PSP Sales Figures

TOKYO--The portable gaming war is officially underway in Japan. According to numerous business press reports, independent research by sales tracking company Media Create has found that Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation Portable sold 171,963 units on its launch date.

SCE hasn't released an official sales figure for the multi-media PSP yet, but Media Create's numbers, as well as those of other independent research groups, suggest that over 85 percent of the nearly 200,000 units shipped reached eager hands of gamers on its official launch date, Sunday.

Reportedly, the top-selling titles for the PSP were SCE's Hot Shots Golf, Namco's Ridge Racers, and FromSoftware's Armed Core Formula Front.

SCE plans to ship 500,000 units by the end of the year in Japan and release the handheld in America and Europe early next year--the company expects to ship 3 million units worldwide by the end of March. Sony is considering increasing production of the handheld to meet consumer demand, but admits that a boost is unlikely due to arranged contracts with suppliers of the PSP's components.

The first shots in the battle for handheld supremacy in Japan were fired by long-time portable gaming giant Nintendo earlier this week. Nintendo's DS handheld has reportedly shipped over 1.4 million units as of Sunday. 700,000 units have already sold in America as of December 8, and another 700,000 units have shipped in Japan as of December 12. Nintendo hopes to ship 2.8 million units worldwide before the end of the year, and 5 million units by the end of March, 2005.

At Sunday's PSP launch event at Shinjuku's Yodobashi Camera, where SCE president Ken Kutaragi commemorated the launch of the product at 6am, there were over 1,200 people waiting in line to purchase the handheld.

Because of its popularity, and the modest availability of 200,000 units nationwide at launch, the PSPs at Yodobashi sold out at by around 9am.

While it difficult to accurately compare the demand based on the following figures, for comparison, the Nintendo DS shipped 500,000 units on its launch date of December 2 in Japan, and could still be purchased at Yodobashi even late that afternoon without a preorder slip.

Wait a tick, so DS sales are only at 1.2 million total world wide.

Mkay, we'll see how things are by say March or May.

My prediction: PSP ahead by a fair margin. Could be wrong though, it'll be fun to see who wins. I think we'll definitely know for sure by then.

jethrek said:

TOKYO--The portable gaming war is officially underway in Japan. According to numerous business press reports, independent research by sales tracking company Media Create has found that Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation Portable sold 171,963 units on its launch date.

.

Click to expand...

Okay so how many of these units has a dead pixel on the screen?

JHendrix said:

Wait a tick, so DS sales are only at 1.2 million total world wide.

Mkay, we'll see how things are by say March or May.

My prediction: PSP ahead by a fair margin. Could be wrong though, it'll be fun to see who wins though. I think we'll definitely know for sure by then though.

Click to expand...

By March, the PSP will be 2 million units shy accoring to the predicted shipment amounts.

I'm not going to switch sides, because I will always prefer the DS to the PSP in terms of "Handheld Gaming", but the PSP almost looks to fucking good.

If Nintendo wants to keep a stranglehold, they better do something.

I can be totally wrong, but I'm going to be a happy camper once the PSP hits these shores.

With the price being only a few bucks higher than the DS, I would go for the PSP if I didn't know better.

Battery life is not an issue for me, cause I will play it at home.

But the many other uses for the PSP are finally starting to get to me.

Does anyone know if the memory stick for the PSP is proprietary to the PSP or can you use any ms duo?

By the time the PSP will be released Stateside, the DS will drop it's price a few days before PSP's US Launch.

Nintendo won't lose money, because they would have already sold enough DS's at the starting price.

TonK said:

By March, the PSP will be 2 million units shy accoring to the predicted shipment amounts.

I'm not going to switch sides, because I will always prefer the DS to the PSP in terms of "Handheld Gaming", but the PSP almost looks to fucking good.

If Nintendo wants to keep a stranglehold, they better do something.

I can be totally wrong, but I'm going to be a happy camper once the PSP hits these shores.

