Are CFW users a threat to Sony? I think not.

An article from Alek

Having in mind all the statistics from the latest M33 releases, we can get to some conclusions.

Adding downloads from Dark-AleX.org and the ones from the Network Update, here are the numbers from this last days;

-17 oct 29.838
-18 oct 32.996
-19 oct 2.472 (in 3H)

(unique psp's using this in 2 days, 3 hours) Maximum value calculated lately from the other releases was about 150k PSP's.

So, having in mind that there are how much? 38.96M PSP's on the World (http://vgchartz.com/), so there are only a 0,39% of the total ones using the Network Update; we can conclude that...

... not more than an 8% of total World PSP's are with a CFW. (based on that statistics, tbh is a huge estimation, it should go about a 5% atm)

So, is it a threat? No. Developers and Sony should not focus their attention/excuses on something so "small", but on more Games&&Addons for PSP, instead of making look guilty free devs like Dark_AleX.

Now this doesnt take into account sites such as PSP News/DCEmu (here of course), QJ, PSP Hacks and the many other sites who mirror the file but even so i doubt even 5% of the worlds PSP Owners have tried Homebrew or custom firmware.

Give us your Comments on this subject, Are Custom Firmwares really such a Threat to Sony ?

That's quite surprising.

I'm a CF user, and I can tell you that the average PSP user are Official Firmware users.

Its all hype,Theres loads of kids(and adults) out there who have original fw and originals games.Just look at NDS with the cart 1 cards(like N5 and Touch cart) with loads of roms on them and Nintendo are booming!I don`t think CFW are a threat to $ony!!

It must be a significant enough number of CFW PSP's to make Sony concerned enough to release wave after wave of Firmware Updates and motherboard revisions...

That really is surprising.
Sony's making way to big of a deal about it if it's such a small group.

Well I 'm also a CF user and tbh not many people I see or have met in the past have custom firmware psp's, I usually introduce theme to the world of this homebrew scene.

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Originally Posted by dejkirkby

It must be a significant enough number of CFW PSP's to make Sony concerned enough to release wave after wave of Firmware Updates and motherboard revisions...

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And it hasn't stopped us yet :p

(DAX is looking closely at the PSP 3000 right now :D)

CFW users are far from a threat. where i live which can be ranged in a full district called the Avalon peninsula of Newfoundland Canada, I am one of the probably 2 other people out there that have custom firmware. But besides that point i have put CFW and homebrew on about 20 PSP's for people who are to lazy to use Google and follow instructions lol.

I think the reason that Sony cares about CFW is that most of the CFW users are "core gamers." I doubt anyone who only buys sports games and then 1 or 2 mainstream games is going to be concerned with CFW. The core gamers are the ones that buy games, and CFW is alot more appealing to them.

Its also worth pointing out that Dark_AleX seems to respect SONY and their firmware. He goes above and beyond to make CFW seem like the firmware that the PSP should have. From using SONY's installer and keeping pretty much everything SONY has included in the firmware is what I enjoy most about CFW. Its not radically different and doesn't alter the PSP experience. It just enhances it.

And it is also my observation that most people are in the dark or are not motivated enough to explore the PSP's homebrew capabilities.

I have been the one to introduce people to what the PSP is REALLY capable of.

Not everyone updates to the newest greatest CFW, so the numbers could be much higher.

Now how Sony will manipulate the numbers.
If you take that 5% figure which is 1,948,000 psp's. Now you multiple by the attach rate which at its worst was 2 to 1, so 3,896,000 in lost software sales. Now multiply that by the price of said games, which we will assume is $30 and you get around 116.8 Million dollars in lost software sales. Now that sound you hear is Sony freaking out!

I agree with jamotto. Lots of people didn't update because 1.50 and Popsloader weren't out yet and their favorite theme might be for 4.01 M33 only etc.

I don't know anyone who gets the download from the official site, or who always gets the latest update

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Originally Posted by jamotto

Not everyone updates to the newest greatest CFW, so the numbers could be much higher.

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this is totally correct

i for one usually lag a few versions behind

im still on 3.80 m33

why, why not? ive not had a reason to upgrade, and i find the process to be a chore (since my wifi switch is broke, and hell i dont have a 802.11 router)

i will eventually get 5.0 m33, but i always wait a few weeks for all the fluff to die down, bugs squashed, and see if sony wants to add a version 5.1

and the only reason i will, is because theres some games coming out that will want version 5.0+, if there were not, i wouldn't

It's not based on numbers, it's based on the opinion of those numbers.

Devs release few games for the PSP because of the fear that they will be pirated by CFW users. If the user basis for hacked firmwares was 0.5%, they still might consider this number too high to be profitable.

Even though it's just the devs' opinions, Sony still loses out... So yes, they are a threat. Not because they mean/cause direct harm, but because game companies think they do.

Im custom firmware user too. I dont not afraid any threat that Sony give me. If, they did threaten me. Im not buying any Sony products, even I died.

The only reason i have custom firmware is so i can use MY OWN PSX games on the psp. I think its crazy you have to buy the games again to play them.

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Originally Posted by DimensionT

It's not based on numbers, it's based on the opinion of those numbers.

Devs release few games for the PSP because of the fear that they will be pirated by CFW users. If the user basis for hacked firmwares was 0.5%, they still might consider this number too high to be profitable.

Even though it's just the devs' opinions, Sony still loses out... So yes, they are a threat. Not because they mean/cause direct harm, but because game companies think they do.

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Exactly what I was thinking ;) The only problem Sony has with CFW is the piracy side. Personnally, if this particular aspect of CFW were removed I believe Sony wouldn't fret so much.

Peace

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Originally Posted by osgeld

im still on 3.80 m33

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Same here, I don't update very frequently - the only reason I'm past 3.40 is that I needed a newer version to play Wipeout Pulse.

what about downloads from other sites or people who get CF from someone who sells the service?