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Forums - Sony - Is the PSP dying?

alanshearer on 07 November 2009
ZenfoldorVGI said:
leo-j said:
Soriku said:
At least the DSi allows you to play every DS game and then DSiWare stuff. PSP Go doesn't allow you to play every PSP game.

I don't really like either, but there's no doubt most people think the DSi is good. Sales prove that. PSP Go...not so much.

PSP GO is an amazing product, I'm sure the majority of people that have bought a handheld don't know that the PSP is more than a gaming system..

that's sony's issue

I don't think the GO is a very good product at all. I think it offers much less for the money than any other PSP before it, and I think it is inferior to its much less expensive predecessor.


I think the pspgo is an experimental product. And more a marketing technique to get regular psp owners to download off the store.  This time next year will the vast majority of software be download only thus eliminating most piracy?.



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Icyedge on 07 November 2009
mai said:
RageBot said:
I blame piracy.

That's what I've been waiting for =)

 

@alanshearer

Though I'm not sure if "dying" is a right word, but what impur1ty said, all platforms are pirated. My take on this...

 

There's a common believe that piracy is source of the problem. I believe it's not, not entirely. Piracy is an effect of a bigger problem, not a cause. Usually people are reffering to PSP demography, when speaking about it's piracy.

According to John Koller's interview he gave to Wired this year, 40% of PSP demography are teens 13-17 y.o. (he didn't specify the details, but I suppose those're likely males), that's basicaly all info on PSP audience to date from Sony themselves afaik. Some people say this demography is likely to pirate since they have ability and knowledge to pirate and aren't fully independent financially, thus explaining relatively low PSP attach rate btw. That's a reasonable argument (but again some claim at the same time that "hardcore" buy more software - I'm confused)... but if PSP piracy is due to it's demography, therefore this rule also should work with other platforms, but it's not.

According to last year's Nielsen research X360 dominant age group are male teens 12-17 y.o. (>30% time spent playing among all age groups), in other words pretty close to what Koller said about PSP demography. And despite being heavily pirated, X360 is an impressive software seller, it's attach rate is considerably higher than PS3 attach rate (and we all know the latter platform has no piracy at all).

The problem with PSP is in something else than just demography that's "likely to pirate", X360 is doing well having the same people on board. What're those problems? I don't know. I assume overcrowded console market. Nowadays developers and customers have a wide range of platforms to choose from, like Wii, DS, X360, PS3 etc. PSP is literally like a fifth wheel, last choice of a developer to put a game on it, and last choice of a customer to buy something for it (not the case with Japan, since the most relevant consoles in there are DS and PSP). Other consoles are eating up PSP potential software sales, to be more precise, I reckon, those're X360 and PS3, since their dominant audiences intersect with PSP demography heavily. People are likely to spend their free money on X360/PS3 rather than PSP, while DS, yet another great software seller, unlike PSP, has an ability to differentiate oneself from home consoles with it's best-sellers aimed at wide range of ages and both sexes, unlike PSP once again.

 

The reason PSP was pirated more than anything else doesnt have anything to do with demographic or hardcore vs casual. Its because it is very easy to pirate (not the new versions tho), when it was released you could pirated it without any tool just using a glitch in a game. It is also very cheap to have someone pirate it for you (anywhere from 5$ to 20$) because it takes 5 minutes and no hard modding.

Cheaper then pirating an xbox 360

Easier then pirating an xbox 360

No hard modification: no risk of getting caught by xbox live, no risk of breaking the console, not loosing warranty

Small games that are easy to download (normally between 300 Mb and 700 Mb), most site have all PSP games available at same place

No need to burn on CD, just copy on memory stick

We dont need any special investigation on demography or anything, the reason behind why PSP is the most hack console of all time are pretty obvious.



Rob6021 on 07 November 2009

Sure both PSP and DS are widely pirated, but I think it's a fair assumption to assume the average PSP owners is a little more tech savy than the average ds user, and thus more capable of doing a hack.

 

And yea it isn't piracy that's really killing psp, its more of a lack of interest for people to buy games for an old system.. Anyways I thought psp was still doing well in japan?



 

Domicinator on 08 November 2009

I know three people at work who have the PSP and not one of them has ever bought a game for it. All they're using it for is remote play and running emus of old NES games.




thranx on 08 November 2009

Haven't had a chance to read all the posts, but i think the psp could survive on its non gaming features. I have almost gotten one on a few occasions just for its multimedia functions. And as it does not loose money as a system there is no real reason to discontinue it until it has a successor. So even if it fails as a game system ( i dont think it will) i could survive as a movie/mps player. I could be wrong haven't done a tremondous amount of research.



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finalrpgfantasy on 08 November 2009

they should release better and appealing games.



CAL4M1TY on 08 November 2009
dobby985 said:
impur1ty said:
alanshearer said:
mai said:
I'll wait for the first "I blame piracy" post.

Well it's a very well known fact that piracy has ravaged software sales on the system. So why would you say i'l wait for the first "i blame piracy post"?. Are you a troll?.

 

All current systems other than the PS3 have piracy issues. The PC and DS likely suffer the most.

DS owners aren't exactly l33t Hax0rz

Well given that with the DS all you need to do is slot in a DS Cartridge sized device into the slot that holds DS cartridge on the system to do it, I'd say DS is probably just as bad, and definitely more accessible.

I think the point is, you can't blame piracy for hardware sales because you can't pirate fake consoles (that actually play real games and aren't Vintendo Vii's), so it doesn't explain poor hardware sales.

I think they should have probably thought more thoroughly before releasing the PSP. Given that most Sony Ericsson phones can do most of the features the PSP can (Video, music, games) and more (talk on the phone), and they are usually much smaller than the PSP, Sony really needed to hammer home the gaming side of the device. This they failed to do for about 2-3 years.

Despite the fundamental flaws of the DS phat (it's freakin' bulky and ugly) it still sold well because of it had a good starting lineup, and the DS was a continued success because Nintendo recognised that it needed a massive core redesign within 2 years. It took the PSP 3 years and the end result wasn't as drastically better as the DS lite was.

 

 



bugrimmar on 09 November 2009

^ i don't think the psp software lineup is that bad.. it's actually pretty complete.



Rath on 09 November 2009

Piracy or homebrew must be a major problem. Otherwise its software attach rates make no sense.



Grimes on 09 November 2009

The PSP has very few games of its own. Most of the games are IPs established on other platforms.

Contrast that to other platforms that have exclusives establishing identity. DS has Brain Training and Nintendogs. PS3 has Uncharted and LBP. Xbox has Halo and GoW. Wii has Wii Sports and Wii Fit.

The PSP has no signature exclusive game as far as I can tell. Even MH was ported, so it can't even call that its own.

You can't blame this problem on piracy. I'm not sure if it's because Sony was unwilling or unable to create any new IPs, but the the result is the same.



Anyone can guess. It takes no effort to throw out lots of predictions and have some of them be correct. You are not and wiser or better for having your guesses be right. Even a blind man can hit the bullseye.