The Dreamcast had some great software sales by the way. Their opening year sales of software were higher then the PS2s opening year when it came to software.

The whole Piracy thing didn't become that widespread until long after Sega had cashed in on the dreamcast. Their early software and hardware sales were record breaking. Piracy isn't what crashed the Dreamcast, it was anticipation for the Playstation 2. It's early killing off of the Saturn and just the general failures that hurt it's brandname before it caused it's eventual downfall. Piracy is why people continued to buy Sega Dreamcasts after it was officially discontinued... piracy is why people still buy Sega Dreamcasts and some companys still release Sega Dreamcast games. Because people still use their dreamcast systems. Heck it's why sega just re-produced some dreamcasts they sold at their website not to long ago. Piracy has been a good thing for the Dreamcast... and is a good thing for the PSP. Otherwise either would of sold less hardware after it became apparent they wouldn't remain dominant.

Kasz216 : Bealive me , hardware sales should be the same even without piracy ... why ? Because than we would see much more software on it , and eventually good games would sell the system . Saying that the DCs death had nothing to do with piracy is just being arrogant or fool . I dont want to offend you , Im just talking in general , but do you really think that Soulcalibur wouldent have done much batter if there wouldent have been so easy to get the game for free .

Yes , the DC was a record breaker , but only in the hardware department ... it did well in software , true , but not even far as well as it could have done .

Yes , I agree that homebrew sells the PSP , but when games like Crush or Silent Hill dont sell far as much as they should , than you cant blame it on games quality , the only thing that you can blame it on is piracy .

As to game selection, check out the list at
http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/ and
http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/scores/

DS has only slightly more games, but PSP actually has more green and also more yellow and above than the DS...

That said, I don't think the problem is piracy. It's easier to pirate DS games.

The problem with the PSP is the games cost as much as $20 more per game. People don't want to pay console game prices for hand held games. They would rather use the PSP more as a mp3 player, etc...

hunter_alien said: Kasz216 : Bealive me , hardware sales should be the same even without piracy ... why ? Because than we would see much more software on it , and eventually good games would sell the system . Saying that the DCs death had nothing to do with piracy is just being arrogant or fool . I dont want to offend you , Im just talking in general , but do you really think that Soulcalibur wouldent have done much batter if there wouldent have been so easy to get the game for free . Yes , the DC was a record breaker , but only in the hardware department ... it did well in software , true , but not even far as well as it could have done . Yes , I agree that homebrew sells the PSP , but when games like Crush or Silent Hill dont sell far as much as they should , than you cant blame it on games quality , the only thing that you can blame it on is piracy .

It's not arrogant or foolish. It has everything to do with the scientific data conducted on it. You can look it up, piracy was not a problem with the Dreamcast, and was just something Sega used as an excuse to save themselves from the embarrsement. People would of kept buying DC's if Sega had the ability to sell them. Piracy helps hardware sales, not hurt them. It would of lasted on much like the PSP. Why wouldn't more people have bought the easiest piratable console created? It got plenty of great games. The reason was. The masses didn't want it because of Sega's prior mistakes. It was getting a lot of big games the PS2 got. The interest just wasn't there. As for not doing well in the software department... It did better then the PS2 did in software it's first year. With a higher attach rate no less.

Also... Soul Caliber not selling well? It sold over a Million Copies. I'd say that's well considering the userbase and how quick the Dreamcast was cut off. (Stopped production in 2001) If you were going by the number on this site you should of noticed that it was only the Japanese numbers. Also if Piracy was so bad... why did games continue to get released for the dreamcast even after it was discontinued. Surely it must of sold some software, if this "den of piracy" kept getting games released for it even after being discontinued. Truth is, software was never an issue. With piracy it LOOKS like software issues are a problem, however in reality it just seems that way because of the increase in hardware which lowers the attach ratio. Without the piracy the PSP would be selling way more games per system... but much less systems... and about the same software. (Note: I do not condone piracy do to moral reasons. However it doesn't hurt comparnies bottom lines.)