With the price being only a few bucks higher than the DS, I would go for the PSP if I didn't know better.

Battery life is not an issue for me, cause I will play it at home.

But the many other uses for the PSP are finally starting to get to me.

Does anyone know if the memory stick for the PSP is proprietary to the PSP or can you use any ms duo?

Click to expand...

It's Sony's memory stick format. If there is an off brand maker that puts em out I'm sure it's compatible so long as it sticks to the standard.

DARK ANDY said:

By the time the PSP will be released Stateside, the DS will drop it's price a few days before PSP's US Launch.

Nintendo won't lose money, because they would have already sold enough DS's at the starting price.

Click to expand...

When you say stupid things like this, it makes me happy to think what you'll say if the PSP wins out.

JHendrix said:

When you say stupid things like this, it makes me happy to think what you'll say if the PSP wins out.

Click to expand...

How is it stupid?

Please explain.

Other Companies have done this before, why shouldn't Nintendo do it now? If you release something months before your rival does, you'll have enough sold at the starting price that when the rival will release their product, you can mark down your own.

It's common sense to do this, I highly doubt that Nintendo is JUST getting a small profit margin at the price the DS is at now, they could sell it for less and STILL get a profit.

I'll await your explanation.

DARK ANDY said:

How is it stupid?

Please explain.

Other Companies have done this before, why shouldn't Nintendo do it now? If you release something months before your rival does, you'll have enough sold at the starting price that when the rival will release their product, you can mark down your own.

It's common sense to do this, I highly doubt that Nintendo is JUST getting a small profit margin at the price the DS is at now, they could sell it for less and STILL get a profit.

I'll await your explanation.

Click to expand...

Just because they've sold a number of units at the launch price does not mean that they can just drop the price arbitrarily or they'd loose money.

This is not a zero sum game. They'd have to reduce the cost of the unit to lower the price, which would be very hard to do in only what 4 months from launch?

Plus you have absolutely no basis for this what-so-ever. None. No rumors, no nothing other than the fact that you wish it to be so. This has been the theme for nearly every single one of your Nintendo or DS posts that you've spammed all over the place in the past month or so.

At least when I say I think the PSP will win, I say I think, or if they win. You just spout off rhetoric as fact and it's annoying.

This is why it will be fun to see such an adamant and biased fanboy squirm if the PSP wins.

Dear lord you two are giving me a headache.

I notice int he US the DS seems to have a deluge of games marked "February-March" on Nintendo's calendar. Assuming these dates are accurate, the DS may have more than neough firepower for a PSP launch, and the PSP's Japanese launch lineup is a bit...dry...for a Japanese launch.

If Nintendo's estimates are right of having 5 million when the PSP may have 2 million, they'll have ana dvantage for sure- DS development is already cheap while PSP development is expensive. N64 vs. PSX- except the DS being the PSX, ironically.

If the fight comes down to the games and portability (as someone who actually uses portables on the go, unlike 80% of ng.com buyers, this is a big factor for me) the PSP is hardly at an absolute advantage.

I'm interested as to how the December numbers play out of course.

P.S. DARK ANDY- shut up. Just shut up.

jethrek said:

Dear lord you two are giving me a headache.

Click to expand...

What'd I do? It's not my fault I had to spell out logistics.

jethrek said:

I notice int he US the DS seems to have a deluge of games marked "February-March" on Nintendo's calendar. Assuming these dates are accurate, the DS may have more than neough firepower for a PSP launch, and the PSP's Japanese launch lineup is a bit...dry...for a Japanese launch.

Click to expand...

The DS didn't have a dry launch in the US or in Japan either? The DC (Japan), PS2, & GC had similarly dry launches when they came out too. The only reason the XBox's wasn't as bad was because of Halo.

