Sony plays down PSPgo retail concerns

Sony Computer Entertainment has moved to play down concerns from some sections of the retail sector surrounding the imminent launch of its PSPgo handheld, telling GamesIndustry.biz that most companies "were really quite fine with it".

The news comes a day ahead of the release of the new download-focused device, and following several weeks of reports centred around a number of retail stores across Europe which are refusing to stock the hardware.

But according to the PlayStation Portable product manager in the UK, Claire Backhouse, the reaction was a lot more muted than anticipated.

"We were very aware of concerns when we went into it and I actually expected a lot more negative responses than we actually got," she explained. "They were really quite fine with it."

"They see it as a way of getting people into the store because it's new interest, a new product. And they've had such strong sales as well of PSP 3000 almost off the back of it," she added.

Blackhouse went on to explain her view that those sales were in part due to a knock-on effect of bringing out a new tier of hardware.

"If you bring out a new product, people aspire to that but they might not buy it, they might buy the PSP 3000 instead. Especially if they're part of a family - dad might buy the PSPgo but the kids might get PSP 3000s. I think that works quite well for us."

The full interview with Blackhouse is available now.