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[Suerte]

It turns out SCEE weren't content enough with threatening UK based importers about selling PSP products, but they've gone one step further and have now stopped Play-Asia from shipping PSP products to the UK. If you try to go through the checkout with PSP items in your basket, you get this message:

"You have items in your cart that can not be sent to your location. Please remove the item(s) in question and proceed to checkout again."

Play.com were also selling US PSP consoles and games, now they've been withdrawn...

Play.com Suspend US PSP Sales

Play.com, the online entertainment retailer has today announced that it will suspend the sale of US PlayStation Portables to UK customers, pending discussions with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE).

Simon Perrée, from Play.com, said: "We have decided to suspend the sale of US PSP's on Play.com until we have had chance to discuss the UK import situation with SCEE and see what plans they have for the launch of the European version."

"The internet makes the games market a global industry, we have been aware for some time that many other e-tailers are supplying US PSP consoles and software to UK consumers. We fully support the UK software industry, and have taken this decision to demonstrate our position, and hope that other e-tailers follow suit" added Mr Perrée.

How can Sony get away with this?!

 

[wobedraggled]

Hell if they wanna lose sales let them, DS will just stomp all over them that much harder.

 

[jdforge]

I wonder will this ban on importing from Japan and America, have a noticable effect on the PSP hardware sales in those regions ?

 

[Deku]

How can Sony get away with this?!

They are Sony. Gods that can do no wrong!

 

[Danj]

How can Sony get away with this?!

Although I don't like what they're doing, I think they're probably within their rights to limit what companies they will sell their stuff to. There'd have to be a law against restricting exports in the country of origin (in Play-Asia's case, HK) in order to do anything about it.

The thing is, however, this is only part of their whole campaign to try and cover up their bungling of the Euro PSP release. As has already been mentioned on the other related threads, they've started nuking eBay auctions (using the services of a company/site called ddetective.com), they've been sending out cease and desist letters to UK-based import shops, and recently they've taken the case to the High Court. Their case seems pretty flimsy though, from what I've read it's based around misuse of trademarks like "PS", "PlayStation" and the controller symbols. Hopefully they won't get anywhere with that.

 

[Tenacious-V]

Stupid Sony.....

Piss off the fans and the backlash may be towards not just PSP but PS3 when it launches....

 

[jarrod]

Sony is the new Nintendo.

 

[Danj]

Sony is the new Nintendo.

Okay, sorry for going offtopic here but what does this actually mean? Did Nintendo do something bad to Europe back in the day or something? I never had a NES or SNES during my childhood so I missed out on the Nintendo generation, what's the deal?

 

[mrklaw]

Stupid Sony.....

Piss off the fans and the backlash may be towards not just PSP but PS3 when it launches....

Yeah, if they plan on fucking us Europeans over on the PS3 launch date, they'd better keep their hands off importers. I notice they were fine until the prices undercut the official EU launch price...

 

[Suerte]

Okay, sorry for going offtopic here but what does this actually mean? Did Nintendo do something bad to Europe back in the day or something? I never had a NES or SNES during my childhood so I missed out on the Nintendo generation, what's the deal?

He means that Nintendo has used similar tactics against importers in the UK in the past.

 

[jarrod]

Okay, sorry for going offtopic here but what does this actually mean? Did Nintendo do something bad to Europe back in the day or something? I never had a NES or SNES during my childhood so I missed out on the Nintendo generation, what's the deal?

Just a cute reflection on general arrogance and standing, not limited to any specific event. Sony's not nearly as bad as Nintendo at their peak though... yet....

 

[B E N K E]

Yeah, as long as the prices were high they did nothing. But now the price is down to a level were it most certainly will hurt SCEE. Serves them right for delaying the launch.

 

[demi]

I'll buy a PSP and send it to you, Suerte.

 

[Midas]

Hehe, looks like there are stores still selling them here in Sweden. I wonder when they'll get a letter from Sony. Now, because of me?

 

[Deg]

Quite frankly its up to Sony afterall PSP is their product. They wont be ready for Europe till they sort their production out.

Just a cute reflection on general arrogance and standing, not limited to any specific event.

