If this Japanese Sony Shop staffer-turned-breaking news blogger, as translated by typically reliable Japanese gaming website Andriasang, is to be believed, Sony has ceased production of the PSPgo. Buy ‘em while they’re... well, not so hot, folks. Yes, this story sounds slightly ridiculous, but stay with me.
The post tells the story about an alleged Japanese Sony Style Store employee being told by his sales manager that production of the PSPgo has folded and his shop will no longer receive new units. Additionally, the Japanese Sony Style Store isn’t selling the device anymore because it’s out of stock and there’s no indication on when the digital download-exclusive handhelds will return.
The US Sony Style Store lists both the white and black models as in stock. Sony Style Europe, however, shows a “temporarily unavailable” tag on the black model but not the white model. GameStop lists both models, but both are "currently unavailable online." Using the US Sony Style product search tool, which pings 16 different online retailers, nine different retailers were showing the black PSPgo as out of stock. The same search produced six out of 11 online retailers listing the white PSPgo as out of stock.
== TEASER ==Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has since come out and responded to this speculation, but the official comment neither confirms nor denies his assertion. Here’s the boilerplate, as given to Eurogamer:
"It is a very exciting time for PlayStation portable devices. Before the end of the year we are launching NGP, our next generation portable device, which we believe will revolutionize portable gaming.
“In the meantime, the current generation of PSPs continue to be in demand, especially since the introduction of our value for money, Essentials range of games and we will continue to meet that demand."
Giant Bomb has separately contacted Sony Computer Entertainment America for comment but has received no response as of this writing. This story will be updated if when (and if) we hear back.
PSPgo demand is questionable at best. Reports from the month the device launched, October 2009, were overly positive: the device helped lift overall PSP sales by around 300% when compared to the week prior, according to Sony marketing at the time. Later reports, such as this one from March 2010, state the device only shifted in the four digits range in Japan within the first week of the month. The overall sales for 2010 up to March for the PSPgo, according to the report, were 23,455 units in Japan.
The PSPgo and the bulkier, UMD-based PSP-3000 have received a couple of price cuts in the recent past. You can probably chock these moves up to attempts at revitalizing the market before the next portable from Sony, the NGP hits in at least on territory this year. But is PSPgo dead? Stay tuned.
[Patrick Klepek also contributed to this story]
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