Sony Mum on Reason for Timing of $40 PSP Price Cut
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) didn’t say Friday why had it decided to cut the price of its standard PSP handheld system with a Universal Media Disc drive now by $40, to $129.99. Tim Bender, SCEA senior vice president, sales, said the new price “enables us to broaden the PSP platform to a larger group of consumers who are looking for best-in-class handheld entertainment.” The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the timing of the price move, which was to take effect Sunday.
But the PSP has been the weakest-selling of the current generation of videogame systems in the U.S., despite consistently strong sales in Japan. Sony plans to ship the new NGP handheld system this year, but SCEA said last month it “will continue to market and support the PSP” (CED Jan 28 p7).
The new PSP price puts Sony’s handheld system at the same price as the current Nintendo DS Lite and less expensive than the $249.99 Nintendo 3DS, which ships March 27 in the U.S. The PSP is also priced lower than the DSi XL at $169.99 and the DSi at $149.99. Nintendo of America didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about its rival’s price move. But the game hardware makers typically don’t comment on rivals’ price moves. Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter predicted the PSP price cut would create “at least a 50 percent lift in demand” for Sony’s system. SCEA also said its PSP Entertainment Pack bundles will now cost $159.99.
More than 23 million PSPs have been sold in North America and 67.8 million total since the system launched in 2005, SCEA said Friday. More than 590 software titles have been made available for the system in North America alone, in addition to downloadable content from Sony’s PlayStation Network, it said.
SCEA said it added 13 new games to the $19.99 Greatest Hits and $9.99 Favorites budget lines of software for the PSP. Almost 70 Greatest Hits PSP titles are now available, it said. The latest Greatest Hits additions were Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines, Square Enix’s Dissidia Final Fantasy, Sony’s LittleBigPlanet, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters and Resistance: Retribution, Konami’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Disney’s Toy Story 3: The Video Game. The new PSP Favorites titles were Capcom’s Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Square Enix’s Crisis Core -- Final Fantasy VII and Tomb Raider Anniversary, and Sony’s Daxter, Killzone: Liberation and SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fire Team Bravo.
SCEA also added five games to its line of budget-priced PS3 Greatest Hits games, which sell for $29.99 each: THQ’s UFC Undisputed 2010 and Sony’s God of War III, Heavy Rain, ModNation Racers and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves -- Game of the Year Edition. They joined 47 titles already available in the line, SCEA said.
SCEA said it will ship a SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs Full Deployment Edition bundle in the U.S. April 19 at $149.99 that will include the latest game in Sony’s SOCOM series, a PlayStation Move controller and sharp shooter, and a PlayStation Eye camera. The items would cost almost $220 if bought separately, SCEA said. The stereoscopic 3D game will ship on its own at $59.99 the same day. More than 50 titles are now available for the PlayStation Move motion-control system, which launched late last year, SCEA said.