Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sony Denies Holiday PSP Price Drop

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the can't-blame-us-for-hoping dept.

1up reports that Sony has no intention of dropping the PSP's price this holiday season. The idea of a price drop, put forth by CNN's Game Over column, has been flatly denied by the company. 1up writer Susan Arendt thinks they may be just a little bit false here: "I'm going to be the 'glass half-full' person and suggest that by saying the company 'currently' has no plans to cut the price 'at this time,' the Sony rep wasn't just being repetitive and redundant, but rather suffering from a Hamlet-esque condition of protesting too much, indicating that Sony does, in fact have a big fat price drop planned, especially considering their history of holiday price cuts."

62 comments

  1. Already? by mrxak · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We're talking about the holiday season already? Isn't it August?

    --
    -mrxak
    Onions Will Kill You
    1. Re:Already? by Kryis · · Score: 3, Funny

      What? You mean you haven't got your presents sorted already?! Theres only 130 shopping days 'til Christmas!

    2. Re:Already? by Total_Wimp · · Score: 1

      We're talking about the holiday season already? Isn't it August?

      I was at Costco last night. They had Christmas wrapping paper, a lot more toys than usual, and an assortment of musical instruments and youngster-oriented art supplies that they typically put up only around the Christmas holiday season.

      On the summer breeze I could have sworn I heard sleigh bells as I left the warehouse. I felt an instant rush of icy wind that vanished as quickly as it came. As I got into my 140 degree car, I felt the joy start to fade to melancholy, but I could have sworn I saw a golden glow around the building in my rear view mirror as I drove out of sight.

      According to the big boys, Xmas is imminent. Seriously.

      TW

    3. Re:Already? by mrxak · · Score: 1

      At this rate, we'll have the holiday season starting July 5th.

      --
      -mrxak
      Onions Will Kill You
    4. Re:Already? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      For video games companies, the crunch time is now to get titles ready and out the door before the holiday shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. PC titles can wait until the very last minute to go on the shelves. Console titles have to get approval before going to manufacturing and that's usually six to eight weeks before they appear in the stores. The PR machine has to go into overdrive to get gamers and ordinary consumers interested in the new titles. You know for sure that the ERSB will be checking each title twice by inspecting every coffee cup. Like a lot of retail businesses, the video game companies makes or loses money on the holiday season.

    5. Re:Already? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Uh, dude, Christmas in July has already come and gone. Sorry that you missed it.

    6. Re:Already? by Onuma · · Score: 1

      That car isn't hot. It was 144F outside here, in the early afternoon. I am completely serious...this is every day in the Iraqi summer.

      Christmas practically didn't exist for me in 2005 (deployment) and seems so far away while I'm in the middle of this windy, burning, filthy desert country. Fertile crescent my ass. [/resentment]

      This is the time for corporations to start thinking about the holiday season. 90 days out is a good time to prepare for major events like that; considering price increases/decreases, packaged bundles, limited edition sales, etc. Hell, just look at consoles that haven't been put out yet (PS3, Wii). Those companies are planning for the holiday season, and they have been for some time.

      "Planning is essential, but plans are useless." -Ike

      --
      What else can happen when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object?
    7. Re:Already? by steveo777 · · Score: 1
      I typically listen to KTIS, a Christian radio station. Just on last Friday I heard an advertisement for the annual, big Christmas concert that they always hype. Then they played one of the songs. I almost marched down there to steal any evidence of Christmas only to return it some time in October...

      But for now I'll just resort to my iPod for sanity.

      --
      This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
    8. Re:Already? by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 1

      Are you implying CJ was naughty?

      My Grand Theft Auto avatar only acted in the finest, most upstanding manner towards his fellow citizens. He spends his days walking to the nearby gym for excercise sessions and on to the Cluckin' Bell for a rewarding meal (salad, of course).

      CJ is always willing to help old ladies cross the street by providing cover fire from the bushes using an AK-47. And if any fellow motorists find themselves in a minor fender bender, he's happy to drive their car to the repair shop for them.

      I don't know what the big fuss about this game is all about. I'm still saving up my pizza delivery money to buy one of the office buildings. I assume once you get that far, you can start charging rent. This game sounds like an ultrarealistic SimCity. How fun!

    9. Re:Already? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Dude, put down the Evercrack and walk around.

  2. Of course... by CaseM · · Score: 4, Insightful

    they have "no intention" of dropping the price this holiday. If they announced that, whatever sales they might have had betweeen now and then would be practically nil as people just waited. This is the same thing Nintendo did with the DS Lite. They claimed over and over the no DS Lite re-design was in the works. Why? To keep sales of the old DS's up, of course.

