EDIT: I'm talking about software sales guys, not hardware. Sorry, the title is misleading, I know. 

I've been seeing this far too much. People think the PSP's software sales are so low because the games "suck" yet they ignore the hardware sales seem to be doing fine. When piracy is mentioned, the person that mentioned it is called crazy because "piracy couldn't have possibly affected the PSP's software sales."

Just how big are the piracy numbers for the PSP? Lets take a look:

• God of War: Chains of Olympus - 94,154
• Patapon - 112,183
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, - 197,113
• Crush - 48,959
• Loco Roco - 163,904
• Wipeout Pulse - 116,965
• Castlevania X Chronicles - 102,354
• Metal Gear Solid - Portable Ops (Not Including Plus) - 231,054
• Burnout Dominator - 269,486

http://pspupdates.qj.net/PSP-piracy-numbers-on-the-rise/pg/49/aid/115545 

It's such a shame. I think it's gonna be a bad cycle. Many people are buying PSP's at the moment and installing homebrew, then downloading games, this means less developer attention for the platform, which means hardware sales will drop because of lack of software.

People need to learn that they are doing their own system a hinderance when downloading games en masse like this.

Every single person I know who owns a PSP (and that's quite a few) doesn't own a SINGLE official game. But tons of downloaded stuff.

So in otherwords... you really don't understand much about how piracy actually works.

There are higher numbers for piracy of GOW. Here's the thing. They don't mean anything.

Ever think the reason PSP sales are so good is because people know they won't have to buy PSP games? I know that's the case with about everyone I know who has a PSP.

If they couldn't of pirated it, they wouldn't of bought it.

For example, the Walstreet journal once did a study that showed up to 75% of consumers wouldn't of bought an Ipod if it wasn't for the ability to put illegally downloaded MP3's on their Ipods.

If you couldn't hack PSP's there would likely be a higher attach rate on PSPs, but i'd imagine it would be more due to lower PSP sales then higher software sales. 

I know...it really saddens me that the PSP sales aren't what they could be from those that decide to pirate when they could be actually helping the developers as well as the system out. Though, I suppose it's partly Sony's fault as well for not making sure the security was full-proof in the PSP. They kind of geared up with the PS3 though I guess.

 So, people that own PSPs and don't buy the games to add on to the number of its sells don't mean anything? Are you high? That's a huge amount of people pirating PSP games. Don't you think the PSP software sales would be a lot higher if these people actually WENT AND PURCHASED the games? That's how piracy works my friend, people get the games for free, and they don't count towards the amount of software actually purchased. To say that amount is not relevant is crazy.

I agree with Kasz but will differ in that there is a little overlap of "pirated games", and "games the indivitual would have bought", and bought as psp for. But I'm sure that number is low.

One thing that is a problem is the black market in some countries as those people are paying just not for a real copy.

What kasz is saying that people wouldn't buy the game if they had to pay so sony is not missing out on a sale.

No. Because if no Piracy existed most pirates wouldn't own PSPs in the first place.

It doesn't affect PSP sales... it affects GAME sales.

I'm not saying the hardware sales are low, I'm talking about the software guys. Sorry, I guess I worded it wrong. I'm talking about the software sales, not the hardware sales. I'm saying this is probably a huge reason why software sales are so low.