AfterDawn: Tech news

500,000 PSP consoles sold in two days

Written by James Delahunty @ 07 Apr 2005 3:26 User comments (39)

500,000 PSP consoles sold in two days Sony has released figures for the sales of their Playstation Portable (PSP) hand-held console in the United States. The console managed to sell half a million units in just two days which falls short of most expectations for its opening sales. The most enthusiastic gamers waited in line for hours to get their hands on a console. In the first week of the console sales, it generated over $150m which is a figure Sony Computer Entertainment America is delighted about.
"The launch of PSP was everything we hoped for," Kaz Hirai, president of SCEA, said in the statement. "In only two weeks, PSP is having an immediate impact across the entire industry, as consumers are clearly voting it the product of the year in 2005." The PSP hit stores in Japan late last year, but only went on sales in the United States in March. The initial number of PSPs available in the U.S. was 1 million. Sony actually had to delay the launch of the PSP in Europe to facilitate for the demand in the U.S. market.



The PSPs sold well in game and computer stores, other retailers (like Wal-Mart and Best Buy) still have many of the consoles on hand. Analyst P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research called the PSP launch "solid but unspectacular". Only one third of the 150 stores he contacted were out of PSPs and several stores reported still having over 100 of the consoles available. "We are hesitant to draw any macro-level conclusions about the success or failure of the PSP and impact on the video game publishers, simply because we are only seven days into the PSP launch in North America," he wrote.

Source:
News.com

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39 user comments

17.4.2005 15:35

Wow. I'm not supprised though.

27.4.2005 16:00

I wonder how many units of the Playstation 2 were sold on it's first day of sales?

37.4.2005 16:28

I remember the day before the PS2 went on sale, I saw a huge line of people with sleeping bags outside Best Buy. I thought they were all nuts.

47.4.2005 16:50

This is great in knew that the psp was going to sell very good.

57.4.2005 17:09

Congrats Sony!

67.4.2005 18:16

my friend is investing in their stocks, they have been steady for the past few weeks, and they actually dropped a little bit i think?

77.4.2005 20:42

I think that the psp is going to out sell the ds by a lot.

87.4.2005 21:52

the actual pic of the psp is different from the one afterdawn has posted. i like the look of the posted one more then the real thing, looks more slick

97.4.2005 22:06

Thats funny coz every where in AZ except Wal Mart and Best Buy . have sold out..

107.4.2005 23:48

I want one!

118.4.2005 05:37

And Sony, being trendsetters as they are, invented the UMD media for the PSP, which will no doubt be used for the new generation Playstation, to combat piracy. I wonder how this will fare out? They tried the Sony ARCcos thingy for the dvd movies and it failed.

128.4.2005 06:53

@ Jauneryle The PS3 will NOT use the UMD as it's choice media. Sony has invested itself heavily in promoting it's Blu-Ray discs, which reportedly hold upwards of 25G of data. They will be the choice medium for the PS3 according to Sony. While the storage capacity will be great, the downside is that the next-gen DVD media, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, are being tested for and most likely will implement 128bit strong-bit encryption. This will be much harder to break than it's 40bit current day format. While I have no doubts that someone will step up and break it eventually, it will not happen overnight I believe. My 2 cents. :)

138.4.2005 07:01

Yes, if anything, the ps2 games would have fled to the psp, not the other way around. The Gamecube's media is up to that task. That'd be insane if the next gameboy could play gamecube games. $250 is just too much for a portable in my opinion. There's just no way I can possibly convince myself to do it.

148.4.2005 13:04

Trust me mate... once you get a hands-on, you might not be able to stop your hands going to your wallet. =P Good thing I only had $15 in my wallet. Lol, just joking, I ain't interested in handhelds so there's no point of me getting one.

158.4.2005 13:36

Much agreed. Unless you travel alot like on airplanes and such, there really is no point to having a handheld...unless of course you're into that kind of thing for a hobby. But I just don't see why someone would play a handheld vs xbox/PS2 if they're not always commuting.

168.4.2005 14:01

Couldn't agree more. I remember the day I bought the Gameboy Advance on it's first day of sales. The fun lasted for two weeks until I finally got bored of looking at that little screen. Now it's somewhere under my bed. After gaming on a 30" plus screen, I could never go back to handhelds.

