This is going to make you feel old: the PSPgo is now 10-years-old. Sony’s digital-only handheld revision released on 1st October, 2009 – a decade ago. Back then, Push Square was still in its infancy, and yours truly had some, shall we say, thoughts about the negativity surrounding the device. The thing is, looking back on it all now, it was a great handheld – but more importantly than that, it was ahead of its time.
This thing felt premium: its piano black chassis was a finger-print magnet, but it practically glistened when it caught the light; the screen was smaller than the standard PlayStation Portable, but it was razor sharp; the slide mechanism, revealing the controls behind the display, was silky smooth – you just wanted to slide that thing back-and-forth like—well, let’s not go there. The downside? You couldn’t use UMDs.
Let’s be honest with each other for a hot minute: UMDs sucked. We all know it – even Sony knew it. But even if the Japanese giant could see where the industry was heading, the PSP just wasn’t ready for a digital-only future. There were dozens of titles – some of them first-party – which couldn’t be purchased from the PlayStation Store, significantly limiting the unit’s library. Not only that, but the manufacturer didn’t mandate day-and-date digital releases at the time, so there were several new games that you simply couldn’t play.
It goes without saying that this signalled the system’s demise before it had even been brought to life, but there was also lots of scepticism surrounding digital purchases at the time. This fear is more muted at the moment, as more-and-more people turn to the PS Store to purchase software, but it still exists; the Xbox One S All-Digital – otherwise known as the Xbox One SAD – has become a bit of a punching bag for following the same philosophy as the PSPgo.
But make no mistake about it: Sony was onto something here. The company’s already confirmed that the PlayStation 5 will be able to play disc-based games, but the scales are finally beginning to tip towards digital, and there’ll be no going back once they do. With its beautiful form-factor and superb Suspend/Resume feature, the PSPgo was a fantastic failure – but it’ll be best remembered for simply being decades ahead of its time.
Did you own a PSPgo? What were your thoughts on the digital-only device? Do you think a system relying solely on the PS Store could survive today? Download your opinion in the comments section below.
Comments 39
Rest in pieces! Loved the PSPgo!
I was working at HMV when PSPgo was announced and released, and I balked at the idea of a console with no physical game support. These days, it's not such a crazy idea. Things have changed a lot in 10 years, and it's pretty amazing that Sony saw the digital takeover coming.
This Would have Done better if It Had Released Now Rather then back then
Its funny i remember hating the idea of this handheld and wanting it to flop but now i'm 99% digital with both consoles and handhelds, weird how times change.
Honestly if I had to guess I'd have thought it came out earlier than that even. I didn't have one (I have 2 of the regular PSPs instead) but might see if I can pick one of these up soon
Good ideas for sure, but the main limiting factor at the time for me was the feel of the thing in-hand. It just wasn't nice to hold even for short periods - and there was nothing it did that the regular PSP couldn't.
I had an Xperia Play sometime later and that felt a lot better in a similar form factor.
The other nail in the coffin was the stupidly expensive memory cards for the system. I remember wanting one until I saw they hadn't added an extra thumb stick or touch screen. So stuck with my launch PSP from Japan.
I love PSP go, it is my favourite iteration of the PSP lineup. Going digital somehow paid off at the end after the enormous psn sales and the Vita combatibility.
Another idea Sony had that was ahead of its time, let down by implementation.
I loved mine, but it was uncomfortable. MH claw technique was super uncomfortable....
Still have it though! My crazy GT:PSP save is still on it. Those Phantasy Star PSP games too... they were excellent but taken off the store so I can't play them on my Vita
Technically the store on the PSP still works, you just need to know what you are looking for. There are no pages/listings to be seen, but the search bar will take you to what you look for. A coincidental discovery I made last year
@NathanUC
Depending on the specific licensing - there's a good chance that you can play the PS games on your Vita.
If you bought them digitally, they should stay available in your download list whether they're purchasable on the Store or not.
It'll probably take a lot of scrolling, but check through your download list!
@KALofKRYPTON I wish for whatever reason, that PSP Game just isn't downloadable. I even have it on my PS3, but it cannot be transferred to the Vita for some reason. It seems like it was blacklisted for whatever reason.
