[Elios83]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-be-affordable

The Next Generation Portable will be "affordable", Sony has promised.

"I can't put a ballpark on it in terms of figures, but what I would say is that we will shoot for an affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space," Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Andrew House told Eurogamer in Tokyo this morning.

The NGP – Sony's successor to the PSP – was officially unveiled this morning as a powerful portable gaming console.

Eurogamer has been told by a source that Sony will "make a loss" on the NGP, but House insisted the hardware manufacturer is gunning for profitability.

"Ideally we would want to have our hardware be profitable, in addition to our software," he said. "We've experienced both sides and we know which one we like to be on!"

House was unable to confirm when Sony will reveal the NGP price. It's due out this Christmas.


UPDATE:
http://www.vg247.com/2011/01/27/yosh...9/#more-142043
Yoshida confirms that Sony has been thinking a lot about being competitive price wise and that this won't be an other 599$:

Yoshida on PSP2 pricing: “It’s not going to be $599″

So none of this, then. Unless it’s actually higher than that. In which case, as you were. SCE WWS boss Shuhei Yoshida has said it’ll avoid a repeat of its E3 2006 press conference by not pricing its next-gen PSP successor, codenamed NGP, $599. “It’s not going to be $599,” he told Game Informer. Yoshida does admit that pricing has been a big concern for Sony since project work on the handheld began in 2008. “From the very beginning of the project — since 2008 — pricing was one of the considerations that we had. Hopefully when we announce the price, people will see the proper value.” The comment follows that of earlier remarks from SCEE head Andrew House, saying the price of the machine will be “affordable”. NGP releases this year in Japan. Catch up on everything from the event here.

UPDATE 2:
Kaz Hirai on PSP2 price:
“That’s something we spent a lot of time on this time around with NGP, to make sure that we don’t go off the deep end,” he told the site following NGP’s unveiling yesterday.

[LiK]

$499.99

[KamenSenshi]

Still sounds like at least $300.

[Oni Link 666]

For people with 2 jobs?

[Elios83]

Still sounds like at least $300.

Sounds like 299$ for the full package to me, which would be great for what if offers.

[gkryhewy]

There's already a thread on this, but it's so encouraging that they're going to "shoot for" an affordable price. When the launch price is inevitably revealed to be too high for the mass market, at least we'll know that they tried.

[highluxury]

"dont worry guys... this time you will only need ONE job!"

Either way, I would be pleasently surprised if Sony has learned anything from their PS3 launch. God I hope they have.

[Shadow780]

Sony's affordable is often different than consumer's affordable.

That being said, day one.

[_Alkaline_]

...if you have two jobs lol.

What was that Krazy Ken quote again? Seems quite apt for this instance.

[KAL2006]

Interesting, I guess it could be $250-$300

[TheSeks]

$499.99

FOUR-HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE US DOLLARS!

*record scratch*

"I can't put a ballpark on it in terms of figures, but what I would say is that we will shoot for an affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space," Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Andrew House told Eurogamer in Tokyo this morning.

AKA: "$250-300."

If it's $150-200 I'll be really surprised.

(Maybe if they went a Wifi-only enabled option... instead of 3G/etc.)

[nubbe]

€999 with a 24 month payment plan

[gkryhewy]

Sounds like 299$ for the full package.

Haha, based on what, aside from the hopes and aspirations of sony enthusiasts?

Some of you guys are flat-out delusional on this. You're setting yourself up for another YOU ESS DOLLAR heartbreak.

[CozMick]

So they comment about the price without giving a price?

We're gonna get fucked over!

[1-D_FTW]

Still sounds like at least $300.

Please. Would anyone really complain if it were 299? At least you'd feel like you were getting your moneys worth (unlike a certain competitor's machine).

[Urban Scholar]

"dont worry guys... this time you will only need ONE job!"

Your username doesn't exactly instill confidence in this matter.

[BlazingDarkness]

I think 300 is a realistic figure

[gofreak]

Sony's affordable is often different than consumer's affordable.

Sony repeatedly said that PS3 would be expensive, before E3 06.

[Sohter.Nura]

PSP2 will be affordable...

... for those will work overtime for it.


:O I kinda like the PSP2, though.

[Kuran]

I will pay much for this dream handheld device.

This is the device i'd take back in time to show my young self.

[ULTROS!]

I hope it's $249

[cnizzle06]

560 US dollars. Merry Christmas fuckers.

[Grecco]

499.99 399.99 if were lucky.

[_Alkaline_]

Please. Would anyone really complain if it were 299? At least you'd feel like you were getting your moneys worth (unlike a certain competitor's machine).

Anything over $200 is unacceptable for a portable console, regardless of how powerful it is. If this thing is $300 or over, Sony don't get it. Nintendo don't get it either, but the PSP2 is probably going to make it look rather inexpensive in comparison.

[jiggle]

$199 wwwwwwwwwwwww

[Duxxy3]

Appropriate price for a handheld is not over $199.

These 2 new portables are getting so far away from what made the gameboy and ds popular it's just ridiculous.

[LCfiner]

Affordable... for gazillionaires!

If they go for broke and sell this for 300, then I'm in on day one. If only for the tech lust factor.

