It means no one will ever care about the PSP. No matter how hard Sony tries and Nintendo will always rule the handheld market.

PSPGO failure told me a few things.

1.Digital download wont work for game consoles
2.$250 for a non Nintendo handheld wont sell
3.People are sick of having to re-buy games they already own
4.People wanted trophy support
5.People wanted two thumb-sticks

lol what. "The PSPgo has been discontinued in most of the world because it was a digital-only handheld. Thus proving that a digital distribution future is far off"

no, it failed because it didn't improve on the psp enough. So it was just a re-iteration of the same product lyfecycle, not a new product. Ever since I first saw it I was like "lol, fail"

Digital distribution is going to gradually consume more of the market, but it will probably be 15-20 years until it takes over entirely. Makes me wonder what the hell microsoft are going to do for their next gen consoles, they won't be able to have bluray in it, so digital download is their only other choice unless they develop a new disk or distributable medium (flash memory would greatly increase unit overheads and it survives less use than a well kept optical disk). It will probably be disk and digital together.

Now, if handheld digital downloads could be done in machines in game retailers (with the game in the machine so internet bandwidth isnt an issue) then that could work. (obviously with the ability to digitally get the game from home connections too)

It means we don't want a system in which the analog stick is on the inside, awkwardly positioned to the right of the D-pad.

Also, it means that we've still got a ways to go before digital distribution overcomes retail.

i rather use the itouch as a handheld gaming device imo.

I loved the go because u could carry it n ur pocket n i wish the ngp was designed like the go. I want a handheld to be portable. The dd wasnt a problem but the fact you couldnt trade umds for a voucher or transfer in killed it. I also wanted cfw on it. It was too expensive also but i found one for 100. Now you might as well get the psp phone thats what the go shouldve been, touch screen w phone and all the psp features.

Only thing I didn't like about the PSP Go was the triggers/bumpers. Other then that I was pretty happy with it and being able to use my PS3 controller with it.

This article fails to accurately detail the reasons why the PSPgo didn't perform at market. Arguing that the market isn't ready for digital content? Seriously? Have you ever heard of the iPod? Haven't you seen your local big-box stores down-sizing the physical CD's they carry? Arguing one medium is any different than the other is an argument you can't win. People have accepted digital content whether you or I haven't.

Man, open your eyes Shak. The main failure Sony would have to accept is that the introduction of the PSPgo was confusing to the consumer. For existing consumers who had already adopted previous outings of the PSP Hardware, was this a model to upgrade to? We all know that was never the intent. The PSPgo was directly targeted at the iPod/iDevice user who has dabbled in the App Store, played some small games but wanted a more full-featured product offering. The problem is they barely marketed it as such and 3 months into launch it was already a tough sell.

Sure, you had retailer apprehension but, retailers are forced to adapt and the Best Buy and GameStop's the world over are now offering digital content. It was a hurdle, sure, but I'd attribute the PSPgo to really pushing this forward.

Furthermore, you forget that retailers don't simply need software sales to increase the margin of profit on a hardware sale, accessories are also a big part of it. The biggest problem lies in retailer inability to properly equip a consumer with the things they need. Too few retailers are ready to offer suggestions, only offering the bare minimum and then leave the consumer to their own devices...ultimately losing attach potential.

Was the PSPgo a failure? From a sales and penetration standpoint, I'd be a fool to argue against it. I would also be negligent if I didn't remind everyone that no matter how small a part it had in the evolution of the retail landscape, it made retail partners aware that digital content was here to stay and, ultimately, opened the doors for such offerings.

Will we ever see a day where a complete digital distribution is in place? I don't think in my lifetime, but as the market grows...who knows? STEAM has certainly proven itself as the trailblazer in that department, and we can most certainly believe industry partners are looking at that, watching it closely, with some having already acted in that avenue for potential expansion.

i think it's pretty clear why the PSPgo failed. preventing people from using their already purchased UMD content and keeping it as digital distribution probably didn't help things much.

DID IT EVER GET EMULATION GOING ON IT I REMEMBER PEOPLE SAYING IT DINT WORK I LOVE PLAYING NES AND SNES GENSIS NEOGEO HUGE REASON MY FOUR YEAR OLD PLAYS IT DAILY I HAVE MP4 CARTOONS MP3 KID SONGS PSP IS THE PERFECT BACK SEAT BABYSITTER CANT WAIT FOR THE NEW ONE HOPEFULLY EMULATION IS STILL COMPATIBLE.......

I laugh at people quoting 60 million hardware yet outside japan psp software sells like it's not even available for purchase..lol. Nintendo has healthy everything selling 860,000 handhelds just last month in america alone with MILLIONS of software sales in one npd month. Jack Tretton can't stop Reggie's Chuck Norris ass whooping...lol. :)

its a lesson to companies to not release a console with fewer features and a higher price than an excisting console. This console is one the most foolish moves in gaming history. Dont worry you can still do everything you can do with your psp 1000, 2000 or 3000 that you can do with the psp go and more.

The article "forgets" to mention that it was a price that was a downfall of PSP Go.
They were asking outrageous 230 pounds for this digital only redesign, while a regular psp was 140 pounds. Maybe more people would care if Go was reasonable priced ^^;

id love to read the article, but i aint gonna turn off adbkocker for it ha.

but, i owned all of the hanfhelds and they were hardly like the switch.

the vita came very close yes but u know.
i still think that the vita was amazing tech wise for its time.

Technically the NEC TurboExpress back in 1990 was the first one to do it. You can play TG-16 games at home or take them with you on the TurboExpress https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

"Nobody cared"...

thats why people purchased them. Remember them fondly. Still play them today. And people like you are still talking about it 15 years later.

Yeah, nobody cared.

I loved the PSP at the time, but did not buy the PSP Go because it was digital ONLY which meant I’d have to repurchase my entire library 🤦🏻‍♂️

for attention

It’s at the very end of the generation it’s makes no sense .

Imo the analogy is off knowing the XBOS all digital system is not a portable device.

But PSP GO came up with failed PSN.

I bought a PSPGo... I liked it 😂

The 1S without the disc drive almost looks like one of those knock off consoles Soulja Boy would sell. To me the thing is a waste of plastic should have been redesigned bigger HDD and had the price slashed. A person who can't tell the difference between a 1S and a 1S with out the disc drive could get confused like if a grandparent bought their grand kid an Xmas present. And for the price you could spend a little extra get a 1S with a disc drive and still play physical games and buy digital games. Only time will tell how this thing will sell and what Microsoft will learn from this experiment.