DS Claims EU Dominance

Gamasutra reports that, at least in the EU, the Nintendo DS has the portable war pretty much locked up for the time being. 200,000 units of the DS Lite were sold in the ten days after its launch. From the article: "According to Nintendo of Europe, the Nintendo DS has now secured the lead in the handheld market in Europe, with sales of the format exceeding 5 million. No sales figures from Sony are available to compare directly, with only a "shipped" figure of almost 6 million for all territories bar North America and Japan." Interestingly, 136,500 units were sold in the United States in just the first two days after the handheld console's launch.

Comments

That's what happens when you actually have games

[Orange Goblin]

PSP looks nice and all, but they missed out the "gaming" part...

Re:Hmm...

[oahazmatt]

I wouldn't say it's so much of a sign of an ill fate for Sony so much as it appears to be poor planning.

Firstly, there is a difference in the two portable units, which is emphasized in the advertising campaigns. The Nintendo DS is a portable gaming system, whereas Sony has been marketing the PSP as a portable multi-media system in hopes of capturing a wider demographic.

Secondly, there is the content available for either device. Nintendo has many titles available for the DS, most of them exclusive to the device if not just the brand. Sony has a number of titles available for the PSP, but not so many original concepts or exclusive to the PSP alone. For instance, "Liberty City Stories" has just been released for the PS2. For those who may have been contemplating purchasing a PSP simply to play the exclusive PSP version of Grand Theft Auto now have more options, including to having to purchase a PSP to play the game.

Thirdly, there is a certain out-of-the-box quality that should be expected from a portable device. Every PSP owner I have encountered has taken the time to show me the capabilities of the device. Not once was the focus of the PSP it's own line of games, but other games it could play. PSP owners would show me the vast library of NES and MAME titles they had installed. However, when I asked if that was available out of the box, I was informed that it took some work to get the resulted library.
Not that I would think it would not take work, but if the existing game library (import titles or no) is not the focus for the device owner, there is a good chance that the device will not succeed.

I see the PSP hanging around for a bit, yet. There is still a chance for a comeback. It is an interesting machine, I have no doubt about that. It simply needs a steady line of original titles that are something more than what has already been seen on the device.