@get2sammyb Article feels incomplete, like you only wrote half of it. The birth announcement without the obituary.
PSPgo born Oct 1, 2009
PSPgo died April 20, 2011
That 2nd date is the day PSN went down for 23 days and made the PSPgo as much use as a pet rock.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2011/04/playstation_network_slayed_by_external_intrusion_still_no_fix_in_sight
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2011/05/finally_full_playstation_network_to_be_restored_by_the_end_of_the_week_includes_playstation_store
That's only 19th month.
@rjejr PSP Go was still completely playable during those 23 days. It wasn't an "always online" device. You just couldn't purchase games during that time
@rjejr You could still use it, though.
@NathanUC @get2sammyb How much use would you have gotten out of it if you purchased it during those 23 days when the service was down? Did it come with a game built in that you could play for 3 straight weeks?
How many people wanted to buy it after that knowing that whenever the system goes down - and it wasn't down for a day or 2, it was down for 3 weeks - you can't buy or download anything?
I'm sure the system never sold gangbusters anyway but I'm willing to bet if anyone can find the numbers sold - not shipped, sold, Sony could have kept shipping them - there's a noticeable drop-off April 2011 that it never rebounds from.
Unless it was already dead by then, which means it only lasted a year or less, which should have been in the article as well. It was gone in a blink regardless.
"the Xbox One SAD – has become a bit of a punching bag for following the same philosophy as the PSPgo"
I'm almost certain the SAD is a punching bag not b/c it's all digital like the PSPgo but b/c MS took out not only the ability to play disc games, but also the ONLY advantage Xbox 1 has over PS4, a 4k Ultra HD blu ray drive, which retail for about $200, but only took about $50 off the price. If you look around you can buy the normal system for almost the same price as the SAD.
Not saying everyone buys an X1S for a 4k ultra HD blu ray player, but if you take out a $200 device and only take $50 off the price, people notice.
They should have made the X1SAD half the size, half the price, like the Wii Mini. $149 it would have sold some as a 2nd bedroom console, big box $249 it's a joke.
But it's not a joke for going all digital, people will buy all digital, IF the price is right.
Nice idea, but the problems of digital distribution were evident to me straight away, I could not play OutRun 2006 on here... If there was a way to transfer the liscence from a physical copy and play anything you could find as a disc, may have worked for me.
@rjejr After the unforgettable PSN network hack of 2011, the PS3 AND PSP master keys were leaked.
The PS3 ones were fixed but guess what? The PSP one was not so if you were buying a PSP Go around that time, I doubt the network being down was the biggest problem the sailors of the 7 seas had.
Personally, the PSP Go is an amazing machine and I still use it today. Both for actual PSP games and some homebrew. It is amazing what systems it can emulate. So powerful
@ZeD By dead I obviously didn't mean people stopped playing on theirs. The Vita for all intents and purposes has been dead for like 2 years now, more if you count Sony saying "no new games" 4 years ago, but the thing still keeps selling week in and week out in Japan.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2015/06/e3_2015_sonys_done_making_big_games_for_ps_vita
I still hook up my Dreamcast for the occasional match of Ooga Booga and Sega Marine Fishing, but I can assure you the Dreamcast is very much dead as well.
PSPGo was the worst out the series, still got my 3000.
the psp go with the optional dock (tv out) is the precursor to the switch, yet many people are not aware of this. i.e. you can output the psp to your tv and use a ds3 controller wirelessly. it is basically a console at that point. i have a silver psp go and play psp/ps1 games on a crt tv. amazing experience other than the letterboxing of the image. the dock is near impossible to find now at a reasonable price so this won't be an option for most people, but for those who have this setup, it is great! i love the form factor of the psp go as well... it is smaller than a GBA and is capable of a lot more, not to mention the psp has a far superior screen to the crusty one found on most GBA skus (non backlit varients).
@ZeD yup, the emulation capabilities of the psp is astounding. even many gba games run great on it. the psp can run anything the playstaion classic can pretty much when it comes to homebrew and emulation.
