Is the Sony PSP in it's gaining momentum?

Deleted member 7537 · Jan 18, 2007

At least in Japan is starting to beat DS in some sectors, Kojima sold 300k copies of MGS

OPS in 2 weeks, and when we are a month away of the release of Monster Hunter Portable 2 and there are alredy 400k pre-orders for the game. If you add this to the great sales in the US and Japan, is the Sony PSP starting to resurge?

PD: I Know my english is bad.

London Geezer · Jan 18, 2007

jayco said:
PD: I Know my english is bad.

Absolutely.

But it's ok, no biggie.

Anyway, PSP has never done "poorly". It's just that when you compare it to the totally amazing success of DS, it looks like it's not doing too well.

tongue_of_colicab · Jan 18, 2007

Your right that it never done poorly in hardware sales, but software sales never were good with the exeption from a few games. Wich makes me wonder actually how much hardware these games will sell. MGS doubled the sales in Japan right? I wonder how long the sales will keep up. I think they will be back to normal in a few weeks time.

Lazy8s · Jan 18, 2007

Recent Sales Figures for Japan, Sourced from Media Create (copied from NeoGAF):

Rank / Platform / Publisher / Title / Week Sales / Lifetime Sales

January 8 - 14
1. (Wii, Nintendo) Wii Sports - 61,399 / 794,118
2. (DS, Square Enix) Dragon Quest Monsters Joker - 55,180 / 916,000
3. (Wii, Nintendo) Wii Play - 54,578 / 719,089
4. (DS, Nintendo) Common Knowledge Training - 35,819 / 1,098,912
5. (DS, Nintendo) New Super Mario Brothers - 34,628 / 4,003,134
6. (DS, Nintendo) More Brain Age - 32,865 / 3,838,652
7. (DS, Nintendo) Animal Crossing Wild World - 32,864 / 3,876,696
8. (PSP, Konami) Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops - 28,152 / 306,359
9. (DS, Nintendo) Pokemon Diamond - 22,982 / 2,502,801
10. (DS, Nintendo) Mario Kart DS - 22,640 / 1,997,233

11/ Kirby Squeak Squad (NDS, Nintendo)
12/ English Training (NDS, Nintendo)
13/ PokÃ©mon Pearl (NDS, Nintendo)
14/ Yakuza - The Best (PS2, Sega)
15/ DS Menu Collection (NDS, Nintendo)
16/ Jump Ultimate Stars (NDS, Nintendo)
17/ Kanji Test (NDS, Rocket Co.)
18/ Zelda Twilight Princess (Wii, Nintendo)
19/ Brain Training (NDS, Nintendo)
20/ Wario Ware Smooth Moves (Wii, Nintendo)

DS: 110k / 14,461,000
Wii: 96k / 1,211,000
PSP: 45k / 4,695,000
PS3: 34k / 561,000
PS2: 24k / 20,230,000
X360: 9k / 291,000

January 1 - 7
1. (NDS, Square-Enix) Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker - 266,827 / 860,820
2. (Wii, Nintendo) Wii Sports - 166,011 / 732,719
3. (Wii, Nintendo) Wii Play - 141,702 / 664,512
4. (NDS, Nintendo) New Super Mario Bros. - 128,211 / 3,986,506
5. (NDS, Nintendo) General Knowledge Training - 109,752 / 1,063,093
6. (NDS, Nintendo) Brain Age 2 - 99,320 / 3,805,787
7. (NDS, Nintendo) Animal Crossing - 94,917 / 3,843,832
8. (NDS, Pokemon) Pokemon Diamond - 94,370 / 2,479,819
9. (NDS, Nintendo) Kirby Squeek Squad - 93,522 / 836,588
10. (NDS, Pokemon) Pokemon Pearl - 78,398 / 2,054,443

X. (NDS, Pokemon) Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - 172,768 / 4,534,262

11/ Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo)
12/ Jump Ultimate Stars (NDS, Nintendo)
13/ DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Wii, Bandai) - 66,906
14/ Wario Ware Smooth Moves (Wii, Nintendo)
15/ Brain Training (NDS, Nintendo)
16/ Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (PSP, Konami)
17/ Zelda Twilight Princess (Wii, Nintendo)
18/ Oshare MajÃ´ Love & Berry (NDS, Nintendo)
19/ Yakuza 2 (PS2, Sega)
20/ Kanji Test (NDS, Rocket Co.)

