Another blow to Sony

[slycat]

I am of course referring to the recent news of popular Asian games import site Lik-Sang's closure due to them being unable to cope with the multiple lawsuits brought against them by Sony.  Sony had a London High court Judge rule that Lik-Sang's sales of PSPs to the UK and Euope was unlawful and has gone on to bring various further lawsuits against Lik-Sang.

On the 20th October, Lik-Sang said "Fighting multiple lawsuits in different countries at the same time and paying high premiums to expensive lawyers is an overwhelming situation for a small company like Lik Sang. Launching separate court actions with separate claims and different judges is completely unnecessary, except for the fact that it helps reaching one single target: outspend Lik-Sang to death. Pay beyond"

The result is that as of the 24th October, Lik-Sang has been forced to close it's doors.  It will be sadly missed as it was the site I could rely on to be able to get my hands on stuff from the Asian region before it's release over here (and often for a lower price).  I bought my PSP from there when it was obvious I wouldn't be able to get a US PSP on release due to lack of stock.  I think that will be the last Sony product I buy however. True, I can still use Play Asia if I wanted to, but they've already given in to Sony's demands resulting in them not allowing import of Sony products anywhere.

And that's the reason for the subject of this post, it's not just myself that's pissed by this, many games fans feel the same way.  You only need to look at the comments on the various news sites and Lik-Sang's own press release to see how people are reacting to this.  Not that Sony will care of course.  However it's looking more and more likely that PS3's sales will suffer due to dealing another blow to Sony's reputation in the gaming sector as a result of pissing off the fans combined with their absurd price points and their recent bizarre desperate claims about the Xbox 360 costing $700.

Comments

[arakinuk.livejournal.com]

Aye...I spotted the article in The Register earlier today and was thinking much the same - I still don't quite understand where the problem lies, Sony still sells a lot of units and most probably to die-hard fans or those who want to be able to play games which won't be made available for the European Market.

The one thing going for the PS3 is that it will be the cheapest Blu-Ray player, that and a Metal Gear Solid a'course. *shrugs* I'll be content with my Wii for a bit ^.^ (*avoids making a "it will piss all over the competition" joke :P)

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see Sony respond to the perfectly accurate point made by Lik-Sang: that the PSUs that ship with PSPs differ only in the plug they end in, otherwise identical. But I doubt there's any way they really can spin it in their favor, at least in such a way anyone but them will accept.

The point about legal costs is certainly valid, too, and a strategy used by many companies, knowing full well that their resources vastly outweigh their opponent's - right or wrong, even a trivial legal action can be a five or six digit matter, or more. (Connectix didn't back down, and won their case regarding Virtual GameStation. SCEA bought and buried it instead. And how did that benefit Sony, as far as I'm concerned? I bought several PS1 titles as a result of VGS. Having a 14" laptop PS1, effectively, was a great way to head into work on the train =:)

Hm. Wonder if I could eBay that CD? Original 1.00 release of VGS, as bought at its MacWorld launch, hot out of the burner - literally, CD-Rs with full-face labels on them. ^_^

[rallicat.livejournal.com]

So much for the free market economy. It's looking increasingly likely that Sony could loose their edge in the gaming market over the next 12 months. It certainly isn't a good time to be Sony.

[colifox.livejournal.com]

with their battery recalls on millions of laptops, the delay of the console, their announcement of going purely blue ray (and sensing another betamax v VHS thing going on), they are definately going to loose their edge - I agree. In the news just yesterday it was, they are not just taking small business likes this to court, but they are trying to put a complete and total ban on imports/ im not surprised when they want to charge the UK £599 for a full system...and wait..its gonna be $599 for a full system. Erm...bit of a difference there chaps! *bends over for sony - NOT!*

[atpaw.livejournal.com]

Most countries have Parallel Import laws which protect the right of consumers to import a cheaper product from overseas rather than getting raped by a foreign distributor.

In Australia in particular, Sony tried to take several mod-chip makers to court, saying that it increased piracy, and instead found itself being slapped on the wrists re: parallel import laws allowing mod chips to be installed to deregionalise the PS2. ;)

We could also set up a class action against iTunes Australia not allowing us to buy music for USD$0.99 from the USA iTunes, instead forcing us to pay a higher $1.99AUS. But so far nobody seems to have cared beyond a few journalists questioning the issue.

But I digress.

Stoopid Sony.

[andreuswolf.livejournal.com]

Sony's E3 expo wasn't particularly stunning either. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=UqzB_nJMMOk)

Sony and EA should merge, they're both absolutely devoid of care for their consumers. They only think about the bottom line.

[sphelx.livejournal.com]

Liksang has had to close?
Fuck fuck fuck FUCK FUCKING FUCK FUCK!

[copperfeel.livejournal.com]

What an odd company, that 'report' on the cost of consoles is downright odd. I think Sony are suffering from some wierd mental illness. The PS3 is already too late for this Christmas, and I think that this will turn a lot of previous Sony fans off. Not that that will stop the general public from buying it.

It pains me to say this, but I'm sticking with Microsoft.