PSP: Release...Price...The Smell of BS

[schild]

Is it true? Is it?! I hope not.

[Shockeye]

Preorder screen from EB added.

[schild]

Here's another one, levels cleaned up a bit.

Text:

Total Cost of items on order (and tax): 420.00
Current Balance: 20.00
Amount remaining to pay in full: 400.00
Enter Amount you wish to add: 400.00

Previous deposits for 2419697 PSP Deposit Only
Date: 01/0905
Deposit: $20
Tender: CRD CARD

That SKU is the best I can make out in the picture. Taking pictures of an EB screen with people in the store is risky business.

I'll try to get a printed receipt and scan if I can convince the manager to do such a thing. Probably not, privacy and all that.

[Soukyan]

$400 is a rip-off, but I'd wager it'll drop to $299 at release. I don't think they'll come as low as $200 and I also think they'll keep games at $40 or higher. They're going for a multimedia device, remember? Not just a handheld gaming system. How much do Pocket PCs run when they are first released? At least $400 if not higher. Granted, PocketPCs are more powerful (I don't know the PSP specs though), but PSP has the purdy screen. Meh. Stick with the DS. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad purchase after all. And if Sony stays true to form, the PSP will do lots of fun stuff with lots of additional $40+ peripheral add-on purchases.

[schild]

To note: The PSP can be gotten for $200 from Japan if you get a friend to buy it.

$400 is rape.

[LordDax]

Greetings all Im new around here and figured might as well start commenting on the news. Anyways, Im also going to put my vote in for the $400 price tag being bogus. Especially after a number of gaming mags (PSM, GI) reported on talks with the execs aiming for a less than $300 tag on localization. A few higher ups were even rumoring that a $150 is in discussion for stateside release. Id say we'll see a definte switch in numbers. Otherwise some of us might actually get an N-Gage....

[LordDax]

One of my fraternity brothers is an EB general manager, I'll see if I can get an inside scoop from him ;P ::puts on undercover investigation hat::

[Paelos]

What's the tactic for pricing high before release? A way of playing negotiation hardball with the public? When they take it down to their original price though it will seem like they are acquiesing something to the buyer?

See, to me, I think doing this is shooting all your hype in the foot. At best you are expected to drop the price and you look like idiots for releasing it that way to begin with. At worst you hold to your guns at release and crush your sales with a price point the market won't bear. I won't even consider buying a hand-held at $400 when I can buy every console on the market for that same price right now.

[LordDax]

I don't think Sony has any indication of using the $400 price tag. They know how big the demand is already for their orginal speculated price. I don't see the buisnes model boys of SCE allowing a new price change to take a huge chunck of their potential consumers ie profits. Sony is not stupid, I think they know just as well as we do that there is no way the general public is going to shell out $400 for a handheld when thats somewhere around the rumored PS3 rumor price...

[BlackSky]

I just got back from EB to verify this. What I was told by the store manager was that the $400 price point was just a number throw in by EB, as Sony has not yet released an official price for the PSP. This was done because some customers wanted to put more than $20 down on the system, and with thier POS system, the only way to do that was to increase the price in the system. She (the manager) showed me an e-mail from the EB corporate office outlining this.

[schild]

Good to know. Thanks.

[Roac]

What's the tactic for pricing high before release?

Market segmentation.

[LordDax]

I just got back from EB to verify this. What I was told by the store manager was that the $400 price point was just a number throw in by EB, as Sony has not yet released an official price for the PSP. This was done because some customers wanted to put more than $20 down on the system, and with thier POS system, the only way to do that was to increase the price in the system. She (the manager) showed me an e-mail from the EB corporate office outlining this.

My bro said almost about the same exact thing. He said the only thing he is worried about is the one guy who actually paid half of that price($200) already....

[Paelos]

What's the tactic for pricing high before release?

Market segmentation.

Elaborate.

[Roac]

What's the tactic for pricing high before release?

Market segmentation.

Elaborate.

Can't say that's why they're doing it here, but market segmentation is a tactic where you try to get people with lots of money to burn to pay a lot for the same product that you sell to people without much money for much less (because they won't pay the higher price).  You can segment the market a few ways - by timing, by offering 'premium' editions, etc.

As an example, my brother in-law is doing this.  Take product y, change the color, package it under a different label, and charge 2x as much.  People who can't afford the higher priced model will buy the cheaper brand, so you still capture that market segment and compete with other companies, but people who would otherwise be willing to spend more get to, and now feel special about it.