Has nothing to do with arrogance or being evil. Companies like having control over what they sell and its within their right. Things like prices etc. They want to control the factors.

 

[Suerte]

I'll buy a PSP and send it to you, Suerte.

Meh, there are still a few places I can get one from, but I just thought I'd point out SCEE's dirty tactics. You can buy me a PSP if you hand deliver it though.

 

[brandonnn]

Did Nintendo do something bad to Europe back in the day or something?

Nintendo has issued a warning to retailers importing copies of Pokemon Sapphire and Pokemon Ruby for the GBA, indicating that the company will take legal action if importing becomes widespread.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=ret&aid=1575

is the most direct correlation, but for "something bad to Europe" you needn't go back to the NES days:

Brussels, 30 October 2002: The European Commission has imposed a total fine of €167.8 million on Japanese video games maker Nintendo and seven of its official distributors in Europe for colluding to prevent exports to high-priced from low-priced countries. The fine on Nintendo alone was calculated at €149 million to reflect its size in the market concerned, the fact that it was the driving force behind the illicit behaviour and also because it continued with the infringement even after it knew the investigation was going on. Prices for play consoles and games differed widely from one European Union country to another during the period investigated by the Commission, with the United Kingdom up to 65 percent cheaper than Germany and the Netherlands.

http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/mag.dyn/Features/1510.html

 

[jarrod]

It the short term, I wouldn't be surprised if these moves hurt US/JP PSP sales. JP sales had a significant dip immediately after US launch which it's never really recovered from... that may have been due to a drop in demand for imports. If SCEE successfully cuts out EU imports, I wonder if JP sales will dip even further?

 

[Danj]

Well, there are still a few places that have as yet escaped the clampdown, so it should still be possible for him to buy one himself. I don't think they'll find them all.

 

[demi]

You can buy me a PSP if you hand deliver it though.

Imagine the charges, though.

Hoo boy.

 

[Link316]

He means that Nintendo has used similar tactics against importers in the UK in the past.

Nintendo never stopped, EBgames.com and Amazon.com can't sell Nintendo games outside of the US

 

[Teddman]

Can't you still import a U.S. PSP from a bunch of retailers that ship to Europe, both American and Canadian?

I still don't see much reason for anyone in Europe to buy their own territory's consoles or handhelds... You get most everything late and at a higher price to boot!

 

[cvxfreak]

This does sound pretty irritating. I suppose this doesn't affect US-based stores selling to the UK, right?

 

[Danj]

This does sound pretty irritating. I suppose this doesn't affect US-based stores selling to the UK, right?

If they can stop HK-based stores like Play-Asia from selling to the UK, I don't see why they wouldn't be able to stop US or Canada based stores (like VideoGamesPlus.ca for example) from selling to the UK too.

 

[scarybore]

If they can stop HK-based stores like Play-Asia from selling to the UK, I don't see why they wouldn't be able to stop US or Canada based stores (like VideoGamesPlus.ca for example) from selling to the UK too.

Indeed, very worrying but then again Nintendo has done things like this previously so it's not entirely new. Needless to say I've imported my PSP and if they stop me from buying import games to go with it then I simply wont buy any games period. Then again there isn't much in the pipeline barring GTA and if they force new firmware on you like in Japan then I wont be buying them anyways

Either way Ebuyer is still selling import PSPs so if you want to stick it to da man then you could order it from them. Then again you dont get any indication of how many dead pixels you may get.

PSP @ Ebuyer.co.uk

 

[TheDiave]

I forget... Does the PSP have regional encoding on the games?

 

[demi]

No, just movies I think.

 

[Lyte Edge]

Yeah, it's only the movies that have region encoding, so those of you in Europe that want a PSP, import from the U.S. while you still can.

 

[teiresias]

Stuff like this is often done in the Home Theater equipment market concerning online retailers. Manufacturers will have "authorized online dealers" and if you buy it from anyone else online they often refuse to honor manufacturer warranties. Never heard of a manufacturer sueing any of those unauthorized dealers though.

 

[Deku]

What is the logic behind stopping importation?