179.4.2005 02:32
sljusevi
Inactive

well i travel 40 miles evry week so i guess ill youst gonna have to go buy one ;)

189.4.2005 06:55

this is the point you guys are missing: ITS NOT JUST A HANDHELD GAMES CONSOLE! Its convergence, its everything in one. And its brilliant. i hardly travel, but i'm gunna get one. not cos im stupid, but its an amazing device that i'll use on a day to day basis whether i travel or not. Dan x

199.4.2005 08:01
jarizzle
Inactive

OK ANYONE WHO WANT A FREE PSP NEEDS TO CLICK ON THIS LINK ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS REFER 5 FRIENDS ITS REALLY EASY JUST CLICK ON THE LINK AND IT WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO http://www.freearmadillos.com

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 09 Apr 2005 @ 9:00

209.4.2005 08:28

You sir, are an idiot. spooky2k: I hope you're not one of those guys who gets new trainers every month just because they have advertisements for it.

219.4.2005 17:47

nope. i get new trainers once every year if that. but i've been awaiting the PSP for a long time. i've been awaiting a good portable gaming (and everything else that teh PSP does) ever since the gameboy was hyped. sure it was good, but all it does it play games. the PSP is much more than that. if u dnt see that, then i h8 to say it, but ur an idiot. Dan x

229.4.2005 19:46
dg08967
Inactive

The Ds is way better

239.4.2005 19:47
dg08967
Inactive

I hate psp

249.4.2005 20:58

Bye bye lamer.

2510.4.2005 09:13

why do people buy ipods or mp3 players when you can just lisen to cds or the radio? why do we buy handheld dvd players? becuase we do. i dont travil a lot but i have i psp. and i love it. everyone who has seen mine has fallen in love with it. its not just a game. it lives up to what sony wanted out of the playstation.

2610.4.2005 15:58

It is nice- but $250? I think I'm going to sit this one out until around the holidays when they lower the price.

2710.4.2005 16:06
rootboy
Inactive

The PSP serves another purpose than just travel-gaming. I consider myself a casual gamer. I don't like to fire up the playstation and play games for hours on end, but opt rather to play games on my pocket pc intead, ofen while I'm watching TV. I can see myself picking up a PSP when they come down in price so that I can get better games than what are now available for pocket pc.

2810.4.2005 20:12

I will wait about a year or so to buy it to see the price drop and to see if they still make good games for it.

2910.4.2005 22:12

i have a psp and they rock. the $250 is def worth it and there are already some great games for it i have 7 of them already and almost all of them are more than i expected. i have an xbox playstation2 and gamecube and still find time to play the psp..once again its well worth $250, everyone is spending $400 on ipods and the psp plays mp3s as well and lets not forget movies. i recomend everyone at least give it a chance u will love it

3011.4.2005 06:47
sljusevi
Inactive

/always knew the psp would be a sucses

3111.4.2005 06:50
sljusevi
Inactive

i wonder if it will be a psp 2

3211.4.2005 06:53
sljusevi
Inactive

how god is the psp

3311.4.2005 07:34

I am gonna get a job jus so i can get a psp

3411.4.2005 08:14
sljusevi
Inactive

whoops i meant how good is the psp mp3 can it compete with i tunes?

3511.4.2005 18:09
headbussa
Inactive

have 1 and i think it is awsome if you can get a bigger memory card cuz the 1 thats comes with dosent hold very much at all.

3612.4.2005 07:58
sljusevi
Inactive

got any dead pixels on your

3712.4.2005 12:58

sljusevi: Learn how to use the edit button and express your thoughts in ONE, yes, that's ONE post! =)

3812.4.2005 20:59

yea i got a gb memory stick and i dont have ne dead pixels either i havent found a problem with it yet...and today in school my friend and i linked up and played some tony hawk it was pretty tight def. another sweet feature of the psp

3913.4.2005 07:00
sljusevi
Inactive

its my birthday today (13) and im relly hope that i will get a psp its the only thing i want. +toilet man i will try to remeber editing in the future;)

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Apr 2005 @ 7:02

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