The newest iteration of Sony’s totally fun and not at all extortionate handheld has endured some rather poor sales in Australia. The managing director for Sony Computer Entertainment told The Age that the number of units sold is “not under 1000 but it’s slightly over 1000″ and considered it a “soft launch”.
It’s not difficult to see what has caused such disappointing sales: the unit retails for $450 in Australia (417 USD). I’d like to remind you dear readers that the very same device retails for 249 USD in America. When the PS3 slim only costs another 50AUD, stretching to another 50 bucks can’t mean much for the sake of a plethora of reasons to get a fully-fledged console over a hand-held.
Then again, are you really surprised? It’s Australia, they have something of a troubled relationship with the gaming industry, what with the epic delays, embarrassing levels of censorship, and in this case abhorrent and unfair pricing. These are reasons enough to expect this kind of thing repeatedly. I’m starting to use the phrase “not surprised; just disappointed” more and more these days.
I hope the “not under 1000″ Australians who bought a PSPgo are happy with their digital distribution-reliant handheld. I can’t help but think the 10,000 per week of them who decided to break the bank with another $50 and get a PS3 slim got a better deal.
Via: GamesIndustry.biz
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I’m actually surprised they managed to get it this decade. :P
Haven’t any advertisement for it.