Manufacturers put out consoles as soon as they can now with whatever decent enough games they can muster. Time to market seems to mean everything now. Sad, but true.

jethrek said:

If Nintendo's estimates are right of having 5 million when the PSP may have 2 million, they'll have ana dvantage for sure- DS development is already cheap while PSP development is expensive. N64 vs. PSX- except the DS being the PSX, ironically.

Click to expand...

Sales projections are nice, but no one can really tell the future. Sales projections didn't mean anything in the N64 days when the thing sold like crazy initially and then tapered off. There is a base of rabid fans who will go out and buy things like crazy at a launch, if they don't have something to sustain it it'll taper off. This is what I think will happen, but I could be wrong.

I also believe you're completely wrong on the development aspect as well. PS2 proved that you don't have to be cheap to program for to win. XBox is cheaper to program for than all of the other consoles. GC is certainly easier to dev for than the PS2, which by all accounts is a nightmare to get good performance out of. But the PS2 has so many more installed units it doesn't matter.

Are companies pissed that Sony is potentially killing off their rediculous portable cash cow that has been the GBC/GBA? You know where it'd take like $25k and 3 people to churn out some crappy game that'll sell well enough because it's on GameBoy? Yes they're pissed, but in the end us consumers win, reguardless if PSP suceeds or not. It forced an evolution in portable gaming reguadless.

jethrek said:

If the fight comes down to the games and portability (as someone who actually uses portables on the go, unlike 80% of ng.com buyers, this is a big factor for me) the PSP is hardly at an absolute advantage.

I'm interested as to how the December numbers play out of course.

Click to expand...

That's the problem, I don't see the fight coming down to that. I see it coming down to Sony selling the PSP on the "OMG COOL" factor, as well as nabbing the more powerful aspect, and the "OMG TEH GRAPHIXXX!!" don't hurt either. That and the fact that it says "Sony" and "Playstation" on it will bring in a whole wave of the mainstream that will want this thing. I mean the DS has it's merits (I'm buying one, and I'm not getting a PSP), but compared side to side with a PSP in a store, the PSP will win out easily, especially when it only costs $30 more than the DS. The PSP is smaller, looks nicer, has a bigger screen, and the games look and sound that much better than the DS. Technical details like battery life etc mean little to the average joe in a situation like that, especially when the premium is only $30 and they know that there will be tons of games on "the portable Playstation". And it's not like battery life is notoriously bad. 6 hours at normal brightness is portable "enough" for most people to not notice.

Plus they have the entire angle of selling it as a MP3/Media player. That will sell it very well with the upscale gadget market who is more than willing to go out and buy a 1Gb Memory Stick to throw all their pirated media files on.

jethrek said:

P.S. DARK ANDY- shut up. Just shut up.

Click to expand...

Thank you, I am not alone...

JHendrix said:

Technical details like battery life etc mean little to the average joe in a situation like that, especially when the premium is only $30 and they know that there will be tons of games on "the portable Playstation".

Click to expand...

I'm your typical Average Joe, and the difference in those technical details (especially the battery life) means the world to me.

Average Joe said:

I'm your typical Average Joe, and the difference in those technical details (especially the battery life) means the world to me.

Click to expand...

You sell yourself short, you're far from average.

I think you get my point. Battery life on PSP isn't bad. 6 hours is fair, especially for what it delivers. I mean it's not bad, it's not as good as the DS, but it's not so bad that I think most people will care. I certainly wouldn't. Especially when it's so easy to just plug it in before bed if you're using it a lot.

This is all opinion though, I may be wrong, I may be right. We'll find out in a few months I think.

JHendrix said:

Just because they've sold a number of units at the launch price does not mean that they can just drop the price arbitrarily or they'd loose money.

This is not a zero sum game. They'd have to reduce the cost of the unit to lower the price, which would be very hard to do in only what 4 months from launch?

Click to expand...

And where do I find this incredible piece of information that you know how much a Raw DS costs to produce? I'd like to see it myself.

Plus you have absolutely no basis for this what-so-ever. None. No rumors, no nothing other than the fact that you wish it to be so.

