Publishers urged Sony to cut PSP price, says analyst

Followingyesterday's newsthat Sony has docked a fistful of dollars off the price of PSP, comes an analyst saying that a PSP price cut is just the "shot in the arm" it needed.

Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian clearly welcomes the move and hopes to see a lot more activity surrounding the handheld moving forward. "This is the first formal price cut on the PSP since its launch in March 2005," he said in a report on GameDaily.

Sony now plans to support the move with a new marketing campaign aimed squarely at young adults and teens: "We expect a modest step-up in PSP unit sales during an otherwise seasonally slower period for the video game industry. We also believe the potential release of Gran Turismo for the PSP in 2007 could further boost unit sales." If GT PSP ever comes out, we're sure it would sell a couple of units;it's not like you're going to be playing GT5 on PS3 for while is it?

So, in summing up, "It is too early to conclude whether Sony's pricing action will cause game developers to increase the pipeline of new PSP titles; however, several publishers publicly called on Sony to lower the PSP price and broaden the consumer end market. At the new $169.99 price, we note that the PSP is still $40 higher than Nintendo's DS."

April 4, 2007