No PSP price cut plans

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 October, 2006

In Europe or the US.

Sony has no immediate plans to cut the price of PlayStation Portable in Europe or the United States, the company said today.

"We've got no plans to cut the price of PSP at this moment in time," a spokesperson for Sony UK told Eurogamer this afternoon, responding to similar comments made by the company's US arm overnight.

Pointing to the combination of movie, music, photo, internet and games support now offered by the latest updates to PSP system software, the spokesperson said the handheld "still represents great value for money".

Earlier Sony Computer Entertainment America's John Koller told Reuters, "We don't necessarily see the need to cut the price," pointing instead to a need to "introduce new consumers to what the PSP can do."

That's despite ongoing criticism of the platform's software line-up, which many observers feel compares unfavourably to strong offerings on the DS platform.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • afray #1 5 years ago

    There's some good stuff on it now, but still not quite enough for me to buy it. That is, until Disgaea comes out!

  • AcidSnake #2 5 years ago

    I noticed earlier that one of the tech shops here has begun a clearance sale of UMD's...
    Games are now universally 20€ and movies 10€...
    Guess they're eliminating the psp software from their stores...

  • BMXer #3 5 years ago

    Dont need price cut eh!
    then maybe some decent games wont go amiss.

  • infoxicated #4 5 years ago

    In the next couple of months there'll be Vice City Stories, Killzone, and Madden, along with the new Football Manager - I cant wait!

  • chupachups #5 5 years ago

    "Dont need price cut eh!
    then maybe some decent games wont go amiss."

    Maybe a third alternative might be a redesigned PSP, something a bit lighter, with a bigger battery and maybe a clamshell cover? They could certainly do that, the PSP hardware is two years old now.

    I personally think it's all about the games, but then console makers work in mysterious ways.

  • Thorbar #6 5 years ago

    I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid or if this is a naturally occuring but every article I've seen on the web recently with a negative slant on a sony product has always ended with a fanboy comment that sounds like its right out of a viral marketeer's handbook. Is sony paying people to go through forms and news comments sites to post up good comments about their products? I know penny arcade talked about these spin doctors before so its not completely out of left field.

  • repairmanjack #7 5 years ago

    Is it still considered good value if you only use it for games? (Like me.)

  • Totoriko #8 5 years ago

    Is it necessary to ask them this question? If they were to do a price cut, wouldn't they announce it themselves?

  • mingster #9 5 years ago

    Coz Sony hates us.

  • #10 5 years ago

    "In the next couple of months there'll be Vice City Stories, Killzone, and Madden, along with the new Football Manager - I cant wait!"

    My god, you could not have have made a list of gamesII could be less interested in!

    The PSP does have some excellent content though. It's going through a bit of a renaissance for me!

    Metal Gear Ac!d
    Everybody's Golf
    Lumines
    Exit
    Loco Roco
    Wipeout

    All solid handheld titles.

  • jonsaan #11 5 years ago

    What the psp really needs is an overhaul. UMD's are slow and clunky and the games library is not suited to gaming on the go in general. Also, it's massive, which does not help it's cause. Yes, I do own one, and have done since they first came out. I can honestly say that not one single game has grabbed me for more than about 5 hours in all that time and I have tried practically all of them. Also the battery life is shocking. I live in hope but the situation seems to get worse month on month.
    Edited by 1 at 06/10/06 @ 15:45

  • onyxbox #12 5 years ago

    I've had a psp import from before the launch over here and IMO it's a very dull platform. DS Lite is so much nicer and reffreshing that PSP just seems like a chore to bootup.

  • Steroyd #13 5 years ago

    It's more expensive than it's commpetitor, the games worth buying that aren't ports are few and far between, even less original games, it's not got the battery life to put the extra P in PSP it's not worth buying UMD movies because you can dump the files on your DVD's on your mem stick, yet it's only sold a couple million less than DS. o_O

    I'm still hoping that Sony make it on time with the PSone emulator that's supposed to come out this month, but judging by Sony's record at keeping with timetables i won't hold my breath.

    Even worse if Sony does a Nintendo and i can only download PAL versions of the old PSone titles.

    Tekken 3 on NTSC was way quicker and more arcady than the PAL version. :)

  • MadMirko #14 5 years ago

    Not that I would care about a price cut, I bought my PSP quite some time ago, but those of you who want to get rid of it can now sell it for a better price.