It's not like there are millions of importers. And those who import are probably hardcore and early adopters. I'd think having these guys import 'early' hardware/software would be helpful in building interest and hype.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

What is the logic behind stopping importation?

It's not like there are millions of importers. And those who import are probably hardcore and early adopters. I'd think having these guys import 'early' hardware/software would be helpful in building interest and hype.

I don't know, as you say it's hardly likely that importing represents a huge amount of sales in the grand scheme of things, but it's not like this is the first time companies have clamped down on it (the Nintendo Pokemon example was already mentioned and Konami got very tough on importers selling MGS).

I think it may not have so much to do with the actuality of the market but the potential that widespread importing could alert consumers to the higher prices paid in Europe compared to elsewhere. If you're getting a nice little extra kick on selling games at a higher price in a territory you'd probably want to protect that, and importing could be seen as a threat to that. As someone else pointed out, this seems to be happening now that PSP import prices are dropping below the official RRP of the Euro units. SCEE are probably trying to prevent the question being asked, if small retailers can import at cheaper price than the official price then why can't Sony, a large corporation with market power and mass scale production benefits, lower the official price.

I do disagree about early importers being beneficial. While a move like this may piss people off, outside of the drama queens on GAF, most people willing to import a PSP probably aren't going to turn around and start boycotting it, but instead just wait for the Euro release.

 

[Deku]

Yea there's a lot of drama queens on GAF, although I think little things like stopping people from importing will hurt the good will a company has built with hardcore gamers.

 

[GDGF]

Sony is the new Nintendo.

I agree. Sony is the new Nintendo.

 

[Deku]

I agree. Sony is the new Nintendo.

Welcome to 1997.

 

[SantaC]

Nintendo never stopped, EBgames.com and Amazon.com can't sell Nintendo games outside of the US

I recommend Videogamesplus and tronix for Nintendo imported games from the US. Used them for years without problems.

 

[Dalthien]

Sony is the new Nintendo.

I agree. Sony is the new Nintendo.

I also agree. Sony is the new Nintendo.

 

[Danj]

Here's some more BS from Sony Europe, according to Eurogamer:

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves has told the ELSPA International Games Summit in London that he has "no apologies" for the fact that the company's hardware always launches last in Europe.

...

On the topic of the late launches, Reeves was unrepentant - saying that despite the constant criticism of the company, which will launch PSP in Europe in September nine months after the Japanese launch, in fact, "we like this - we don't want to go first."

He argued that the delay to launching the hardware in Europe meant that more of the bugs and issues could be ironed out, thus heavily reducing the company's return rate.

...

Reeves also pointed out that a number of major issues exist which delay the localisation of consoles for Europe, including the wide range of languages, safety compliance requirements, differing hardware standards and custom regulations.

Speaking about the question of parallel importing - a hot topic at the moment since Sony issued cease and desist orders to a large number of retailers who have been selling import PSPs in the UK - he described the problem as "really small beer."

However, he did reveal that as well as attempting to halt sales of PSP hardware through traditional and online retailers, Sony is also currently pursuing individuals and companies who are selling the consoles on eBay.

"We've written over 600 letters to major importers on eBay," he confirmed.

 

[AB 101]

Get off your fucking ass Sony and start shipping PSP's to Europe.

This grey market thing hasn't given you a fucking clue yet?

 

[Keio]

Reeves also pointed out that a number of major issues exist which delay the localisation of consoles for Europe, including the wide range of languages.

Didn't firmware 1.50 include European languages?

 

[Funky Papa]

Didn't firmware 1.50 include European languages?

Yes, it's the fucking "too many languages" excuse all over again, but this is time is even more stupid because Sony already ADDED THE FUCKING EUROPEAN LANGUAGES WITH THEIR 1.5 FIRMWARE UPDATE.

I can't believe they are treating us like such shit, Europe is 100% Sony's land yet they keep raming our arses like nobody's business. I hope PSP tanks in Xbox launch style so they can eat their BS.

 

[callous]

This is too outrageous for me to handle. Sony can stuff their PSP. I'm certainly not going to buy one if I can't import it. This is stupid six ways from Sunday. Fuck you, Sony.