Click to expand...

LOL, your assumptions are funny. I wish it to be so? I don't like the DS more than the PSP, and I won't be buying either, anytime soon or later.

This has been the theme for nearly every single one of your Nintendo or DS posts that you've spammed all over the place in the past month or so.

Click to expand...

Hahahhah, spammed all over the place in the past days, buddy.

At least when I say I think the PSP will win, I say I think, or if they win. You just spout off rhetoric as fact and it's annoying.

Click to expand...

Sorry, if I annoy you, put me on ignore, because I'm far from finished. I never said who will win, because I don't care. Frankly, I believe that the PSP will get about a third of the console markets.

This is why it will be fun to see such an adamant and biased fanboy squirm if the PSP wins.

Click to expand...

Hah, like I actually care. Like I said, I'm not buying either console, and Nintendo can't really be in the red from the DS at all, even if there is a worst case scenario for them. They will still have a stranglehold on the Handheld market, just not a monopoly.

jethrek said:

Dear lord you two are giving me a headache.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I try my best.

I notice int he US the DS seems to have a deluge of games marked "February-March" on Nintendo's calendar. Assuming these dates are accurate, the DS may have more than neough firepower for a PSP launch, and the PSP's Japanese launch lineup is a bit...dry...for a Japanese launch.[/qoute]

Yeah, I think that Nintendo released the DS a tad bit early though. It seems to just have the launch games, and not much coming for the days and weeks after that. There's too much of a gap between Launch and subsequent library expansion for the DS.

Hopefully the PSP will come out with more games, and have a steady flow of games coming out.

I'm interested as to how the December numbers play out of course.

Click to expand...

I am as well.

P.S. DARK ANDY- shut up. Just shut up.

Click to expand...

Haha, make me.

Click to expand...

Something I noticed, also, is that almost every Grade School kid has a DS now, but not older kids.

While I think that the Launch of the DS so earlier than the PSP without a bunch of games would hurt overall sales, I just realized that the DS can be bought as a Christmas present, while the PSP will come out after Christmas, when the people aren't bound to buy new stuff.

Obviously, I believe that the DS will own the Younger children's markets, and the PSP will take the older category.

Now the question I'm interested is in, how many children play with handhelds as opposed to the older crowd playing? What's the ratio?

Many people will get both in the end.

I think many serious gamers who know what's going on will get both systems... but the PSP will not fail in any way.... I just have a good felling that the PSP will be big here.

C.A.R25 said:

I just have a good felling that the PSP will be big here.

Click to expand...

I just looked at your flag after reading this and I thought, why do you feel that the PSP will be big in Jamaica? Then I noticed you are in Maryland.

JHendrix said:

You sell yourself short, you're far from average.

Click to expand...

Heh, thanks.

JHendrix said:

6 hours is fair, especially for what it delivers. I mean it's not bad, it's not as good as the DS, but it's not so bad that I think most people will care. I certainly wouldn't. Especially when it's so easy to just plug it in before bed if you're using it a lot.

Click to expand...

You're right, six hours really isn't that bad.

But when I think of portable systems, I don't think six hours of battery life is an acceptable life span - then again, what's an "acceptable life span" is totally subjective.

I personally like my DS (and formerly my SP), because I can charge it to full, leave it in my truck or work locker and just forget about it for a fairly moderate amount of time. But with the PSP, even with the maximum battery life of six hours, that's just way too short of a time for me... because after four or five hours of use, I'd have to worry about getting it recharged again, and even though it's a minor inconvenience at best, it's still something I don't want to do, and hence why I hold the DS in much higher regards than I do the PSP.

JHendrix said:

We'll find out in a few months I think.

Click to expand...

Of course, but really... does it matter what we'll find out in a few months?

Say that the DS outsells the PSP?

Or

Say that the PSP outsells the DS?

