Tech giant Sony issued a statement earlier this week confirming that production on its PSP Go handheld gaming device had ceased and the product had been discontinued. The statement was issued to a Japanese website, but many assumed that it applied to the worldwide availability of the hardware. Well… it turns out now that this is not the case.
Sony Computer Entertainment America will be “continuing production of PSP Go in North America,” Gamasutra reports. That’s all that was said to the industry news website, but it very directly contradicts the company’s previous statement on the subject. There’s an obviously follow-up question to be asked here: …why?
The PSP Go would have been a great gaming device if it hadn’t been released on the heels of three previous PlayStation Portable SKUs. The Go stripped away key features of the earlier models, including support for UMD discs, and then didn’t offer any workarounds for those who had already built up a library of games published on Sony’s proprietary storage media. Add to that the console-competitive pricing of $250 — that number has since come down to $199.99 — and you’re left with a slickly designed device that offers fewer features than its predecessors, for more money.
Which, when you get right down to it, is insane.
Given all of that, the only surprising thing about the “PSP Go being discontinued” news earlier this week was that it didn’t come sooner. The fact that SCEA will continue to push the device out is certainly a shock as well, though presumably the company is seeing significant enough sales numbers to justify the move.
