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Forums - Sony - Is the PSP dying?

griffinA said:
Procrastinato said:
PSP software also tends to cost more (a fair amount more, even) than DS software, which generally tends to yield more profit/unit, along with more revenue/unit.

The PSP is doing fine. Its a premium handheld -- its ridiculous to expect it to hold even 50% marketshare relative to a cheaper handheld like the DS, or to have an attach rate equal to the cheaper-software DS. It fits very well into the space that Nintendo didn't really occupy with the DS.

If the PSP held even around 40% markshare, its net software profits might equal or exceed that of the DS, even with the current attach rate, and Nintendo would be seriously considering releasing a new handheld to compete.

The argument that the PSP is expensive and therefore sells less than the DS is becoming less and less tenable as the PSP becomes cheaper. Right now the PSP-3000 and the DSi are the same price. Granted, there is the cheaper DS lite, but no one buys the DS lite anymore. It seems that DS customers don't mind paying the extra money for the handheld.

Do you have some info to back up your "DSi, by itself, sells more than PSP" claim?  I kinda think the DSLite is still the hotness, and that the DSi is just gravy.



 

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Procrastinato said:
griffinA said:
Procrastinato said:
PSP software also tends to cost more (a fair amount more, even) than DS software, which generally tends to yield more profit/unit, along with more revenue/unit.

The PSP is doing fine. Its a premium handheld -- its ridiculous to expect it to hold even 50% marketshare relative to a cheaper handheld like the DS, or to have an attach rate equal to the cheaper-software DS. It fits very well into the space that Nintendo didn't really occupy with the DS.

If the PSP held even around 40% markshare, its net software profits might equal or exceed that of the DS, even with the current attach rate, and Nintendo would be seriously considering releasing a new handheld to compete.

The argument that the PSP is expensive and therefore sells less than the DS is becoming less and less tenable as the PSP becomes cheaper. Right now the PSP-3000 and the DSi are the same price. Granted, there is the cheaper DS lite, but no one buys the DS lite anymore. It seems that DS customers don't mind paying the extra money for the handheld.

Do you have some info to back up your "DSi, by itself, sells more than PSP" claim?  I kinda think the DSLite is still the hotness, and that the DSi is just gravy.

Here are the launch sales (or at least close-to-launch) of the PSP go in Japan as reported by Famitsu:  http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=91281

 

PSP: 42000

PSPgo: 28000

DSi: 36000

DSL: 4400

 

Notice how the higher priced DSi sells more than the lower priced DS Lite. Granted both DS systems put together didn't outsell the PSP that week but that discrepancy can be explained by the recent launch of the PSP go. Also these numbers are only for Japan, but a quick glance at Amazon bestsellers shows that the best selling DS sytems are the black DSi, followed by the pink DSi, followed by the blue DS Lite. If you don't believe amazon you can PM The Source and he will probably confirm my findings.



"Pier was a chef, a gifted and respected chef who made millions selling his dishes to the residents of New York City and Boston, he even had a famous jingle playing in those cities that everyone knew by heart. He also had a restaurant in Los Angeles, but not expecting LA to have such a massive population he only used his name on that restaurant and left it to his least capable and cheapest chefs. While his New York restaurant sold kobe beef for $100 and his Boston restaurant sold lobster for $50, his LA restaurant sold cheap hotdogs for $30. Initially these hot dogs sold fairly well because residents of los angeles were starving for good food and hoped that the famous name would denote a high quality, but most were disappointed with what they ate. Seeing the success of his cheap hot dogs in LA, Pier thought "why bother giving Los Angeles quality meats when I can oversell them on cheap hotdogs forever, and since I don't care about the product anyways, why bother advertising them? So Pier continued to only sell cheap hotdogs in LA and was surprised to see that they no longer sold. Pier's conclusion? Residents of Los Angeles don't like food."

"The so-called "hardcore" gamer is a marketing brainwashed, innovation shunting, self-righteous idiot who pays videogame makers far too much money than what is delivered."

Yep, the pspgo was a flop.



TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Lord N said:

"Piracy" has nothing to do with the PSP's software sales, nor does it have the effect that the industry would have you believe. If it did, then all of the major record labels and movie studios would be out of business. I mean, for years now it's been ridiculously easy to download artists' entire discographies or a bunch of movies within hours at the most.

The problem with the PSP's software sales is the way that it was marketed from the beginning. Sony marketed it as a PMP first and a gaming device second, and that's how people used it. There are many people out there who only own/play one or two games for it and use it mostly as a portable MP3/video player.

I'll also say that as someone who's been hacking/modifying consoles and electronics for years that it's far easier, cheaper, and more convenient to mod and play downloaded games on a DS than it is on a PSP. With a DS, one needs only a USB device and knowledge of "copy & paste" whereas hacking a PSP requires modding hardware + installing and configuring software.





There are two flaws in what you say.

 

1. It's pretty mainstream and socially acceptable to have stacks of movies and music cds while in many instances the same doesn't really apply (depending on the circomstances) for games.

 

2. Artists also make money from live performances and royalties from radio stations, night clubs etc. Meanwhile movie theaters provide for a lot of the income movie studios get from their movies.



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BladeOfGod said:
how exactly is PSP dying? Is selling 150k-180k per week dying? Is selling 55 million units ( best selling non nintendo handheld ) the sign of a product dying???

well.. usually systems start dying when their sales are really high..

the ps2 is at like 130 million world wide. do you think this is a sign of a dying console?

 

see. overall sales have nothing to do with it.