DS: 345k / 14,351,000
Wii: 195k / 1,115,000
PSP: 118k / 4,650,000
PS3: 70k / 527,000
PS2: 52k / 20,206,000
X360: 18k / 283,000

Rangers · Jan 19, 2007

I think so. PSP hardware sales have stablized as a percent of DS and even seem to be on the upswing both in the USA and Japan.

I think the nice part for Sony is that, they haven't price dropped the machine yet. I doubt they could really afford too, given the vast PS3 losses slamming the game division.

They've got to be getting near a break even point on PSP hardware though, so that a price drop should be fairly near.

DS crushed it, but the funny thing is it didn't go away..

I'd even wager that due to the massive Nintendo software domination on DS, a PSP with markedly less install base than DS might still be more attractive to third parties.

hey69 · Jan 19, 2007

I'm sure Sony is making money on psp hardware by know.. its more then 2 years old already

Deepak · Jan 19, 2007

Do you guys see a PSP price cut soon? I mean there is still a chance (in non-Japanese territories) that PSP may run neck n neck with DS if price drops....will Sony take that chance? Or maybe reduce UMD game disc price...?

Shifty Geezer · Jan 19, 2007

Deepak said:
Do you guys see a PSP price cut soon?

I hope so

. I wouldn't be too surprised for one near March to coincide with PS3's release to encourage PS3<>PSP synergy. As long as they don't lose money on PSP it's something to consider. Especially if they've finally sorted their online services out by then.

However, lack of competition in the handheld marketplace might keep prices up. DS sits at the lower end, PSP at the upper end, and as long as they're happy with sales there's no need to drop the price. And there's also the possibilty that Sony have just lost interest in PSP and aren't bothered to push it. Do they have any first-parties working on PSP titles? Are they talking up any big features? What the hell happened to GPS and the like? So maybe PSP will stick at it's current price and features, always promising something special but never getting it because Sony don't care to make it happen?

Teasy · Jan 19, 2007

jayco said:
At least in Japan is starting to beat DS in some sectors

By 'sectors' do you mean one specific shop at one specific time of the day?

No idea if PSP is selling better now in comparison to itself the same time last year, so it may have gained some momentum there. But its really not gaining anything on DS AFAICS

Fafalada · Jan 21, 2007

Shifty Geezer said:
and as long as they're happy with sales there's no need to drop the price.

The problem is 3rd parties start getting nervous when periods of software bombing occur like earlier this year, Sony should be taking note there. IMO the platform could really benefit from a price drop on both software and hw front.
And if piracy is really the big deal people think it is - they could take more active measures there as well - when PS1 was hit by mainstream piracy, developers had options to fight it (and support for it).

Teasy said:
By 'sectors' do you mean one specific shop at one specific time of the day?

Probably meant some software genres - both handhelds are decisively weak in certain areas and those aren't really overlapping (in terms of software offered, not sold).

wazoo · Jan 21, 2007

Shifty Geezer said:
I hope so . I wouldn't be too surprised for one near March to coincide with PS3's release to encourage PS3<>PSP synergy. As long as they don't lose money on PSP it's something to consider. Especially if they've finally sorted their online services out by then.

However, lack of competition in the handheld marketplace might keep prices up. DS sits at the lower end, PSP at the upper end, and as long as they're happy with sales there's no need to drop the price. And there's also the possibilty that Sony have just lost interest in PSP and aren't bothered to push it. Do they have any first-parties working on PSP titles? Are they talking up any big features? What the hell happened to GPS and the like? So maybe PSP will stick at it's current price and features, always promising something special but never getting it because Sony don't care to make it happen?

