Sony confirms death of PSP Go

Sony has put an end to rumors surrounding the death of the PSP Go by confirming it has indeed ceased production on the lackluster portable in order to pool its focus on the upcoming NGP.

According to itsstatement to Japanese websiteAV Watch, which has since been translated andverified by Sonyto the North American press, the PSP Go has officially been pulled from the production lines after a short one-and-a-half year run on retail shelves. The decision follows a history of lukewarm sales stemming from stiff competition and general consumer reluctance to buy in to the system's download-only format.

PSP Go's troubles were evident from the start. Less than a year after its launch, Sony began talking about the system in past tense, andin his mid-2010interview with MCV,SCEE President and CEO Andrew House even referred toit as more of a marketingexperiment than anything else, explaining, “One of the reasons we launched PSPgo was to understand where that consumer behaviour was going. We were getting signals from consumers that this was the kind of device that they wanted. But we need to recognise that consumers like their packaged media library.”

Though it may be giving up the PSP Go ghost, Sony said it will continuetoproducethe PSP-3000 for as long as it continues to sell. It's next handheld, codenamed the NGP, is expected to dropthis holiday season.

[Source:CNET]

Apr 20, 2011

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