Personally, I think both systems have more than enough going for them to allow each to find its own little niche in the portable gaming world, and even though I prefer the DS, I'd be lying if I didn't say that the PSP isn't a nice little system as well -- as previously stated, I have no intention of buying a PSP (unless of course they make some KOF games or a FFVII port for it), but it's still a slick little system, and can easily provide Nintendo with some unneeded [from their perspective] competition in the handheld market.

I don't know... I guess I'm just sick of hearing and reading about people and their preferences towards each system; not so much about comments from the fair-minded people, but comments from the fanboy population (which there's a fair share of all around the net... here being no exception.)

Guess I should just probably keep my nose out of these forums for a while, because people do enjoy a good argument, and the DS vs PSP battle certainly isn't going to ease down anytime soon.

DARK ANDY said:

Something I noticed, also, is that almost every Grade School kid has a DS now, but not older kids.

While I think that the Launch of the DS so earlier than the PSP without a bunch of games would hurt overall sales, I just realized that the DS can be bought as a Christmas present, while the PSP will come out after Christmas, when the people aren't bound to buy new stuff.

Obviously, I believe that the DS will own the Younger children's markets, and the PSP will take the older category.

Now the question I'm interested is in, how many children play with handhelds as opposed to the older crowd playing? What's the ratio?

Click to expand...

that is a great point.

Average Joe said:

Heh, thanks.
But when I think of portable systems, I don't think six hours of battery life is an acceptable life span - then again, what's an "acceptable life span" is totally subjective.

Click to expand...

There lies the problem. Its more than a system its an device. I don't need to carry around my Ipod(if I had one I have a Nomad Muvo), my Archos Gmini400 (which I would love to have if it wasn't so much) and my GBA/SP/DS. All those together are like $800 and take up way more space than a $200 PSP and some extra batteries. I think that will be the marketing plan and eventual main selling point.

This is the new formula for success a do all be all machine.

Mark of the Wolves said:

There lies the problem. Its more than a system its an device. I don't need to carry around my Ipod(if I had one I have a Nomad Muvo), my Archos Gmini400 (which I would love to have if it wasn't so much) and my GBA/SP/DS. All those together are like $800 and take up way more space than a $200 PSP and some extra batteries. I think that will be the marketing plan and eventual main selling point.

This is the new formula for success a do all be all machine.

Click to expand...

I'm the complete opposite - I preffer my systems to have singular functions - I sold my panasonic q because I did not find it enjoyable to have an overblown and delicate gamecube with DVD capabilities.
plus there's the fact that if the system breaks down then your over reliance will becoming glaringly evident, as it will go from a multi function devise to a non functioning nothing.

all in one jobs are so passe..

DevilRedeemed said:

I'm the complete opposite - I preffer my systems to have singular functions - I sold my panasonic q because I did not find it enjoyable to have an overblown and delicate gamecube with DVD capabilities.
plus there's the fact that if the system breaks down then your over reliance will becoming glaringly evident, as it will go from a multi function devise to a non functioning nothing.

all in one jobs are so passe..

Click to expand...

I agree with this.

I guess I'm just old fashioned, but I want my gaming systems to stay gaming systems - I honestly could care less if the PSP can play movies, MP3's and whatnot, all I care about is the games, and that's it.

SongSiuHua said:

Okay so how many of these units has a dead pixel on the screen?

Click to expand...

as many as the DS...GOD I swear that some people have NEVER seen a freaking LCD screen before...

It is funny how the GBA/SP is always left out when there is talk about who will doninate or win the hand held war. The GBA/SP can not be beat. It is the PS2 of handhelds and has too great of a lead to be over taken. The DS also plays GBA games so it will just continue to help GBA game sales as well.

I will pick up a PSP when they are released in the USA. There is no way that I would import a Sony product after going through three PS2 systems. The PSP offers amazing things that the DS doesn't. The DS offers things that only Nintendo can offer.

But for the winner of the handheld wars...it has already been won. (it was Nintendo)