Kasz216 said: The Dreamcast had some great software sales by the way. Their opening year sales of software were higher then the PS2s opening year when it came to software. The whole Piracy thing didn't become that widespread until long after Sega had cashed in on the dreamcast. Their early software and hardware sales were record breaking. Piracy isn't what crashed the Dreamcast, it was anticipation for the Playstation 2. It's early killing off of the Saturn and just the general failures that hurt it's brandname before it caused it's eventual downfall. Piracy is why people continued to buy Sega Dreamcasts after it was officially discontinued... piracy is why people still buy Sega Dreamcasts and some companys still release Sega Dreamcast games. Because people still use their dreamcast systems. Heck it's why sega just re-produced some dreamcasts they sold at their website not to long ago. Piracy has been a good thing for the Dreamcast... and is a good thing for the PSP. Otherwise either would of sold less hardware after it became apparent they wouldn't remain dominant.

The Dreamcast didnt have single million seller worlwide .Soul Calibut was close with 0.97 million ,but that was all .Many 500K sellers though .

The PSP has already had a good amount of million sellers .Need for Speed Carbon ,Need for Speed Underground ,Battlefront II ,Everybodys Golf ,FFVII CC ,Metal Gear PO ,GTA Vice City ,GTA Liberty City ,Lumines ,Monster Hunter 2 ,Monster Hunter ,Tekken DR, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 ,Ridge Racers  ,etc etc

I think piratery is doing a killing with the machine ,but I also think the tracking of the games isnt very correct.It just doesnt seem right that this week last year it sold 1.5 pieces of software and this year just one third of that with double the userbase .That just cant be  .Many games are being sold at discounted prices and second hand and many gamers just wait for that .If we could see some shipped software figures it would become more clear .

jlauro said: As to game selection, check out the list at http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/ and http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/scores/ DS has only slightly more games, but PSP actually has more green and also more yellow and above than the DS... That said, I don't think the problem is piracy. It's easier to pirate DS games. The problem with the PSP is the games cost as much as $20 more per game. People don't want to pay console game prices for hand held games. They would rather use the PSP more as a mp3 player, etc...

100% true .

Diomedes1976 said: Kasz216 said: The Dreamcast had some great software sales by the way. Their opening year sales of software were higher then the PS2s opening year when it came to software. The whole Piracy thing didn't become that widespread until long after Sega had cashed in on the dreamcast. Their early software and hardware sales were record breaking. Piracy isn't what crashed the Dreamcast, it was anticipation for the Playstation 2. It's early killing off of the Saturn and just the general failures that hurt it's brandname before it caused it's eventual downfall. Piracy is why people continued to buy Sega Dreamcasts after it was officially discontinued... piracy is why people still buy Sega Dreamcasts and some companys still release Sega Dreamcast games. Because people still use their dreamcast systems. Heck it's why sega just re-produced some dreamcasts they sold at their website not to long ago. Piracy has been a good thing for the Dreamcast... and is a good thing for the PSP. Otherwise either would of sold less hardware after it became apparent they wouldn't remain dominant. The Dreamcast didnt have single million seller worlwide .Soul Calibut was close with 0.97 million ,but that was all .Many 500K sellers though . The PSP has already had a good amount of million sellers .Need for Speed Carbon ,Need for Speed Underground ,Battlefront II ,Everybodys Golf ,FFVII CC ,Metal Gear PO ,GTA Vice City ,GTA Liberty City ,Lumines ,Monster Hunter 2 ,Monster Hunter ,Tekken DR ,etc etc I think piratery is doing a killing with the machine ,but I also think the tracking of the games isnt very correct.It just doesnt seem right that this week last year it sold 1.5 pieces of software and this year just one third of that with double the userbase .That just cant be .Many games are being sold at discounted prices and second hand and many gamers just wait for that .If we could see some shipped software figures it would become more clear .

