Sony: Retailers are Actually 'Embracing' PSP Go

During E3 IndustryGamers met up with Eric Lempel, director of PlayStation Network operations at SCEA, to talk about the new PSP Go and the future of PSN. We'll be bringing you the full interview in the near future. Based on our conversation with Lempel, it's pretty evident that Sony is hoping to use the PSP Go as a Trojan Horse of sorts to spearhead PSN adoption among PlayStation fans.

"The PSP Go really speaks to PlayStation Network; the Go and the delivery mechanism to the device is completely powered by PSN. So we're saying to that consumer, 'This unit is just for you, it speaks to your lifestyle and what you've been asking for.' It also helps us push a lot more content through the network for PSP," he said.

As Sony looks to get every major PSP release distributed digitally via PSN, retailers will of course start feeling left out. You would think that this would be a big concern for the retail community, but Lempel insists that's not the case.

"[Feedback] has actually been quite positive. Some of the retailers were brought in early on this, and we said, 'Hey, here's the direction we're going with this.' As you know, there are lots of other devices on the market that just don't have a software component at retail. So surprisingly, they're excited," he said.

"So I definitely understand where the question's coming from and I also thought it would be interesting to see what happens when you say [to them], 'Sell this but there's not going to be a software component.' But there's still an accessory component and we've got a pretty strong accessory line; there will be new accessories planned for Go at some point. So retailers were embracing it and it seems like they're happy with the product," Lempel continued. "They're happy with the [model] 3000 PSP as well. Currently we're also doing a pretty good PlayStation card business with our $20 and $50 cards. Surprisingly, it's a good segment of our audience that uses cards only... so they can still sell these things. I think in other cases with other digital products, they really don't have anything [else to sell]."