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PSP To Increase U.S. Lead Over DS
Next Generation has a piece on an analyst's prediction that Sony's PSP will gain more ground on the Nintendo DS, here in the states, over the next five years. From the article: "SIG has compared year-by-year sales and estimates for the first five years of each machine's life, using sell-in and factory shipments. It points out that in its first year both PSP and DS managed around 13 million units each, with DS slightly ahead. Year two cumulative stats give PSP 25 million over DS' 22 million. In Year Three the difference rises to ten million (38m to 28m). In Year Four, PSP's lead has stretched to 15 million and to 20 million by Year Five." Though the PSP is now leading in the U.S., the DS is still king of the mountain in Japan.
I mean units in customers hands, not in retail channels.
Seriously, when? Anybody got a source?
While they are both fun pieces of hardware in their own respect. I just have a thing for Nintendo and the fact that they still make games that are just fun. This is the same reason I prefer to have a Gamecube over other consoles and will probably buy a Revolution. I just like fun games.
Ultimately I think Sony may have achieved what it wanted, although more by dropping the ball on game development compared to actual effort. They said they wanted to create more of a multimedia device, rather than pure games. In some regards, they've succeeded -- many PSP owners don't use the device for games all that much. They use it to watch UMDs, or hack it.
The catch, as I see it, is that the hacking market tends to be early adopters -- geeks if you will. They're the ones who snatch up gadgets and like to explore it. Sustained sales, though, those are more mass market appeal. Hacking a system, no matter how simple, is not something that appeals to most people. Similarly, you can't buy roms -- they don't sell MAME emulators in Best Buy.
So who is going to buy these millions of PSPs in the future? I know a LOT of people bought them once the emulators hit, but, well, that doesn't turn a profit -- game sales do. Outside of the puzzle game Lumines (which, while popular, isn't exactly a system seller), there's GTA. And a few racing games. Sony seems to not care about the future of the system for games; it just gets a few UMDs.
But I don't see the system focusing on movies hurting the sales of the DS, which focuses entirely on games, and has been selling very well.
Silly Analyst.
... Lead', when it should probably be 'Predicted to take lead'.
PSP might be nice hardware, but until it gets the really fun games, people won't care. All I've heard is that the DS games are really fun, whilst the PSP games are a bit dull.
Has the PSP actually outsold the DS in the US anyway? I didn't think it had. Odd how the headline reads 'To Increase
And with the very suggestive 'Touch Me' adverts that appeal to adults, I don't see the DS losing out. However a redesign to be a bit less toylike would do it some good I think, like the SP did to the Advance.
And indeed, I bet the Advance is still selling strongly in the US...
The PSP and DS are similar in that they are handheld gaming systems, but the similarities end there.
No one argued that the Game Gear competed with the Super Nintendo. It's slowly becoming clear that the PSP and DS are just as different.
A DS is the next-generation of Game Boy.
A PSP is a console system and media center squeezed down into a handheld package.
There is some overlap, of course, but at least there's not as much confusion any more. They have different markets. The PSP's market is going to be slower-growing because of the price--not only the price of console and games, but also of memory sticks, which is where the system's real flexibility comes into play. I think it's curious to see how sales compare, but I don't think it's as relevant as people imagine.
Nintendo has publicly said as much with the Revolution. They're letting Sony and Microsoft have the market they love, but Nintendo's after a different one.
But the sales performance of the DS this past year has taken many of us - even Nintenedo fans - by surprise. Clearly the DS has the superior momentum, and Sony has shockingly few gems on the horizon. Considering this is the ONLY DATA available, then where the hell does this prediction come from? I can see only three possibilities:
I hope these guys weren't counting on UMD movie sales to spur the PSP onward, because I suspect the new video iPod will take much of the wind out of those sails. (Sales?)
Must... think up... something... clever!