Can someone tell me exactly why the PsP is considered a failure?

[dobwal]

The PSP is not a failure. The failure lies with Sony and its inability to monetize the overall value people get from the PSP.

Sony focused too much on UMD and not enough on DD and all its ancillary uses. If the PSP would of released with something akin to Itunes with a video, music and games downloads all packaged into one streamlined services; allowed gaming straight from a memory stick and provided other associated features that people get from a hacked PSP that isn't about piracy, the PSP might be a much stronger revenue generator.

The PSP has generated 50 million in unit sales and has not done so at a snail's pace. Its obvious that people find value in the PSP as a product, it just that Sony has failed to generate appreciable amounts of revenue from that value.

 

[joker454]

How about a PSP2 using a derivative of the Cell/SPURSengine architecture, running perhaps 1 GHz at most, 4 SPU + PPC?

Psp2 doesn't use cell.

 

[patsu]

While we are at it...
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/06/04/cesa_piracy_report/

Just how much money has piracy cost the game industry? The Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association (CESA) believes the figure to be over 3.816 trillion yen.

...

The investigation resulted in a figure of 3.816 trillion yen in worldwide losses resulting from piracy on just the DS and PSP between 2004 and June 2009. Domestically, the figure was 954 billion yen.

To arrive at these figures, researchers checked download counts at the top 114 piracy sites for the Japanese versions of the top 20 software titles from 2004 to 2009. They calculated the total Japanese figure by factoring in the price of the games and the ratio of sales for the top 20 to the whole market. To get the worldwide figure, they multiplied by four under the presumption that Japan accounts for 25% of of the world's software market.

Peer-to-peer sharing methods like Winny and Share were not included in the investigation. CESA notes that because of this, the actual figures could be much higher.

...

As long as they only count online download, the estimate is most definitely a small portion of piracy outside US.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Although the old chestnut, how many of those rips would have been sales if piracy wasn't an option? Without such ratios, real losses are impossible to gauge. But then that's not the point of these stories either, which is to show piracy in the worst possible light.

 

[BRiT]

Not to defend their faulty logic, but ... If those sites were torrent indexers, then their numbers could be faulty by a factor of 114. Most torrent indexer sites share stats as they are taken from the original torrent announcer.

 

[dobwal]

While we are at it...
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/06/04/cesa_piracy_report/



As long as they only count online download, the estimate is most definitely a small portion of piracy outside US.

Thats like $41 billion over five years. The conclusions off calculations like these tend to be very flawed because they tend to discount the fact that pirated software costs very little to obtain .

To put it in a perspective if I could legitimately and legally obtain any PS3 and 360 titles for free, I would literally own the whole library for both consoles (those s#$#ty titles today may be the rare high value gems of tomorrow). But at $20-$60 I own just about 4% of the total PS3 and 360 libraries combined. If I had totally pirated (I don't pirate at all) both libraries, then you can say I pirated a total of $40-$50K worth of games. What you can't say is that publishers and console manufacturers would of gained $40-$50K worth of sales, if I had no opportunity to pirate and had to obtain all my gaming software legitimately.

Based on my own opinion, I would put that figure at 4.1 billion not 41 billion as I surmise lost sales represent 10% of pirated software in the market not 100%.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

The PSP is very healthy in Japan. When we westerners wonder why it is being "kept alive" despite its apparent languishing in our markets, that's because we are removed from the Japanese perspective. From Sony's perspective, there may be some gnashing of teeth that it didn't work out better, but even as it is, the platform produces good returns.

I like my PSP. It's very comfortable to hold, very light, nice screen. It would have been worth it as a portable PSone alone, even ignoring all the great native games it got.

Every once in a while I try to get back to DS games, but the ergonomics are simply unacceptable to me. The DSi XL appeals a lot to me but I still won't buy it because I know at 300+ grams, with the weight distribution that comes natural with the second screen in the top flap, it will be a nightmare to actually hold and play. Maybe it's age kicking in, but my hands just don't let me to do this anymore.

Interestingly when taking trains or going near places where Teens/Young Adults are hanging out you'll see vastly more PSPs than DSs. The caveate here is that for kids, the DS still dominates. But once you move on to Teens/Young Adults (into the 20's), the PSP starts rapidly supplanting the DS in Japan. The last time I took a train to Akihabara (about a 2 hour ride) I saw quite a few PSPs and only 1 or 2 DSs. Then again on that trip you don't see a lot of kids.

Certainly quite different from the US.

While we are at it...
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/06/04/cesa_piracy_report/

As long as they only count online download, the estimate is most definitely a small portion of piracy outside US.

Aye, that totally ignores the counterfeit and games on memory card street market that is VERY popular with street vendors throughout the Orient.

You could interpret that as possibly being double the value of whatever they came up with. But I tend to view it as offsetting the fact that the online only numbers don't account for people that might not have bought the game even if they couldn't pirate it.

Which doesn't at all negate the fact that they should be thrown in jail and fined for pirating.

Regards,
SB

 

[V3]

There's no Brawl, Metroid or F-Zero on DS.
The latter two aren't huge Nintendo titles, either, not compared to the other stuff -- they're more comparable to the stuff Sony owns. And the DS Zeldas weren't that great, nor did they sell amazingly.

I am sure there is a Metroid on DS, cause I played it.

 

[patsu]

Yap, it was a launch title. I have it somewhere.

 

[Rolf N]

When I think of Hunters, all I remember is pain in both hands and that little outside hub on the lava lake. Only Metroid game I've never finished.

 

[Squilliam]

Although the old chestnut, how many of those rips would have been sales if piracy wasn't an option? Without such ratios, real losses are impossible to gauge. But then that's not the point of these stories either, which is to show piracy in the worst possible light.

Well I do remember something in the order of 10:1. Do you remember the iPhone piracy rate given out? I think it was something like 10% of phones were jailbroken but the total quantity of piracy for games matched roughly the legally downloaded numbers.

I.E. roughly as a rule of the thumb people download 10* what they would otherwise purchase. Thats what I go with unless someone can come up with better numbers.

 

[obonicus]

I am sure there is a Metroid on DS, cause I played it.

Well, I wasn't really counting spinoffs because, well, they're spinoffs. Same way as how Link's Crossbow Training doesn't make it so people can say there's multiple Zeldas on Wii.

 

[Mobius1aic]

Psp2 doesn't use cell.

I was just suggesting the idea.