Are psp firmware upgrades hurting psp games sales?

[....]

I mean the strongest consumers or buyers of videogames are the hardcore, many of these tend to like their homebrew on psp, with emus, as well as reduced loading and extended battery life by playing from memory stick.

But new games with new firmwares that can take away their beloved homebrew probably scares a few of buying new games.(though some do have multiple psps, these would be the minority, in my opinion.)

So could this be one of the factors affecting sales?

 

[JPT]

I do not think so, because my gut feeling says that those who upgrades their PSP's etc to run emu and homebrew most likely also runs pirated software.

 

[....]

I do not think so, because my gut feeling says that those who upgrades their PSP's etc to run emu and homebrew most likely also runs pirated software.

But I'm sure they at least buy the best, especially when they come with pre-order bonuses. I think they should increase pre-order bonuses, and be more lenient in terms of firmware.

 

[Fafalada]

But new games with new firmwares that can take away their beloved homebrew probably scares a few of buying new games

No.
Firmware updates typically track around 6 months ahead of games that actually use it. Meanwhile Custom Firmware releases are generally only few weeks behind Official Firmware. In other words, for past 1-2years new games were always playable on CFW the day they were released.

I do think the FW update war with hackers early on, greatly increased public awareness to the problem though - and with it, piracy (and negative effect on sw sales).

 

[Jaeyden]

I do not think so, because my gut feeling says that those who upgrades their PSP's etc to run emu and homebrew most likely also runs pirated software.

While there is some truth to that statement...I think it's unfortunate that CFW/Homebrew enthusiasts get lumped into the same category as pirates. There are still a lot of honest people in the world.

So could this be one of the factors affecting sales?

There are a lot of factors that effect why people buy/don't buy PSP games. Here are a few.

1. Quality of titles - Up until now there just haven't been a lot of amazing PSP games. I think it will be very interesting to see the GOW and Patapon sales data for this month, followed by Crisis Core next.

2. Perceived value - The $40 price point is perceived as too high for portable games. Once again..will be interesting to see where Patapon goes with this. The secondary/used market also plays into this area.

3. Lead platform/budget - PSP only owners have a higher software attach rate than people who own multiple platforms. Good months for PS3/360/Wii can effect hand held software sales. If I have to choose where my monthly $60 dollars goes...it's going towards the bigger better experience (PS3) not PSP. I'm getting GOW and Patapon...but if there was a great PS3 title this month I wouldn't be.

4. Hardware functionality -just like the PS3 as a "standalone Blu-ray player" the PSP can appeal to non-gamers also because of it's functionality. MP3's - Movies - internet- photos - video streaming - messaging and more. I suspect that a fair portion of PSP owners, like PS3 owners, didn't buy it for games. Sony has specifically marketed both these systems to non-gamers. The "Trojan horse" can help your hardware sales, but it'll do little to nothing for software.

5. Piracy - Yes this is a big factor. But it's not the whole picture. The DS has been cracked, but it still sells software like there is no tomorrow.