I swear I remember seeing one of these in the local GameZ store back around release. I didn't pay much attention to it since i already had a regular PSP.
Reading the article and looking back, it sure was ahead of its time.
I still play mine. MGS 1, Pursuit Force, Snooker, Everybody's Tennis are among my favourite games to have on it.
I wish Sony's Playstation based phone had found success. If it had, mobile gaming today would probably be very different, with a whole subset of gaming phones with physical controls and actual, quality titles from real developers.
@rjejr Vita is still getting games. 😉
Im so happy it died i hate digital. Still find the more digital sales nonsense because you cant buy everything retail.
@rjejr judging by the latest sales charts it might not be doing too badly in the UK at least, as all 3 of its pack in titles were in the top 10, over here its £170 for 1tb and 3 included games making it a pretty good bargain for newcomers. I get your point about the 4K blu ray player but if you're going to spend that much on a 4K TV, surely you'd buy one of the premium consoles anyway?
As for the digital argument, for a long time I was strictly a physical guy only but over the last couple of years I've gone almost 100% digital. Lets face it video game boxes aren't as appealing as they used to be, particularly since the death of manuals and this generation the discs are no more than elaborate keys to access the digital version you have to install anyway. Plus I have the added benefit of being able to share them with my stepson and play online with only one copy. So I'd definitely be up for another Sony handheld and even one that is digital only.
The irony of all that is that I have a decent collection of retro games and consoles that I would never swap for a digital alternative
@carlos82 I'm getting to be the same about digital vs physical.
Growing up I kept a lot of toys, comics, etc b/c I wanted my sons to play with them some day. Now that my kids are teens and moving on, who am I keeping all of this stuff for? My grandkids? They'll be in a wireless solar-powered PSVR 5 Geordi LaForge headset all their waking hours, what do they want with physical things?
Basically anything I buy physical now is just something else the kids will have to throw out when I die. I've reached peak morbidity.
Which I know makes me sound ALL digital, but my library having decent PS4 and Switch game collections means I can play a lot of games for free, so physical when I can.
And changing Switch carts while it's in the dock sucks, that system may as well be a PSPgo w/ those teeny tiny things. We spent 5 minutes looking for the Astral Chain cart the other night, down behind the tv stand on the floor somewhere. That has never happened with a disc.
I still wouldn't buy a $250 digital only console though. I got my 1TB OG X1 for $178 clearance at Target w/ Ori, Gears of War Remastered and Rare Replay. Traded it in for $100 towards a Switch when I was done. Even my consoles are rentals.
@Flaming_Kaiser So's the Dreamcast, that's dead too.
http://www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk/2019/02/breaking-news-five-new-dreamcast-games.html
@rjejr I feel your pain with the docked Switch, mine has to sit behind my TV as I can't get it out of the dock when it's on the shelves. So every time I want to change cartridges I have to reach over the TV and play with that silly little flap which I'm sure is just going to fall off one of these days. I'll admit theres definitely some laziness in my new digital trend as I just can't be bothered getting up to change games sometimes
@carlos82 If I had to go thru all that trouble on my Switch Id' just stream Hulu. Mine is sitting out right where I can reach it - though I do have to climb over my Wii Balance Board b/c I have no place else to put it, and over a couple of ottoman covered in Lego Dimensions toys, and climb over the PSVR wires and box. Man, no wonder I hate changing that cart.
@rjejr Physical for everything if i have the option. With indies i will wait for Limited Run Games too release them fully patched. 😁
@Flaming_Kaiser PS+ spoiled me for indies. Sure, there is the occasional one that seems like a full retail game, but stuff like ABZU and Flower and Noby Noby Boy those are just rentals, basically mobile games on home consoles.
And those Limited Runs Games are WAY out of my price range. If it isn't on the clearance shelf at Target I'm not buying it.
@rjejr Dearly noted. 😉
@Flaming_Kaiser Dearly noted? Is that like dearly beloved?
Im using the wrong word probably guess its Duly Noted. If i looked up the right translation i hope. 😉
Not that i dont like you. 😆
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