How many more systems has the PSP sold in comparison to the DC? I'd guess the answer is somewhere in the ball park of "A Whole Lot" and "An Assload." As for the software figures. Keep in mind... there was a redesign as well. Just like with DS lite... a lot of the sales are people upgrading... And I think they are crazy... but people do it. Keep in mind I actually think the PSP has a crapload of good games. I myself may buy one... and when I do will buy 3-4 games on the spot with it. I'm not the guy to hack or pirate systems. It's just that every independant study done on piracy has shown that it doesn't have a negative effect on the industy it is pirating from. (Aside from naval piracy that's actually stealing goods) Haven't decided if i wanted to go the route of PSP + a lot of games (Including Janne D'arc) or PS3 and Battle of the Valkrie when it comes out or some other strategy RPG that comes out. Followed of course by the PS3 big hitters.

Well ,maybe if the PSP gets to 50 or 60 million the software sales wont be hurt .But if the userbase is still small and the piratery is very high it can hurt it .

Dreamcast sold for what I have heard some 11 million worlwide .In three years .

The Dreamcast was a great machine but it had some faults .

1.Sega brand name was damaged due to things like the Sega CD ,Sega 32X ,Sega Saturn ,Sega Game Gear ...

2.Appeared too early .Launching 1998 was a good move a-la 360 but PS1 and N64 games kept improving each month so people didnt feel the urge to buy it .

3.No DVD player .The DVD had already turned the standar due to lack of competition (Laserdisc died real fast ) and it was a real plus at the time .The PS2 having it and the Dreamcast not was a real difference at the moment .Later it would turn in a software advantage too ,I dont think anyone can think about FFXII ,GOW2 ,Valkyrie Profile Silmeria and other games crammed into a Gd-Rom .

4.Lack of support .The lack of support of the likes of EA hurt the Dreamcast a lot .Had it had a Madden ,Fifa ,NBA Live etc it could have done a lot more in occident .There was also some japanese developers that nominally supported it but gave little as support in reality .Konami only had Silent Scope and Track and Field and cancelled Castlevania ,Namco had the uber-brilliant Soul Calibur but after that only released Mr Driller on the machine .Square Enix gave Zero support to the machine .

5.Piratery .Even with all that into account the machine still managed to put some titles in the Top Ten each week .But when the Utopia disk that allowed to charge backups appeared the software sales plummeted like a rock .

 6.Anticipation for the PS2 .

Kasz216 said: hunter_alien said: Kasz216 : Bealive me , hardware sales should be the same even without piracy ... why ? Because than we would see much more software on it , and eventually good games would sell the system . Saying that the DCs death had nothing to do with piracy is just being arrogant or fool . I dont want to offend you , Im just talking in general , but do you really think that Soulcalibur wouldent have done much batter if there wouldent have been so easy to get the game for free . Yes , the DC was a record breaker , but only in the hardware department ... it did well in software , true , but not even far as well as it could have done . Yes , I agree that homebrew sells the PSP , but when games like Crush or Silent Hill dont sell far as much as they should , than you cant blame it on games quality , the only thing that you can blame it on is piracy . It's not arrogant or foolish. It has everything to do with the scientific data conducted on it. You can look it up, piracy was not a problem with the Dreamcast, and was just something Sega used as an excuse to save themselves from the embarrsement. People would of kept buying DC's if Sega had the ability to sell them. Piracy helps hardware sales, not hurt them. It would of lasted on much like the PSP. Why wouldn't more people have bought the easiest piratable console created? It got plenty of great games. The reason was. The masses didn't want it because of Sega's prior mistakes. It was getting a lot of big games the PS2 got. The interest just wasn't there. As for not doing well in the software department... It did better then the PS2 did in software it's first year. With a higher attach rate no less.

 I agree : piracy helps to sell hardware ... 100% true , but saying that it doesnt hurts software ... thats just plain nonsens . Yes , the DC could have reached easily , maybe even pass the 20 million mark by the end of its lifespam , if Sega would have had enough money to support it , but software wise it was allready and it would have been an awful performer ... maybe even wors than the PSP is now ...

 

Wit rising hardware sales the PSPs software sales will sooner or later pass the mediocre level , while Im not shure that the DC could have made that possible ... maybe with a redesign ...