    1. Re:Of course... by CaseM · · Score: 1

      Erm...I meant "no DS re-design".

    2. Re:Of course... by Volante3192 · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is, of course, assuming there would be sales of the PSP between now and 3 months from now.

    3. Re:Of course... by CaseM · · Score: 1

      Touche ;)

    4. Re:Of course... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a decent idea, the only problem is that those people who would wait for the price drop are STILL going to wait to see if they dorp the price anyway.

      My guess is that this is a quasi-kneejerk reaction to the EA article we saw, calling for Sony to pick up the ball in the handheld market. Then again it could just be more attempts for Sony to blow out any possibility of making a come back this time around in the game industry.

    5. Re:Of course... by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 1

      Right, but when Nintendo did it, it wasn't evil. That's the difference.

      --
      Apology to Ubuntu forum.
    6. Re:Of course... by jbrader · · Score: 1
      Doing something like this is fairly minor. When a company like Nintendo, who has a history of not being evil, does it people are willing to forgive them. It's like if a really nice guy gets caught telling a little white lie, no big deal.

      But Sony has a history of evilness so people are harsher on them.

      --
      You are so boring that when I see you my feet go to sleep.
    7. Re:Of course... by Total_Wimp · · Score: 1
      This is, of course, assuming there would be sales of the PSP between now and 3 months from now.

      They sold about 800,000 units last month and about 5 million units in the last two months last year.

      The Slashdot crowd likes to pretend the PSP is an abject failure, but I think I'd be pretty happy if my company was failing as bad as this.

      TW

      Oh yeah, save your breath about units shipped vs units sold. The "shipped" number is only inaccurate as far as units in customer hands is concerned. As far as historical data is concerned, it's fairly accurate (though not over a given period).
    8. Re:Of course... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember this is Sony ("The PS3 is not expensive enough") that we're talking about though; there is the distinct possibility that Sony has no desire to compete on price with Nintendo.

      I may be wrong, but it seems that Sony insiders have started to believe their own marketing; a very dangerous thing to do. While most of the gaming public sees videogames as an inexpensive hobby (or as an expensive toy), Sony seems to believe that they can sell it (to the masses) as a multimedia experience or as a high-end video component.

    9. Re:Of course... by Lave · · Score: 1
      Oh yeah, save your breath about units shipped vs units sold. The "shipped" number is only inaccurate as far as units in customer hands is concerned.

      BINGO!

      --
      http://skeptobot.blogspot.com/ - A site for the Renaissance man and woman
    10. Re:Of course... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Oh yeah, save your breath about units shipped vs units sold. The "shipped" number is only inaccurate as far as units in customer hands is concerned.


      And you can have more shipped units than actual physical units!

      Let's say Sony makes 1 million PSPs and ships them out to retailers. Shipped = 1,000,000 units.
      Let's say BIG_RETAILER sends back 100,000 PSPs because they were, well, gathering dust. Shipped = 1,000,000 units (Sony did ship 1,000,000 units, after all, just that BIG_RETAILER shipped Sony 100,000 PSPs).
      Now lets say Sony sells to DISCOUNT_RETAILER those 100,000 PSPs. Look! Shipped = 1,100,000 units.

      So Sony shipped 1,100,000 units, but sold 1,000,000 units. Of course, retail sales numbers can only go as high as the number of physical units, but it's possible to ship 1,100,000 units and still only have a handful of people buy one.

      The PSP did real well in Japan. When North America got the same opening shipment, well, there were localized shortages, but I could go and buy a PSP quite easily. In fact, a few months later I bought another PSP when they were heavily discounting the initial shipment ones. (All for homebrew, of course).

      Then again, I suppose one way to boost sales numbers is to get people like me purchasing multiple PSPs so we have our 1.5 homebrew-running and play games from memory stick rather than UMD, and another one with the latest firmware to play games until the crack comes out.
    11. Re:Of course... by Total_Wimp · · Score: 1
      Let's say Sony makes 1 million PSPs and ships them out to retailers. Shipped = 1,000,000 units.
      Let's say BIG_RETAILER sends back 100,000 PSPs because they were, well, gathering dust. Shipped = 1,000,000 units (Sony did ship 1,000,000 units, after all, just that BIG_RETAILER shipped Sony 100,000 PSPs).
      Now lets say Sony sells to DISCOUNT_RETAILER those 100,000 PSPs. Look! Shipped = 1,100,000 units.

      This is, of course, fascinating, but is there real evidence that Sony is actually doing this? I mean, real evidence as in at least a link to a reputable source that has something very solid.

      I would agree that would be not only very misleading, but highly unethical. In a publically traded company, it might even be illegal.