    If they could afford a price cut, they would probably go for it. But try to explain to shareholders why the console (which in itself you sell for no or a little profit) should be cut in price when you have horrendous expenses for a worldwide battery recall of epic proportions and the PS3 to pay for: Kuturagi once said Sony would need at least 5 years to recover the initial losses the PS3 will bring them.

  • vane101 #15 5 years ago

    If they offered a PSP bundle with Football Manager thrown in for £100 (for lunchtime play) I might be interested.

  • MadMirko #16 5 years ago

    @Steroyd

    Regarding the region locking for Virtual Console games: Did they actually say that they would use the same region codes for the emulated games as for the original cartridge versions?

    I mean, they could well assign any game any region lock they want. So something that once was regionally locked to the US could now be sold in Europe as well, just with a European lock.
    Edited by 2 at 06/10/06 @ 16:00

  • MisterFalseName #17 5 years ago

    Anyone want to buy my PSP? :(

  • volvis #18 5 years ago

    That's odd... I was told I could go pick up a 149€ PSP unit next week from a local game store I go to. Would be pretty strange of them to make that kind of stuff up.

  • mingster #19 5 years ago

    This week i mostly be playing:

    spectral souls
    marvel vs capcom
    gurumin
    b-boy
    yu-gi-oh!


    soon i be playing

    powerstone
    metal gear solid
    disgaea

  • nickthegun #20 5 years ago

    Ive said it before and I'll say it again. The top ten or so games on the PSP can easily stand shoulder to shoulder with the top DS games. Outside that, yeah, the pickings are a little slim. But its a weird handheld inversion that sees the DS's huge catalogue of largely shit games as a sign of how brilliant the format is, yet the Gamecubes paucity of games is a sign of quality over quantity as opposed to the huge catalogue of largely shit games on the 'chavstation' (if that makes sense).

    What are DS owners going to do when someone releases burburry covers for the DS lite?

    And, personally speaking, I bought a PSP in Hong Kong about 18 months ago for pretty much what they are going for over here now and I thought the price was quite reasonable. Funnily enough, I sold my DS before I went to HK because I was sick to the arsehole of N64 ports.

  • Cyclone #21 5 years ago

    If they don't plan on cutting the price before Christmas, they're hardly going to tell us that they plan to cut it in the new year. Personally I think we'll see a price cut sometime early next year. And hopefully a redesigned version ala the DS Lite.

  • Hughes. #22 5 years ago

    Sony has no immediate plans to cut the price of PlayStation Portable in Europe or the United States, the company said today.

    "We've got no plans to cut the price of PSP at this moment in time"

    Why am I reminded of BBC Vague News on Mark and Lard?

    "A Judge surprised people in a courtroom today, when he said something quite unexpected. A man who was in the court told us he was quite surprised."
    "I was quite surprised."

    Anyway, there's some pretty hefty content due for release in the run up to Christmas, if Sony actually advertise some bloody games they might actually sell some. When something as highly rated as Tekken DR doesn't even stay in the Top Ten for a week they should take note of Nintendo's televisual blitz (although leaving Chris Tarrant out might be a good idea).

  • mezzomorto #23 5 years ago

    I don't really bother with the gameside of things on my PSP anymore. The main use I put it to is as a portable video/mp3 player while on boring flights. Even then I don't reall ytravel frequently enough to justify having one.
    Re battery life, I thought I had that sussed when I bought a solar powered charger but it died on me after my first trip using it :(

  • Darren #24 5 years ago

    I'll buy a PSP when it drops to under £100. For me, there are still too many lame PS2 ports on the machine and not enough unique games to warrant buying it at a higher price than that. It looks fantastic and it's a marvellous technical achievement but it's still not enough to tempt me to get one at £150+.

  • chupachups #25 5 years ago

    "The top ten or so games on the PSP can easily stand shoulder to shoulder with the top DS games."

    I don't think you can compare them like that though, the games seem to be aimed at two totally different markets.

    There's no PSP equivalents of things like Nintendogs, Brain Training or Animal Crossing, and even if they make similar games the control systems won't be similar at all. Try stroking a dog using the stylus on Nintendogs, then imagine trying to accomplish the same task with a d-pad... the intuitive joy of the game is lost.

    Conversely, if you want something like a PS2 in your pocket, the DS is no competition for the PSP.

    Unfortunately for Sony, it seems more people want cute low-tech games than hardcore high-tech ones, at least on portable devices.


