Multiple price drops couldn't save Sony's PSP Go from a quick death. Launched in October 2009 without a UMD drive and sporting a hefty $250 price tag, the device failed to find a foothold at retail. Today, roughly a year-and-a-half after its release, Sony has announced production on the portable has stopped.

A day after reports of the PSP Go's untimely death began circulating on the Internet, Sony issued a brief statement to Japanese website AV Watch confirming that it will no longer ship PSP Go handhelds. The focus now, the company states, will be on continued production of the PSP-3000 and the upcoming NGP.


When we first got our hands on the PSP Go back in October 2009, we couldn't help but ask, "Who the heck is this thing intended for?" Turns out Sony didn't really have an answer for that question.

Sony announced its newest handheld, codenamed Next Generation Portable (NGP), in January. Featuring a 5-inch OLED touchscreen display, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, dual analog sticks, and games on flash memory cards, the NGP is set to arrive by the end of the year.


Sharkey says: The PSP Go, particularly with its $250 launch price, never stood a chance. It was a phone without a phone and a gaming device with cramped controls and no home for UMD games. Sony began referring to the device, after its less-than-stellar launch, as an "experiment." While the company may have learned a few things that it can incorporate into the NGP, there's no denying the PSP Go was an experiment that fizzled.