      BTW, is homebrew good enough to justify a second PSP? I have just one that I only play comercial games on. I've been a little leary about playing fast and loose with firmware upgrades and downgrades. I know a lot of people love homebrew, but does the software justify the price of a second, dedicated console?

      Thanks,
      TW
    12. Re:Of course... by twistedsymphony · · Score: 1

      I don't think any company doing this should be considered "evil" You'd have to be an idiot to admit to a price drop any more then 2 or 3 days in advance. Unless you want to loose sales while people wait for it. Pretty much every console company that has ever had a price drop (meaning ALL of them) has denied the price drop until it actually happened... it's business.

      The only problem here is the idiot journalist who thinks they're going to get a straight answer about a price drop out of PR...

      --
      Collector's Edition
    13. Re:Of course... by justchris · · Score: 1
      Ummmm...according to MediaCreate, Sony sold at most 250,000 PSPs last month. According to NPD, Sony sold less than 150,000 PSPs last month. That's 400,000, and that's being generous (during the month of July Sony sold between 40,000 & 49,000 PSPs per week, I gave them 50,000 each week, then multiplied by 5, even though July only had 4 1/2 weeks in it, also I don't remember the exact NPD numbers, but I know the DS sold over 350,000 and the PSP sold about half as many as the DS).

      Now, according to the report you linked, Sony shipped 300,000 PSPs to Europe. Combining the known numbers for Japan, the US and Europe, that puts it at 700,000 PSPs sold, and that's being extremely generous to Sony. Now do you see why sold numbers are much more valuable than shipped numbers. Sure, out of 100 million, 100 thousand isn't much, but out of 800 thousand, 100 thousand is quite significant. If you look at it that way, with them shipping 100,000 more units than they sell every month, then their total reported numbers become highly inaccurate. Unfortunately I'm at work, so I can't spend the time to pull up the links to verify my numbers, but www.joystiq.com reguarly reports the numbers, as does www.gamasutra.com . They give an accurate picture of exactly how many of each console was sold in each region on a weekly (Japan), montly (USA) or quarterly (Europe) basis. Sony's sold numbers almost never come anywhere near matching their shipped numbers.

      --
      just some guy
    14. Re:Of course... by Andrew+Kismet · · Score: 1

      Nintendo did try price-fixing in Europe once. That wasn't nice.

  3. No shit, Sherlock. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why on earth would Sony announce in August that they will be cutting the price of the PSP in 4 months? The sales would tank until the cut, as people would just wait a couple of months to save some money. So of course Sony will deny any future price cuts.

    1. Re:No shit, Sherlock. by rishistar · · Score: 3, Funny

      In fact, on current form, Sony should be announcing a price hike.

      --
      Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
  4. Of course they will deny it by RootsLINUX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's obvious why they are going to deny this. If they announce it, that means their already lack-luster PSP sales will go down, since consumers are now aware of the eminent price drop that has been confirmed. They would be insane for announcing a planned price drop that won't occur for months, even if they really are planning it.

    Then again, this is Sony we're talking about, so sanity doesn't really play much of a factor in my argument. :(

    --
    Hero of Allacrost, a FOSS RPG for *NIX/*BSD/OS X/Win
  5. Too much? by Aladrin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They protest too much? They said 'No' 1 time. That doesn't sound like much to me. Instead it sounds like a wanna-be reporter desperately trying to put spin on lack of news.

    --
    "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  6. Low Prices = High Sales by am0nrahx · · Score: 1

    I'm definately with the majority on this one. They have probably just lost almost all their sales due to this. I was planning on getting a PSP eventually, but this slows my plans by a long time. Maybe they'll go down to $100 in the next 10 years and I can be able to buy one. Plus, why are we talking about Christmas in August? Doesn't Thansgiving and Halloween come before that?

    1. Re:Low Prices = High Sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I usually see Christmas stuff before I see Halloween stuff.

    2. Re:Low Prices = High Sales by Solder+Fumes · · Score: 1

      Doesn't Thansgiving and Halloween come before that?

      Do you live in Fucked-Up Land where people exchange gifts on those holidays?

    3. Re:Low Prices = High Sales by am0nrahx · · Score: 1

      Yes I do, you should come visit sometime. :)

  7. Is this even news? by lightspawn · · Score: 1

    I don't see that it even means anything. Is there a downside to lying to customers about this? If there is a price drop, will sony reimburse customers for the price difference? Can customers file a successful class action suit for $50+tax each (or whatever the drop amounts to) based on this information?

    By the way, I have no intention of posting any non-insightful posts for the rest of 2006.

