Tretton: PS3 sales figures on track — PSPGo, not so much

Sony Executive, Jack Tretton, is back at the podium once more to notify industry insiders and gamers alike that sales for the PlayStation 3 are on track for more than 13 million consoles sold for the fiscal year. Considering how well the unit had sold by 10 months in, it isn’t exactly surprising to hear this news.

“Based on the numbers 10 months in, I would say that we are extremely confident in those numbers,” he said. “We have got very aggressive build plans for 2010 as well, so I think (this year) we will have very positive comparisons against 2009.”

Unfortunately for Sony, they can’t say the same for the company’s foray into the digital market through the PSPGo. While many criticized the retail pricing of $250, it was a move Sony had to make to attempt to divert the loss of software sales through piracy. The PSP, much like the Nintendo DS, has been quite prone to piracy as well as the legal utilization of homebrew, which has led both companies to make changes to the hardware itself.

“It is a little short of where we’d like to be,” he said. “But it is certainly not a disappointment.

“Piracy had an affect — not necessarily in terms of an impact on consumer demand for hardware, but developers’ ability to be profitable making games for it if people are not paying for the software. That’s been a big challenge for every company, but we certainly felt it on PSP.”

To be honest, I’ve had enough of the sales talk from both camps already for 2010. I’d rather start hearing about what Sony has planned for release after July of this year. The company’s plans for Q3 and beyond still seem to be shrouded in mystery and it’s about time they clue some of us in.

Readers Comments (16)

  1. Lower that price, release a lot of good PSP Minis and you will have lots of sales guaranteed.

    I want one, but they are so expensive. Not saying the price is unfair, I just can’t afford it.

  2. What really holds me back on the PSPGo is the pricing, for both the hardware and software. Enough has been said about the initial $250 price tag, but games are still WAY overpriced. Amazon sells Resistance: Retribution on UMD for $15 (brand new with free shipping), while Sony charges $40 per download. That’s an extreme example, but everything’s cheaper on UMD. The cost of manufacturing, transporting, and storing hard copies is way more than hosting soft copies on a server, so what gives?

  3. Well Tretton that is because the PSP Go is $100 overpriced.

  4. $250 is alot, I mean I would rather get a Wii for even a lesser price, either they have to redesign the PSP for lower costs, or just reduce the price overall depending on the amount of devices sold. Me thinks that this would turn out like the ps3 in around launch date.

  5. Yup. The psp go is way overpriced and you are totally right WonsAuto: even the digital copies are way too expensive.

    You have to wonder why sony launched the go with that price.

  6. lol duh, the PSPGo is a terrible idea…..and of course the pricing …..

    PS3 is going to shine now!

  7. 30NIGHTCRAWLER30 February 24, 2010 @ 19:52

    PSPGo is terrible. No UMD…. WTF?!

  8. My PSP-1001 is still going strong. I see no need to upgrade to a Go.

  9. I think the concept behind the psp go is awesome, it just has a flawed execution:

    1.- The hardware pricing.
    2.- The games pricing. Publishers still think that just because it’s a videogame they should charge freaking 50 bucks per new game, when portable gaming is not nearly as good as console gaming.
    3.- It is NOT mandatory to have both a psn downloadable game alongside umds.

    If these 3 things changed, so that we could see a 150$ system and games that range 20 to 40 $ it would be great.

  10. Exactly Dreamer. $149.99 for the system, $30 max for brand new games.

    But I think they are cheaper in shops because once they get there, they just sit on a shelf for free. If they make there money back on the first 100,000 sold but shipped 300,000, they dont have to keep paying the store to hold it. So the seller can lower the price. But on the download side, you constantly have to pay that server price which will never go away until you take the game down so the prices are going to be higher than stores overtime.

  11. The latest deal they have going on where they give out either Assassin’s Creed or LittleBigPlanet with the purchase of a PSP go is a good start to try and entice new owners but still, quite the slap in the face to early adopters.

    PS3 is really deserving of those sales. The system has been getting terrific exclusive releases and the recent release of Heavy Rain proves that it is a must own system. What an incredible game that is unlike anything I’ve ever played before. Gripping from beginning to end.

  12. I think SONY is just testing the waters with PSPgo and warming up the market for PSP 2 at that same price and ( i wish sony doesn’t release PSP2 with that price Tag) But i believe PSP 2 will be all digital download and will Justify the price tag of $199, for now PSP go is worthless.

  13. great to see the ps3 doing well but not surprised the psp go is doing crap

  14. pspgo is sonys biggest mistake

  15. The Playstation 3 has great games, so it will sell well. The PSP Go isn’t selling well because of the price tag at $250 is too high and the lack of UMD capability.

  16. @starspeed: idk about the PSPGo, of course the UMD really hurts it and the damned 250 price tag is just stupid (cheaper than a Wii and 50 cheaper than a PS3??)

    also the lack of homebrew really hurts it too…but i think the real problem is the PSP in the first place….should of had 2 analogs and not use UMDs…..and NEVER make the PSPGo, they should have put this money into a PSP2 :\

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