[Kuran]

Affordable... for gazillionaires! If they go for broke and sell this for 300, then I'm in in day one. If only for the tech lust factor.

It's time for these shitty price jokes to become a bannable offense. Or at least allow people to doubly criticize 3DS on the same fact (overpriced for what you're getting).

[Relix]

Appropriate price for a handheld is not over $199. These 2 new portables are getting so far away from what made the gameboy and ds popular it's just ridiculous.

Yeah but what people don't understand is that handhelds are the new consoles ;-)

[Wrestlemania]

Handheld gaming space includes the iPad these days, guys!

[Josh7289]

I'm calling $400. $300 is not enough for the specs this has, and $400 is the same price as the most expensive iPod touch, so it would fit the "affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space" target.

[_Alkaline_]

Appropriate price for a handheld is not over $199. These 2 new portables are getting so far away from what made the gameboy and ds popular it's just ridiculous.

Correcto.

[Router]

I'm willing to pay around $300 for what it offers. Was thinking of getting an iPad but now I'll be waiting to see what the revision is like.

[LM4sure]

Sony's affordable is often different than consumer's affordable. That being said, day one.

Ha, you would think so. They probably thought the PS3 was affordable when they launched it, but given the early sales, maybe they've learned their lesson??? Hopefully for their sake $250 is their definition of affordable.

[Kuran]

Appropriate price for a handheld is not over $199. These 2 new portables are getting so far away from what made the gameboy and ds popular it's just ridiculous.

Yet at the same time Apple is excused to sell its iPad for over $400? Hypocrisy? PSP2 is aimed for people with jobs, that much is sure..

[Yoshichan]

it's gonna be 399.99$

[Lunchbox]

299 would a be dream price

too bad its gonna be 499 in reality

[neorej]

Bugatti Veyrons are also affordable.

It's all about context.

[Pureauthor]

Yet at the same time Apple is excused to sell its iPad for over $400? Hypocrisy? PSP2 is aimed for people with jobs, that much is sure..

iPad isn't a dedicated handheld gaming device, and as far as I'm concerned, it's also too expensive anyway. (So are the PSP2 and 3DS, for the record.)

[gkryhewy]

it's gonna be 399.99$

I agree with this. Pessimists will assume 499, optimists will hope for 299.... The real price will split the difference.

[sixteen-bit]

NGP reminds me of Neo Geo Pocket. Better acronym pls.

[Veitsev]

It's time for these shitty price jokes to become a bannable offense. Or at least allow people to doubly criticize 3DS on the same fact (overpriced for what you're getting).

People here are allowed to doubly criticize the 3DS on the same fact. And they have. No one gives a shit about your hurt feelings.

[Lunchbox]

Yet at the same time Apple is excused to sell its iPad for over $400? Hypocrisy? PSP2 is aimed for people with jobs, that much is sure..

because the person that bought an ipad is in the same audience that wants to buy a playstation

perfect logic

[Xater]

Still sounds like at least $300.

Which I would probably pay for this. Tech looks way moe awesome than 3DS.

[_Alkaline_]

Yet at the same time Apple is excused to sell its iPad for over $400? Hypocrisy? PSP2 is aimed for people with jobs, that much is sure..

The iPad is a not a dedicated gaming console. Let's not pretend the PSP2 is something other than that. They are considerably different products.

On that note, the Ipad is directed to a much larger audience than the PSP2. This will be one of the biggest flaws of Sony's console.

Apple is also a much stronger brand than Sony right now. Suffice to say, the PSP/PS3 doesn't exactly have the same recognition or popularity as the iPod/iPad/iPhone combo right now.

Sony clearly do not get it. Neither do Nintendo, for that matter, except for the 3D thing. They are stepping backwards by removing aspects that made the DS successful whilst Sony is standing still and keeping aspects that made the PSP/PS3 model broken.

[KamenSenshi]

I'm calling $400. $300 is not enough for the specs this has, and $400 is the same price as the most expensive iPod touch, so it would fit the "affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space" target.

This makes sense. Considering it has 3g which is a make up on most devices that have it compared with the lesser sku's that don't. And the fact that if they are thinking of Apple as a competitor then they will price around that same range. They have no reason to doubt sales at that price considering the sales of the itouch/pad. They are going to get a certain level of sales even if it was $450 just from the tech crowd. Too much for a game system, maybe, but if they try and push the multimedia angle again...

[drohne]

will be very surprised if its over $300. i don't know how much you know about engineering and marketing (i'm an expert), but psp2's components don't seem far out of step with smartphones, an iphone apparently costs about $180 to build, and the financial disaster that is ps3 has probably taught sony something about suicidal launch prices

[Lagspike_exe]

Dual SKUs, Value @ $299 and Premium @ 349.

[iammeiam]

and the financial disaster that is ps3 has probably taught sony something about suicidal launch prices

You'd think, but PSP Go.

I would be very, very surprised if a few months from now Sony isn't trotting the luxury defense (and ye olde Apple defense) to explain why their idea of acceptable handheld pricing is as high as it is.

[Diablohead]

Affordable = selling my car and 2nd mortgage?