UK Retailer: "PSPgo Will Fail Miserably"

Don McCabe, the managing director of the United Kingdom's biggest independent video game retailer, Chips, thinks the PSPgo will "fail miserably." McCabe is pulling no punches regarding his opinion of Sony's new handheld, describing the device as a "no-go."

"I've been to a number of presentations to see if there's anything there," McCabe continues, "and I don't feel it'll go anywhere to be honest. I'm 99.9 per cent sure it's going to fail miserably, in which case it's going to put back other potential people coming into that digital space."

McCabes's sentiments are just another in the long line of retailers with ill-feelings toward the digital-only device. It's not very likely that many retailers would be shedding tears over the PSPgo should it tank, considering the profit for selling the handheld is negligible.

McCabe's thoughts on the dubious future of the "go" extend past the device specifically, and to the digital marketplace in general. "I heard from someone at Sony saying 'this steps our authority on the digital space and signals our intent,'" says McCabe, "and actually what I think is that they'll scare the crap out of anyone else who tries to follow." If Sony's new PSP fails like McCabe predicts, would it scare other manufacturers, or rather spur them on to succeed where others have struggled?

The Chips managing director also expresses concern for publishers looking to make a profit of digital sales, claiming there is not much money to be had in the market yet. He draws the inevitable comparison to Apple.

"Everybody looks at Apple and says two billion downloads - well, yeah but out of two billion downloads I'd say maybe 70 per cent of those have been free," explains McCabe. "And of the ones that they've paid for they'll have paid pennies for."

"Apple's a tremendous success story for Apple, it's not a tremendous success story for anybody else."

He goes to explain that even though there isn't a terribly huge amount of profit to be had yet, the push towards digital will perpetuate. He also cautions that simply because a publisher is posting impressive download numbers, doesn't necessarily mean they are seeing much of a return.

Did the PSPgo simply have the rotten luck of being launched in the wrong time period? When will the market be ready for a digital-only platform?