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Forums - Sony Discussion - What Was It That Killed The PSP?

Demotruk on 06 January 2010

It's not a failure, it's profitable after all.

It didn't beat the DS because the PSP was trying to be a home console in your hand (more accurately, a PS2 in your hand), when the DS focussed on being a great handheld console, which meant decisions like cartridges instead of discs, and it leveraged the advantages of being handheld in ways the PSP didn't try to. That's apart from the obvious Blue Ocean nature of DS software.



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CommonMan on 06 January 2010

I know we don't like to talk about profitability, but since this is talking positive about a Sony device, it should be okay. Here we go, is the PSP turning a profit? If so, it's not dead.



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ShadowSoldier on 06 January 2010
.jayderyu said:

Machine is fine. If however I believe the intent is "why didn't the PSP smash the DS to pieces". That's another easy answer.

UMD, Price, Size, Battery Life.

UMD. You would need to be brain dead to not notice the removal of disc storage. With tech going from CD to MP3 why would you want to put in a disc? Name a current portable popular tech that uses a disc? just the PSP.

Size. Too big for practical portability. Have a foldout keyboard and have done with it.

Battery Life. The initial battery life was atrocious. Considering it was expected to carry a spare battery or battery charger which in itself was a battery is a testament to bad battery life. While the issue have improved in such cases the launch left a permanent impact.

Price. People don't mind spending $600 on the iphone, $300 on an iTouch/Archos. Instead it's price in association with the above issues.

The real problem. People who think since the PSP is not a DS killer that it's a failure. NGage proved to make cash. PSP is doing better than the NGage. Where the problem? people.

I wanted to say this but I was afraid I would have gotten banned for saying that....might be seen as flamebait



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Vetteman94 on 06 January 2010
CommonMan said:
I know we don't like to talk about profitability, but since this is talking positive about a Sony device, it should be okay. Here we go, is the PSP turning a profit? If so, it's not dead.

Yes,  the PSP HW does pull a profit.  I dont know about SW numbers, so I cant comment on that



Tallgeese101 on 06 January 2010

Easy piracy on a system targeted towards the hardcore. Its fate was sealed with the Pandora battery.



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dharh on 06 January 2010

A complete and utter lack of focus. They should have been pumping out good games every month from the start. Screw the movies on UMD stuff. They should have pushed the digitization of the PSP/PS1 library sooner. I should be able to buy every single PSP game from PSN store already, but I am beginning to wonder if that will ever be true.



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kunaixhaku on 06 January 2010

this is sony's first attempt at the handheld market to where nintendo clearly dominates and they have done extremely well. I expect sony's second attempt will give nintendo more competition. I personally enjoy the psp more but it has to be more mass marketted like the ds which reaches all ages.



tooto123 on 06 January 2010

ps3 price cut



NicholasCage on 06 January 2010

Well 55 million sold for Sony's FIRST handheld ever is really successful for me.



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jesus kung fu magic on 06 January 2010

Ive said this alot but it was sony that killed the psp......they developed games for the psp as if it were a gimped ps2 which is not what you should do for a handheld......this also inherently gave the psp a really small chance of ever being innovative.

While sony was doing this ,Nintendo built a game library that could only shine on their handheld and no where else .That is also a reason for the demise of the psp.

People could argue that 55 million is great for a handheld and I agree with this , but you cannot be this far behind in :game library , innovation and be beat by more than double the sales of your nearest competition.



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