I just clicked on the blast from the past chart.  It was American chart for the week ending 20th August, 2005.

http://www.vgchartz.com/aweekly.php?date=38585

As youd expect, the ps2 dominated with 21 of the top 50.

The psp however, was second with 18 of the top 50.

 

The psp also had much better software than the gamecube, the ds, the xbox and the gba.  Keep in mind that for this week, the ds had already sold more hardware than the psp.

 I find it amazing that it was so succesful in the beginning, and now its got decent hardware sales in Japan, but little to brag about in the US and Europe... Is this all to do with piracy, or was there another cause?

Personally, I think PSP failed because it didn't differentiate itself from the PS2 enough.

It's basically a ps2, with crappier graphics, small screen to play on, smaller speakers. But it failed because it's supposed to be a portable device, not a PS1.5 (which is what it really is). It's screen is far too big and it's too heavy (rectified with the slim, but too little too late imo).

Also, unlike Nintendo, who has always had a healthy lineup of pickup and play titles VS lengthy, highly involved titles, PSP games have always been known for the latter OR they were sport games (which are pick up and play).

Personally, like the xbox 1, I don't think the PSP is really a failure, it's just its competitors were just so much better.

I don't the PSP was a "faliure" , it was a better and more versatile piece of hardware than the DS (in my opinion anyway). You could argue it was a faliure in comparison to the DS's success however.

It sold 31.78 million so far. I wish I had made a failure that sold that much and even started doing better after a new version.

Piracy does have a huge impact on psp software sales. That's for sure.

Man said: I just clicked on the blast from the past chart. It was American chart for the week ending 20th August, 2005. http://www.vgchartz.com/aweekly.php?date=38585 As youd expect, the ps2 dominated with 21 of the top 50. The psp however, was second with 18 of the top 50.   The psp also had much better software than the gamecube, the ds, the xbox and the gba. Keep in mind that for this week, the ds had already sold more hardware than the psp. I find it amazing that it was so succesful in the beginning, and now its got decent hardware sales in Japan, but little to brag about in the US and Europe... Is this all to do with piracy, or was there another cause?

 I think the title should read, "How the PSP software sales have fallen".

 I find it progressively unfair to target PSP as the "king of piracy", when DS pirates have a MUCH easier time, cheaper cost and less chance of bricking their system when it comes to "stealing games".

 Why is PSP software low? I don't know. Maybe people rather use it to listen to music/watch movies... I can probably name about 10 other reasons.

Anymore, I primarily use mine for a PMP.

Yeah it's not so much a failure, it's more that DS sold way more. Also, it was and is a failure software-wise. Games just don't sell on it, even though the hardware does.

Ive said it before, and I'll say it again, homebrew killed the psp.

leo-j said: Ive said it before, and I'll say it again, homebrew killed the psp.

I guess that would depend on how you make money.  If you create reliable/excellent hardware and make a profit on every sale, homebrew/pirating can be a benefit in more hardware sales.  Not for the software creators, but for cases like me where I use it for the occasional distraction and a dependable music player/web browser/etc, it's been a very good purchase.

Claiming that homebrew alone kills hardware sales wouldn't explain PC software "homebrew"'s affect on the PC industry.

Andir said: leo-j said: Ive said it before, and I'll say it again, homebrew killed the psp. I guess that would depend on how you make money.  If you create reliable/excellent hardware and make a profit on every sale, homebrew/pirating can be a benefit in more hardware sales.  Not for the software creators, but for cases like me where I use it for the occasional distraction and a dependable music player/web browser/etc, it's been a very good purchase. Claiming that homebrew alone kills hardware sales wouldn't explain PC software "homebrew"'s affect on the PC industry.

Homebrew killed the psp, they destroyed software sales, and because of it developers dont see any money in making psp games. This will cause less games to be developed for the system. Sony should have worked harder on the firmware. You dont see the PS3 being hacked.