Woldwide PSP hardware sales?

[Phil]

I'm too lazy to dig up the quarterly report itself; this should be enough:

Sony's video-game section also fared well in the October-December period, with sales soaring 48 percent and operating profit jumping 52 percent from the same period the previous year on solid demand for the PlayStation Portable handheld machines. The solid machine sales in turn boosted PSP game software sales.

Sony shipped 6.22 million PSP machines for the quarter worldwide, with cumulative shipments now totaling 15 million, marking the fastest penetration of any PlayStation model ever, according to Sony.

As I said, the quarterly starts in October and finishes in December. The number in the quarterly is refering to that quarter only.



EDIT: Ah saw your edit now! Never mind.

 

[Teasy]

Yeah that makes sense about the third quarter ending at the end of December. I was lead to believe it was shortly before the report but it looks like that's wrong.

Still look at the difference between sold and shipped in Japan. The difference in the US and Europe likely isn't as big of course.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This is something I don't understand. Shipped numbers are units sold to retailers, right? That is, the retailers pay money for them. Those retailers than sell them for profit (or breakeven and sell software) right? If in Japan 2.6 million had been sold when 4.2 million had been shipped, that's an excess of 1.6 million consoles. That sounds like a lot of warehouse space to me. Now either there's LOTS of stores all with a few units each, or all these stores bought a load of stock they weren't shifting very quickly.

At the moment about 25k PSPs are being sold each week. 1.6 million excess is thus good for 10 months. Did these shops just overstock for Christmas? Did they buy that 1.6 million excess to cover the first 6 months of the year and not have to worry about it again? I'm no expert, but AFAIK business runs on a 'pay as little as possible as late as you can' strategy. I'd expect stores to buy the minimal amounts of stock needed to satisfy demand, which an excess of 1.6 million PSPs doesn't seem to tie in with.

 

[drpepper]

Did I say slightly?

Anyways, I'm from Canada so PSP prices here range from $280-300 depending on where you buy it. DS is around $180.....

What? Here in Ottawa I've seen DSes sell for 160$ Which is inline with the 1/2 the price of the PSP. This was at an EB BTW.

 

[Kb-Smoker]

Its pretty safe to say that PSP isn't anywhere near overtaking DS at this point Kb-Smoker. DS had sold over 13 million systems by the end of December 2005, at the same time PSP had only shipped 13 million (sales would have been 10 million at the very most).

well sony has always reported shipped. Also those are the shipped number of DS. Sales number are just to hard to get.

Anyway the PSP has out sold the DS in japan all year.

Doesn't the psp already over taken the ds in NA?

 

[Apoc]

well sony has always reported shipped. Also those are the shipped number of DS. Sales number are just to hard to get.

Anyway the PSP has out sold the DS in japan all year.

Doesn't the psp already over taken the ds in NA?

DS numbers are sold, not shipped.

 

[see colon]

Anyway the PSP has out sold the DS in japan all year.

http://the-magicbox.com/topten.htm

Japanese Console Hardware Chart
From: Jan 23 - 29, 2006

System
Units Sold
Total Sold (Current Year)

Nintendo DS
106,081
316,259

PSP
30,657
259,371

even with the current DS hardware drought in japan, the PSP can't keep up. in japan the contest isn't even close.

 

[drpepper]

http://the-magicbox.com/topten.htm

even with the current DS hardware drought in japan, the PSP can't keep up. in japan the contest isn't even close.

Yup, they even gone as far as importing DS from the NA market just to meet the demands.

 

[Nicked]

PSP is just going to go from strength to strength. Mid-2007 I can see the PSP outselling DS consistently in Japan. Its a hell of a lot more future-proofed.

Nicked

Nintendo make it very clear in there press releases that they are talking about sold and not shipped.

Nintendo can only use standard trackers for some regions and never breakdown how they tracked when they give a cumulative figure. Shipped is their sold.

 

[Corwin_B]

PSP is just going to go from strength to strength. Mid-2007 I can see the PSP outselling DS consistently in Japan. Its a hell of a lot more future-proofed.

You know, people were saying the same thing about Mid-2005... We know how that turned out.

 

[Nicked]

You know, people were saying the same thing about Mid-2005... We know how that turned out.

I'm sorry, I hardly see how people were saying the same thing mid-2005.

 

[Ty]

I've been told that PSP "sold in" for NA is about 4.5 million.

 

[Corwin_B]

I'm sorry, I hardly see how people were saying the same thing mid-2005.

After the DS and the PSP were released, and before the DS software ramped up, the PSP was selling a few thousands units more each week (although the DS had an enormous headstart). That was a period of much gloating for Sony fans, and every one of those was predicting that by mid-2005 the DS would be all but forgotten in Japan.

Then Nintendogs and the first Brain Training came out with a couple of extra colors for the system.

 

[Nicked]

After the DS and the PSP were released, and before the DS software ramped up, the PSP was selling a few thousands units more each week (although the DS had an enormous headstart). That was a period of much gloating for Sony fans, and every one of those was predicting that by mid-2005 the DS would be all but forgotten in Japan.

Then Nintendogs and the first Brain Training came out with a couple of extra colors for the system.

I'm sorry, there is still no reasonable comparison to be made from my argument vs. yours.

As a future-proofed system, the PSP is going to get more appealing over time. DS graphics already look very dated, what will it be like in 2 years?
My prediction uses logic. The same cannot be said about anyone who would predict a system "winning" because of selling a few thousand more units mid-year just after launch during a software drought for both systems.

