PSP Set for September Euro Debut

Worst case scenario as Sony's handheld comes in later and more expensive than many would have liked. Full details inside.

After months of stonewalling, Sony has finally revealed the European release details for its new handheld. The PSP will hit stores in Europe on September 1st at a price of £179 or €249.

Much like the US version released in March, the PSP will come in a Value Pack only, which includes a soft protective case, a wrist-strap, a 32MB Memory Stick, a cleaning cloth, a pair of earphones with a remote control, and a sampler UMD with game, music and movie clips. The first batch of PSPs will also contain a voucher to get a free UMD copy of the Spider-Man 2 movie for play on the PSP.

But while it is a relief to at last have solid launch specifics, Sony has not given Europeans much to celebrate. The September release is in line with the most pessimistic estimates whispered over the past months, and the £179 (£155 excluding tax) UK price of the PSP is higher than in any other territory - the PSP sells for ¥24,800 (£125) in Japan and $249 (£130) in the US.

With a higher price and later release date now confirmed, Sony runs the risk of losing sales to people who might prefer to import rather than wait it out. PSP games are region-free, meaning games bought anywhere in the world will work with any PSP, and the hardware itself supports multiple languages.

Unlike games, though, UMD movies are region-coded, tethering them to the arbitrary regions familiar to DVD enthusiasts, but this doesn't pose an obstacle because Japan and Europe are in the same DVD region, so Japanese PSPs would be able to play back movies bought in Europe.

But perhaps more significant for Sony is that the later launch means the PSP will now be coming out within a few months of the Xbox successor. Microsoft has made it clear that it's going to even more aggressive with the launch of Xbox 360 - the presumed final name of the console - than it was with Xbox.

Analysts in the US have speculated that Xbox 360 could debut there at the same price as or lower than the initial asking price for Xbox, which means a £200 Xbox 360 is not an impossibility.

For more information about the European launch of the PSP, visit Sony's official PSP homepage.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games