Obituary: PSP Go

Today we mourn the loss of the PSP Go. A Japanese blogger, who claims to work for a Sony partner, says the portable is no longer in production. Sony Style Japan no longer lists it on its website. A while back, Amazon listed the Go as “discontinued” on their website. Sony has neither confirmed or denied the reports, only saying they’ll support the PSP line as long as it’s in demand.

The PSP Go had a difficult life. The system was released to compete with Apple’s widely popular iPod Touch and iPhone. It was the first gaming handheld to exclude physical media. The results proved disastrous. Since it couldn’t play UMDs, it wasn’t compatible with the vast majority of games. Sony was slow to expand the PSN Store to accommodate. Furthermore, gamers complained about its awkward control layout. All this compounded by a $250 price tag for the system alone. A significant jump from PSP value packs which came with games and a memory card for $50 less.

RIP PSP Go.
You were too small, had too few games, and were way too expensive.

Sony has not released sales figures. However, they have admitted it suffered from a lack of consumer interest and poor sales. Learning from their mistakes, Sony returned to physical media with their successor system, the NGP.

UPDATE: Sony has confirmed the PSP Go has been discontinued. The PSP-3000 will remain in production as long as people still buy it.

Source: Eurogamer
Image: Averaging Wrathy