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PSP Smashes Sales Records in the UK
404Ender writes "According to recent numbers the PSP has sold more than 185,000 units since launching September 1. This blows the previous record away, which happened to be set by the Nintendo DS. This is wonderful news for fans of the Sony handheld, and it certainly quiets many of the naysayers who have been pointing to the success of the DS sales compared to the PSP. Does this solidify Sony's position in the handheld market with a firm foot in the door?"
Perhaps the sales figures are inflated somewhat by the fact that it's been released in other markets for some time. People here have had a chance to hear lots of reports of it from elsewhere before the launch. It also probably has a larger set of games at launch than the DS did, for the same reason. It will be more interesting to see how many units in total each sell after a year on the market.
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The only longer-term UK figures I can find for DS say that they sold "over 200,000" units in the first six weeks. So it looks like the initial surge of sales is definitely in the PSP's favour. Whether this momentum will continue remains to be seen, but it's still an impressive launch.
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Are those figures for actual sales to end customers? According to this1UP article, Sony has an interesting sales counting methodology:
"As a rule, Sony prefers to release "sell-in" figures, or "units shipped" figures -- for instance, it recently announced that it "shipped" 70 million PlayStation 2s worldwide. What that means is that retailers have ordered and received 70 million PS2s, not that consumers have bought 70 million PS2s. Many of those 70 million PS2s have already been bought by consumers, and all of them may eventually be bought, but for now, the "shipped" figure is more impressive."
And also...
"Sony is going against type here. Though it's rounding off its sales figures, at least it is releasing genuine sales figures, a practice to which it is generally averse."
I like my DS and everyone I've shown it to has been impressed by it and enthusiastic about it (even my girlfriend bought one!)...but what my (non-gaming) friends have been talking about is the PSP, and in salivating in the same way my Apple friends were pre ipod launch. It also helps that at launch they have a wider (though not necc. better!) range of games than the DS has after 6 months here. If it wasn't for importing certain items I'd be less enthusiastic about the DS than I am. That will be sorted out by the end of November.
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What horrible games lineup? I'd absolutely agree that the lineup was pretty thin at the US and Japanese launches, but here we've got 24 games, including Virtua Tennis, Toca 2, Mercury and Snooker as well as the older but still great things like Wipeout Pure, Ridge Racers and Lumines.
Now, admittedly a large number of my PSP wants are racing games, but overall there's as many games that I would consider buying as a DS.
My wife would completely disagree with me, as the PSP games aren't the sort she likes to play. But if we all liked the same things it'd be a dull world.
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This all ignores a real problem- that sources (such as News Corp's rag) had been. for a long while, actively whoring the psp and deriding the ds. In one cares there was a "comparison" when the psp wasn't out in *any* market.
Unsurprisingly, I believe the psp got a 9 or somesuch.
Then again, this IS the land of Edge....