    "Hmm, remember though the PSP isn't just about games. Theres only three games I would buy but it has alot of added bonus. I'm happy with my iPod Video and DS though"

    It is all about the games, games are the only thing Sony makes a profit on. The PSP hardware itself is loss-making, and Sony can't make any money from people who just use it for listening to music, looking at pictures or watching non-UMD videos.
    Edited by 1 at 06/10/06 @ 17:15

  • J*C #26 5 years ago

    "still represents great value for money".

    Fuck off sony, idiots.

  • CallousB #27 5 years ago

    "I sold my DS before I went to HK because I was sick to the arsehole of N64 ports."

    Er...what N64 games have been ported other than Mario 64?

  • brooza #28 5 years ago

    I bought a second-hand PSP about 6 months ago and I sold it yesterday for a tenner more than I paid for it. The only game that really interested me on it was Lumines (and Gitaroo Man, but I didn't bother getting it)

  • meggsy #29 5 years ago

    Too right, CallousB - there's been very few, maybe Rayman? (oh ridgeracer for sure) If anything I wish there were more games ported just as fillers, wouldn't mind a slightly limited control interface for such titles if it meant I could play Beetle Adventure Racing or the like.
    Edited by 2 at 06/10/06 @ 18:33

  • Santino #30 5 years ago

    Sorry Steroyd but while i'm sure the psp has SHIPPED a few million less than the DS has SOLD the sales figures as of a few months ago had the psp at about 13-14 million as opposed to the DS' 22+ million. that was before pokemon came out in japan and ds sold 500,000 in a day...if sony feel they can 'compete' like this then let them carry on i say, why dont they release another statement claiming to be outselling the DS again then stick their fingers in their ears so they cant be told the truth.

  • Steroyd #31 5 years ago

    The official figures sold is 19.5 million Sony said they shipped 20 million.

    I find it hard to believe that there's as many as 5-6 million PSP's in a black whole somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

    Plus you're Pokemon figure equates to Japan only, and if we went to Japan well the DS is probably selling more than all the other consoles combined.

  • Santino #32 5 years ago

    where are these official figures? sony only release shipped numbers. and the fact that those pokemon figures are for japan only is staggering. DS has been outselling psp everywhere not just japan. in america the DS has been outselling it 2:1 for the last few months even the GBA is outselling it. For sony to announce no need for a price drop is nothing short of dillusional.
    Edited by 1 at 06/10/06 @ 20:47

  • Psi #33 5 years ago

    theyll bring out the psp lite sp :D

  • jgoreham #34 5 years ago

    I wish Loco Roco was a DS game so I wouldn't have to buy a PSP. I just came to England, and I can't stop converting prices to Canadian currency, as I don't yet work (and therefore, I don't yet make money in British Pounds). When I'm at game stores, all I do is cringe at the cost of everything- especially the PSP, which I was thinking of getting sometime soon! :x

  • Aysir #35 5 years ago

    I've bought 20 games in total for my PSP, while for my DS it's somewhere in the region of 2. There are tons of games I want on the PSP, yet maybe only 1 or 2 for the DS.

    See how that works? :)
    It's all a matter of what kind of games you like playing. Monster Hunter Freedom, Loco Roco, Samurai Warriors SOW, Daxter, Street Fighter Alpha, Tekken DR, Everybody's Golf and Gitaroo Man Lives are all awesome game that I enjoy. DS has the New Super Mario, but for me that's about it... DS has a few really high selling games but it also has a lot of crap too (The EA titles mostly).

  • Hughes. #36 5 years ago

    Similar here, I admire what Nintendo have done with the DS, and they deserve the success, but there's not enough games to my taste that I want to buy one, even though the Lites are a good deal sexier than the original machine was. I thought I might be consumed with the sort of "NEED!" feeling I had when the GBA sp came out, but I'm still not tempted.

    I know when I get one I'll find lots of stuff I wasn't expecting to like, but really only Phoenix Wright, Trauma Centre and Meteos appeal to me, most of Nintendos 1st party stuff leaves me stone cold. Which is probably why my PSP game pile is 3 times taller than my GameCube pile.

  • MadMirko #37 5 years ago

    Maybe they are trying to avoid the "bargain bin" image. Like saying "see, there is nothing wrong, we are doing very well". It's not true, but I don't blame them for not admitting. How would that look like?

  • WhyMeeeeee #38 5 years ago

    sony are probably still making a loss for each psp manufactured. THAT is why there is no price cut.

  • saku #39 5 years ago

    I just bought a PSP from a local store for the same price that I paid for our DS Lite (169 euros). It would have cost almost as much to get emulators and web browsing to the DS, and still it would not play LocoRoco :)