    1. Re:Is this even news? by Turken · · Score: 1

      I don't think you can file a class action suit over a price drop. To do so would really set a bad precident. It would mean the end of the budget games for one thing. However, many stores (such as wal-mart and target) WILL price-match themselves within a certain time period. That is, if you buy a PSP one day, and the price drops within the following X days (policy varies by store), you can take your reciept back and get a refund of the difference.

      What really sucks though, is when the stores play the reverse of this on you. Say you get a gift and try to return it to walmart without a reciept, the store can say that "our computer shows we had this item on sale/clearance for [some value] within the last X days," even if that sale only lasted for a few seconds in the computer, and only give a fraction of the value back.

    2. Re:Is this even news? by rbarreira · · Score: 1

      Are they even forced to accept returns of items without receipt?

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    3. Re:Is this even news? by Turken · · Score: 1

      Required, no. And very few will give cash back if you don't have a reciept, but many brick and mortar stores will give store credit for anything that their computer system recognizes. Especially in the weeks right after Christmas. Lots of stores relax their return policies for the after-christmas returns, because it's just too much hassle to deal with angry customers who either lost or never had reciepts for their gifts.

    4. Re:Is this even news? by BalanceOfJudgement · · Score: 1
      Is there a downside to lying to customers about this?
      Well.. maybe not from a business standpoint...

      From a customer loyalty standpoint, sure.

      I've always told myself that if I ever get into business, I'll be damn poor if it means at least I'm honest. In my lifetime I've passed up more than my fair share of lucrative opportunities because I didn't want to sell my soul for a buck.
      --

      We are the fire that lights our world.. and we are the fire that consumes it.
  8. PSP??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't that the handheld who had more firmware updates than games?

    1. Re:PSP??? by timster · · Score: 1

      No, it's the same number. For every game that's released, they release a firmware update to prevent you from playing it.

      --
      I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
  9. So what? by ShadowsHawk · · Score: 1

    I have abandoned all interest in the PSP and the PS3. Instead, I'll be purchasing a Wii for myself and a DS Lite for my wife. The funny thing is, I actually own a very nice Pioneer plasma and I still couldn't care less about the 360 or the PS3.

    1. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's time we let you in on the secret. You see, all these years you've been thinking that Slashdot was aimed solely at you... I'm afraid that was a little lie. Some of the stories are actually aimed at other people. Like the millions of people who have bought PSPs so far, and the millions of people interested in doing so in the future. Sorry about that. We were always going to tell you but we just couldn't bare to shatter your illusions. Seems we left it a bit late.

    2. Re:So what? by ShadowsHawk · · Score: 1

      Not to argue with the wisdom on an AC, but Slashdot is a discussion site. The purpose is to discuss different opinions and inform those that lack information. In case you missed my point, it doesn't matter how low the PSP drops. I, and many others, will not be purchasing it.

    3. Re:So what? by PaganRitual · · Score: 1

      Hey man, there is no need to be like that. It was an interesting post. And I don't know about you, but I found the fact that he isn't interested in HD console while having a HD TV totally hilarious. Hearty guffaws all round.

    4. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was the dismissive title more than anything. The "so what" is that millions of people other than you are interested in buying them, or are simply interested in news about the console industry. That's why the story is here.

    5. Re:So what? by ShadowsHawk · · Score: 1

      I will grant you that it was a dismissive title. However, it is fitting with my stated opinion regarding most Sony products. BTW, I wanted to say that I appreciate the cohesiveness of your posts. It's rare that I see an AC that writes so well. Myself included actually.. Cheers.

  10. Denial = Accurate by flooey · · Score: 1

    Ever notice that whenever a big company denies something, everyone quickly wonders what they're up to? If I were running a big company, I'd deny things just to watch people analyze them.

    "We have no plans to merge with Panasonic at this time."
    "The idea that there are plans to develop a new laptop line at this time is patently false."
    "We firmly deny that we are planning to expand into the pharmaceutical business."
    "We do not currently receive, and have never received, the majority of our new technology from aliens."

    1. Re:Denial = Accurate by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      If you need a hobby, get a MacBook. Then you will be looking at all the Mac rumor sites to figure out if Steve Jobs going to drop dead from cancer or the option scandal.

  11. Osborne effect by pr0nbot · · Score: 1

    This is simply the Osborne Effect in action.

  12. The real PSP price drop.. by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 1

    ..will be in second-hand units on eBay immediately post-holiday, as people trade in their unwanted gifts.

    --
    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  13. No word on the batteries yet by JohnCC · · Score: 1

    The PSP's are literally exploding off the shelves...

