to buy a PSP until I've seen one, and to date I haven't seen one--just boxes locked away in cabinets.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak