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?"

Comments

Late Release?

[TheRaven64]

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.

Shipped or sold?

[lwells-au]

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."