As always, software is the great unknown.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

As a future-proofed system, the PSP is going to get more appealing over time.

What on earth does 'future-proof' mean? I've got lying in the attic some computer mags from the 80s, with adverts for a certain bus architecture for upgrading your ($5000) computer, specifically labelled 'future-proof'. I've yet to see any so called 'future-proof' device make substantial progress into the future. In a couple of years Nintendo could release a new handheld with graphics that knock PSPs for six. While conversely, there were plenty of handhelds that totally eclipsed GB's graphics (GG, Lynx...hell every other handheld made since GB!) but they didn't survive.

 

[Corwin_B]

I'm sorry, there is still no reasonable comparison to be made from my argument vs. yours.

As a future-proofed system, the PSP is going to get more appealing over time. DS graphics already look very dated, what will it be like in 2 years?

As Shifty said, consider Lynx, PC Engine GT, Gamegear, Wonderswan... All were vastly more powerful than the original Gameboy they faced, and all failed horribly. Graphical power doesn't matter that much as far as handhelds are concerned.

My prediction uses logic. The same cannot be said about anyone who would predict a system "winning" because of selling a few thousand more units mid-year just after launch during a software drought for both systems.

But those ******s who missed their target by so much used the exact same arguments as you : PSP is "future-proof" and people see it, nobody wants dated graphics...

As always, software is the great unknown.

And software is where the DS has trumped the PSP in Japan by an incredibly large amount in Japan. And while the PSP software is bound to get better over time, the DS looks like it has quite a few cards left to play on the software front : the new Super Mario Bros, a full-fledged Pokemon game featuring WiFi, FF3, Children of Mana... 2006 will be a killer year for the DS (especially with the redesigned hardware coming next month).

BTW, software is coming on the PSP that tries to emulate the DS best-selling softwares : Sega has already released a Brain Training game (which sells decently for PSP software, but very poorly when compared to the DS versions), there is a shameless Animal Crossing rip-off, as well as a Nintendogs clone.

Software-wise, in Japan, the DS outsold the PS2 (with its incredible installed user base) for 2005... I don't see the PSP catching up anytime soon, better graphics or not.

 

[Nicked]

What on earth does 'future-proof' mean? I've got lying in the attic some computer mags from the 80s, with adverts for a certain bus architecture for upgrading your ($5000) computer, specifically labelled 'future-proof'. I've yet to see any so called 'future-proof' device make substantial progress into the future. In a couple of years Nintendo could release a new handheld with graphics that knock PSPs for six. While conversely, there were plenty of handhelds that totally eclipsed GB's graphics (GG, Lynx...hell every other handheld made since GB!) but they didn't survive.

Actually useful firmware updates with great support from Sony + great leaps in graphical quality (from first gen to whats right around the corner) = future proofed.

And trying to compare the PSP to handhelds that "didn't survive" is lame.

BTW, software is coming on the PSP that tries to emulate the DS best-selling softwares : Sega has already released a Brain Training game (which sells decently for PSP software, but very poorly when compared to the DS versions), there is a shameless Animal Crossing rip-off, as well as a Nintendogs clone.

Oh Nintendo fans....
1) Sega has had brain training games for ages.
2) That "Animal Crossing ripoff" is a fortune-teller simulator, and is based off an old, old, old Japanese past-time.
3) Dog games were out on PS2 years ago, and PC decades ago.

Software-wise, in Japan, the DS outsold the PS2 (with its incredible installed user base) for 2005... I don't see the PSP catching up anytime soon, better graphics or not.

Mid-2007 isn't soon.

Oh, and DS outsold PS2 because PS2 software fell to its lowest in years. No compelling games.

 

[NANOTEC]

You cannot play Nintendogs the way you do with DS on PSP. There's just no way possible. It's better to just admit that DS's interface allows newer more interersting ways to play "old games" like dog games.

 

[Corwin_B]

And trying to compare the PSP to handhelds that "didn't survive" is lame.

No, because all those handhelds were a lot more "future-proofed" than the original GB was (more RAM, much better graphics...). Of course, it would be lame to point at those systems and say that because less powerful systems failed in front of the original GB, the PSP will fail. But saying that the PSP will end selling better than the DS based on "future-proofing", while conveniently forgetting about the lessons of previous handhelds is equally lame.

Oh Nintendo fans....

When everything else fails, call the other side a ******. There should be something akind to Godwin's law for that.

Oh, and DS outsold PS2 because PS2 software fell to its lowest in years. No compelling games.

Which I suppose must say something about the state of PSP software.

 

[overclocked]

What on earth does 'future-proof' mean? I've got lying in the attic some computer mags from the 80s, with adverts for a certain bus architecture for upgrading your ($5000) computer, specifically labelled 'future-proof'. I've yet to see any so called 'future-proof' device make substantial progress into the future. In a couple of years Nintendo could release a new handheld with graphics that knock PSPs for six. While conversely, there were plenty of handhelds that totally eclipsed GB's graphics (GG, Lynx...hell every other handheld made since GB!) but they didn't survive.

I think nicked is right. This is afterall a handheld system. Take the videocapabilites you dont get better than it is right there.
I would expect PSP holding as long as PS2 and thats six years and counting.

You cant compare PSP to any other handheld or even DS imo cause they are playing in different leagues, with that in mind i think PSP sales are great. I see this as variation not doom spelling on either company as many like to predict.
About the graphic, isnt one of the "main" selling points of DS backwards compability?.
To bring up gfx as something that would sink the PSP for being future proof is moot and quite frankly silly when i think that most agrees that is more than great for that screensize.