In a recent interview, Igor Cipolletta, manager of online games retailer ShopTo, expressed his opinion that Sony's PSPgo is "almost dead before it has arrived".
"We do have it listed on the site, but we are not concentrating any big marketing behind it," he explained. "Sony has decided to cut publishers and retailers for the software of the PSPgo and deal direct with developers, giving them a 70 percent margin for any items sold on Sony PSN."
"I have the feeling that as a format it is almost dead before it has arrived, and it relies far too heavily on a customer base that is prepared to pay more for download content than the equivalent disc based product, and I suspect this market will soon dry up based on the technical limitations of the hardware."
Several retailers have already decided to boycott the latest Sony handheld for the same reasons portrayed above.
Michael Pachter, gaming research analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities believes that "it's just silly for a retailer to say that they won't sell a big ticket gaming device because they can't sell the games." After all, ,b>"consumer electronics stores sell refrigerators and not food, everyone sells iPods and not the music for them; this position is just ridiculous."
"I think that it's foolish for a retailer to be selective about what they carry, unless they truly don't believe it will sell well," Pachter concluded. "Refusing to carry them subjects them to the risk that Sony will bypass them for Gran Turismo or Uncharted, in which case they lose. To draw a line in the sand is wrong."
