Gizmondo Brutalized by PSP-DS Combo
The seemingly-endless well of money runs dry as Gizmondo preps to bow out of the handheld market.
With the DS and PSP posing daunting competition for the Gizmondo, Tiger Telematics was never going to have an easy time of it in handheld gaming. But the company persisted.
One extravagant launch party and a Regent Street flagship store later, its Gizmondo Europe subsidiary has gone into administration, GameSpot is reporting, to lick its wounds as it prepares to kill off the portable.
To say that the launch of the Gizmondo was treated with apathy would be to get miserably lost in understatement. Few people knew it was coming and, despite a crammed home store in the opening days, even fewer seemed to care.
As of Friday, Gizmondo Europe has gone into receivership and cut its staff by half.
The Gizmondo is the latest portable victim to succumb to the combined might of Sony and Nintendo. Nokia's N-gage appeared stillborn after it was snubbed because of design flaws.
The PSP and DS, however, are going from strength to strength and the portables are widely lauded as the saviours of 2005, helping take games to their best year yet in both the US and the UK.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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