1st party games are still coming. Ready at Dawn is assumed to present something big in the coming days and GOW is the rumoured licence.

High profile games are definitely longer to produce than Brain Training. It is not ven sure that they are the solution of the PSP problems.

In the meantime, I enjoy my PSP more than my DS, especially in the last 3 months.

Arwin · Jan 21, 2007

wazoo said:
1st party games are still coming. Ready at Dawn is assumed to present something big in the coming days and GOW is the rumoured licence.

Yes, Ready at Dawn is definitely already a force to be reckoned with. First of all it has licenced its Daxter engine to other developers, so that will increase the standard for platforming on the PSP considerably.

But second, they are well on their way on completing their second generation engine for the PSP and what they are doing with that is what you are referring to. Also, Ratchett & Clank PSP is coming out soon. Then there are the several Final Fantasy games coming, and the MGS: PO already out and making a killing.

High profile games are definitely longer to produce than Brain Training. It is not ven sure that they are the solution of the PSP problems.

I couldn't agree more. Having said that, they have been missing the opportunity to bring out lower profile games of similar quality. Brain Training on the PSP was only recently released on the PSP in Europe and is doing very well here. In fact, in the U.K., you wouldn't believe it but software sales are only slighly behind the DS. Must in part have to do with that platform being a lot more viable for soccer sims and football manager type games.

In the meantime, I enjoy my PSP more than my DS, especially in the last 3 months.

I think its great that both handhelds exist. Finally the market is expanding, and everyone is benefitting from it. For me, finally console grade games make it to the handheld (and I simply have more time for handheld gaming, travelling by train daily), and for others, the DS makes gaming more accessible (new gamers), or more unique/original (hardcore gamers), or more Nintendo (Nintendo fans

). All in all its just a tremendous win for handheld gaming all-round.

For me personally, Loco Roco alone is worth my PSP.

I still love it, going back to all the levels now to get a maximum score. There are very funny hidden bonusses out there.

Shifty Geezer · Jan 21, 2007

Is there anywhere a list of Sony titles due, for PSP and PS3 etc.? It'd be nice to keep up to speed, rather than just having a general idea gleaned from whatever background noise I get from forums and internet sites.

Arwin · Jan 21, 2007

Shifty Geezer said:
Is there anywhere a list of Sony titles due, for PSP and PS3 etc.? It'd be nice to keep up to speed, rather than just having a general idea gleaned from whatever background noise I get from forums and internet sites.

Where do you live again? U.S.?

wazoo · Jan 21, 2007

I'm surprised by the lack of push of the PS1 emulation on PSP by Sony

1/ the titles are few

2/ some are even already available on PSP in native format (why HSG2 when Hot Shot is a native PSP game, for example)

Shifty Geezer · Jan 21, 2007

Arwin said:
Where do you live again? U.S.?

Great Britain.

fearsomepirate · Feb 1, 2007

Despite the release of some good titles this year that actually managed to crack the Japanese top 10, PSPs recent upswing is an upswing in the love found in the hearts and minds of its fans, not in sales. According to the article linked below, PSP forecasts for the year are down 38% from last year, and Q3 sales were down 72% from last year.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/Sony+PSP/news.asp?c=2247

Rangers · Feb 1, 2007

The actual PSP hardware sales have stabilized. The "problem" is Sony massively oveshipped them for the past several quarters and now it came home too roost. But end user sales are fine, even better than expected.

It's basically the same reason microsoft shipped 10.4m 360's and now is only projecting 1.6m to June 30. Too much inventory.

But we have end user sales via NPD and media create and we even get some UK.EU figures, and in all those respects PSP hardware is stabilized if not on the upswing. Still being outsold by DS 2:1, though.

Sony has reported seemingly inflated PS2 ship numbers in the past, but PSP took that cake. THat is why Sony at different points claimed many ridiculous things such as that the PSP was their fastest selling console ever, and that it was beating the DS. Sony shipped huge numbers into the channel, but they weren't sold at that rate.