  14. I Guess by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1
    I guess there are:

    Lies,
    Big Lies,
    and Sony.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  15. whew, that was close by Tsiangkun · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought I missed the opportunity to get a $250 PSP, thanks SONY for keeping them around a little longer.

    I for one, do not, want a cheap-ass $150 PSP to compliment my $700 PS3.
    I hope they raise the price just to show the world how much better the PSP is than the DS.

  16. Nah ... by powerlord · · Score: 1

    The price dop will be in used DS units flooding the market, since all their owners upgraded to the super cool DS-Lite. ;)

    I've heard five people claim they swapped out their "old" DS for a new "DS-Lite" recently ... and PSP owners are accused of wasting money? =D

    --
    This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
    1. Re:Nah ... by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 1

      Good points. *flashes back through umpteen iterations of Game Boy hardware*

      --
      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  17. DS Lite for homebrew is cheaper than stock PSP by tepples · · Score: 1
    BTW, is homebrew good enough to justify a second PSP? I have just one that I only play comercial games on. I've been a little leary about playing fast and loose with firmware upgrades and downgrades. I know a lot of people love homebrew, but does the software justify the price of a second, dedicated console?

    Of course homebrew justifies the price of a Nintendo DS. Even a DS Lite that is fully tricked out for homebrew costs less than a PSP Value Pack.

    1. Re:DS Lite for homebrew is cheaper than stock PSP by EiZei · · Score: 1

      Don't forget that you will also need a new memory stick to go with that value pack, those things are real expensive (gee wonder why).

  18. Thanks Sony! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks Sony! Made my choice much easier, now I'll just go out and buy a DS instead of holding out for the PSP. It's clearly the superior system, costing less and providing more fun and games. The PSP I wouldn't want to take with me because of low battery life, the fact that it's delicate, and it's pretty bulky to carry it around with a couple of games. The DS Lite is small, slim, can hold 2 games at once, and has a long battery life.

    1. Re:Thanks Sony! by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      The PSP only looks delicate, it truly isn't. I simply don't know hot it got that rep.

      As for the battery, the higher capacity one is out, and the standard capacity ones are cheap, and unlike the DS, you can just pop them in and out, so the potential battery life is longer than the DS.

      Also "fun and games" is subjective. The PSP has a built in web browser, RSS support and wifi. It can view photos, video and read text files off the stick. You can download game demos to it using it's own web browser. It plays MP3, WMA and AAC MP4 audio. (WAV too.) It has a largest and clearest screen of any portable gaming device. You can buy a device for your home entertainment setup that streams video from it to your PSP over the net. It has a faster CPU than the PS2 does and the same amount of RAM.

      It does all that, plays games and costs $199. It's a steal.

  19. Other holiday non-plans for Sony by wilson_c · · Score: 3, Funny

    In related news: Sony denies plans to release compelling content for PSP.

    A Sony spokesman today denied that Sony was doing anything that would encourage potential customers to purchase its PSP portable gaming system, currently languishing on store shelves everywhere. "Sony really likes what Nintendo has done with the DS. Apple's video iPod is pretty impressive too. We can't do anything to touch that and we think that even trying would just muddy the waters and possibly confuse customers into purchasing our system". To avoid millions of disappointed customers, Sony has developed a three point program:

    1. Keep prices uncompetitively high.
    2. Avoid revisions with features competitive to the DS.
    3. Keep working hard to thwart hackers trying to run homebrew mods: as the only group interested in the PSP, Sony needs to remain vigilant in case this community comes up with the great games that they haven't.

    Other related stories: UMD - Today's Betamax or Today's MiniDisc?

    1. Re:Other holiday non-plans for Sony by CronoCloud · · Score: 1
      2. Avoid revisions with features competitive to the DS.


      Tell me which features the DS has that the PSP doesn't.

      Can the DS download podcasts and vodcasts directly to itself without additional hardware?

      View photos, watch video 9both on the stick and streamed via Location Free?

      Download demos directly to itself?

  20. De Ja Vu? by flaakmonkey · · Score: 1

    PSP is already lacking what the DS offers. Innovation.And a affordable price. Functionality is alright, but should that not be standard? Should i have to pay an extra $50 for that UMD i might use twice? How many people ctully buy the UMDs? This is the case of SONY offer to much new tech before anyone really knows or is interested in it. I can get a DS Lite for $120. Fun. Cheap. And WiFi play. Im sold. PSP is overpriced and the games are mostly been ports latley. We all know how much ports suck ( i.e. Gamecube). EA even said Sony needs to step it up gamewise. A price cut would do it some good. If not they are SEGA Gamegear all over. Great system, but nothing new or inovative to keep it going.