For games, you can segment by lowering the price over time, offering "premium" editions (we'll throw in a T-shirt that costs us < 50c to print, but charge you $10 more!), or comming out with a "player's choice" edition a year or two after the game was released (exact same product, but at $10 more).

[Paelos]

That would make sense if there was more than one option for the type of device they are presenting. I don't see that as the case though. I think it's merely retailer glitch as stated above by someone.

[Merusk]

Printscreen and paste into word is your friend.  Even if you don't have a graphics program at work to convert it into .jpg someone online would do it for you.


And $400 for ANY console, handheld or otherwise is fucking stupid.  Then again, I like to wait and buy games I want at $20 a pop unless I'm really jonesing for it.  I'm nutty and like my money like that.

[Margalis]

I'm sure it's not for real. (The price that is)

That said, I'm also sure PSP will bomb in the US at any price point.

[schild]

That said, I'm also sure PSP will bomb in the US at any price point.

That's quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a very, very long time.

[Paelos]

Nothing could be worse than the N-Gage. That thing is the gold standard of bombing out.

[Shavnir]

Nothing could be worse than the N-Gage. That thing is the gold standard of bombing out.

Two words.  Virtual Boy.

[LordDax]

heh. Ah good old VB. Only video game system that actually DID affect childhood development. Under 5 years old, your depth perception got reamed by the big N and its wire frames of doom.

On another note, PSP being a bomb? Hell yeah it is. I think(hope) it might create a huge explosion in handheld gaming revolution. We even might see the old school game development evolution/competition we loved in the big N vs Sega war by removing the DS monopoly of the market.

And yeah, the N-Gage is like Micheal Jackson. It was really cool for an initial period but when certain things happened it dropped like the new guy getting flamed on f13 ;P

[Paelos]

Nothing could be worse than the N-Gage. That thing is the gold standard of bombing out.

Two words.  Virtual Boy.

True but you have to reach way back in the gaming past to start pulling out the VB as a standard. It's almost ten years ago, back before the N64 was a household name.

[Biobanger]

And yeah, the N-Gage is like Micheal Jackson. It was really cool for an initial period but when certain things happened it dropped like the new guy getting flamed on f13 ;P

Just because not many people wanted to pay $300 and $30 a month for a mobile game consol. Now, since it's free with activation, it's the best deal for a phone out there... and you can play games on it. Don't take my word for it, just ask the guys here that were lucky enough to getted hooked up with one for Pocket Kingdom.

[LordDax]

I agree. And quite truthfully were the PSP not coming out soon I would actually get an N-Gage for the sole purpose of playing Pocket Kingdom. Its just unfortunate that the N-gage is only now starting to get some good things going for it.

[Calantus]

Nothing could be worse than the N-Gage. That thing is the gold standard of bombing out.

Two words.  Virtual Boy.

A friend had one of them, and we loved the one and only game we ever saw for it. Always wondered what happened to those little things too.

[Shavnir]

I picked one up at a garage sale for $20.  Came with Mario Tennis.  Later bought Red Alarm off of eBay for $10.  Great game.  It got discontinued because, to be frank, IT BURNS OUT YOUR EYES!

Oh and schild, can the PSP's battery last through playing an entire movie disc?  From what I'd heard rumours of its unlikely =/

[Aenovae]

Well, Advent Children is only 45 minutes long, so that's all you need really.

Who the hell watches movies on a portable gaming machine anyway?  Suckers and tech junkies no doubt.

[Hanzii]

Well, I do fall into the tech junky category, but...

I have an Archos Gmini400 on loan right now, and I'm seriously considering buying one (or stealing this one).
I have a season of Penn&Teller's Bullshit and my commute is just the lenght of one show. Great.

Now having to buy special discs that only plays in this one device and probably can't be burned yourself, rewnders that part of the PSP pretty useless in my book (for that - it still looks like a kickass gaming device)

[Windurst]

Hmm...

What part of SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE do you not understand?

Retailers can sell for any price they wish.  They don't have to follow the suggested retail price of the manufacturer

[TheWalrus]

That was decidedly rude for no apparent reason.

[Paelos]

That was decidedly rude for no apparent reason.

Yes well Windurst is a reminder of what would happen if Haemish had a head injury.