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January 17th, 2007, 21:24 Posted By: wraggster
Article from SCP
Lets rewind to March 24th, 2005, The PSP actually had a fairly decent launch, infact far better than maybe people had thought a handheld priced at $249.99 USD, It's Glossy black exterior complimented it's Gadget Sexiness, and it's Widescreen display dwarfed the small screen of both the Nintendo DS and the Gameboy Advance. It had created quite a buzz before it's release, and even Sony linkened it to a portable Playstation 2.
It would seem however the hype worm off soon after, the Launch games although not great, were not overly good (The only one I personally kept even was Lumines), and were often criticized for being nothing more than a port of Existing games (NFL Street 2 unleashed, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix, Need For Speed Underground Rivals etc.). Sony's push to make the UMD succeed as a format for movies shortly fizzled out within a year as Studios slowly pulled support for the format, either discontinuing production, or simply bringing it to a trickle. Infact it's truly a shame what has happened with the PSP, for it's time as a console, either handheld or otherwise it offered unrivaled functionality (Photo's , Internet Browser, UI Customization Etc.) and it's multimedia capabilities I actually found appealing (I never found the need for an iPod because of the PSP).
It's hard to really say who failed who in this case, The consumer failed Sony because they didn't buy into the UMD as a viable movie format, and Sony failed the consumer with the Pricepoint. What is actually ironic however is that for quite a while the perception of Sony being king was a very rampant one indeed, infact a lot of the Anti-Sony rhetoric I've seen has been a fairly recent pheonomenon even if no one else recalls it as such. Although I think the UMD as a format was an important decision (better storage space for games and cut scenes as well as audio fidelity) it also caused many market analysts to group it into the same category as Betamax. There were hoever several other criticisms for the UMD on a handheld, primarily batery life and loading times were among the top concerns (I remember the port of Midnight Club 3 taking a full minute to load a level), and although the Nintendo DS had an overall weak launch in the US, it shortly gained by leaps and bounds over the PSP because of it's lower pricepoint ($249.99 USD) and it's hardy (although not quite as sexy) design that was more "child proof".
Although it should be noted that the PSP has not been a total failure, there are close to 200 games available for the platform, and new games are announced for it from time to time, the most Notable releases for this Year Infact are the New Silent Hill Origins and Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core, but as far are sales it's losing leaps and bounds to the Nintendo DS, and this is not just speculation.
According to NPD Numbers the total system sales to date as of December 2006 placed the PSP at only 6,700,000 Total units, whereas the Nintendo DS sits at a lofty 9,200,000, and although the Nintendo DS did have a 4 month leap over the PSP the future for this Lexus of portables seems numbered. Remember when Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto, Liberty City Stories on the Playstation 2? Well we now have a Playstation 2 version of Lumines in the oven, as well as a Tocobot, Mercury, and planned Loco Roco Port all headed towards the Playstation 2 and the reason couldn't be any more clear: They simply didn't make enough in sales on the PSP as a platform so developers took the next logical step, the PSP and Playstation 2 development kits share quite a few similarities, and making a port to the Playstation 2 was a sure bet to recoup the value.
Unfortunately I can only draw one conclusion, the PSP is at a plateau, the High priority releases right at the very end of it's life will not be enough to save it, and I honestly believe that we will see it peter out in a little over a year. Unfortunately there is not a whole lot that Sony can do to truly help the PSP without taking a tremendous loss (or more than they are taking at the moment), a price drop would further cripple any chance at the system being profitable and would likely be seen by developers as an act of desperation, and with sales slowing it is unlikely that Sony will be able to attract additional third part developers. All in all it is an abysmal outcome, but one that I believe Sony will atleast try to see through to minimalize thier loses, however I say my early farewell to this pioneer of Handhelds. I salute the PSP and all of it's contributions (it has certainly raised the bar for Handheld qualty in graphics and sound), and it's legacy will live on in my heart as it takes it's place in my heart with the Neo Geo Pocket, The Dreamcast, and The Sega CD.
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