Why are software sales so low in the US?

[Emeriastone]

I bought MGS:PO, Final Fantasy XII, and Rainbow 6: Vegas. I don't think piracy is the only cause.

And I'll agree with Larry. As far as commericals for video games, I haven't seen any for the PSP. I've only seen advertisements for other systems.

If I hear 'piracy' one more time in relation to poor PSP software sales I may go postal. That's a copout answer and one really needs to dig deeper into things to see if it's even an actual issue or not.


Also you can't really compare the DS to the PSP. The DS has one major use: Games. That's what it was made for. The PSP is a multimedia device that does a lot more than games. Just because you sell 1 million PSPs doesn't mean you necessarily are going to sell a million games.

Sorry for the double post, but I'll have to agree with DKing on this one.

You seriously can't go around blaming piracy for all problems (albeit it is a major problem).

The DS is just as easy to run homebrew on as the PSP (maybe even easier, for the lack of security) and perhaps even just as easy to find DS roms. As far as cost for media storage--it's about the same, give or take about 30 USD, and while the DS isn't as powerful as the PSP, It's still kicking the PSP's a$$ in sales.

Simply pointing the finger at piracy for $ony's problems is nothing more than what DKing has nicely pointed to--a cop out.

[Vega]

I've seen a few PSP game commercials... most notably LocoRoco and KillZone Liberation. Im in UK though so could be very different to US advertising

[Camelot]

Homebrew might be losing some of the sales but not 4 million... i mean really.... no only are most psps sold now not downgrade able, but most people dont even know about any of these downgraders or homebrew or 1.5 fw or any of this stuff so they just go with the flow and upgrade into secure fw like 3.03.
I think its just that there is so much more stuff for people to do then just play games. I bet if you looked at how much money sony made from these jacked up memory cards they would definitly be caught up with nintindo.

Edit:I scrolled up and read Dking's comment and I totally agree with it.

[SnoopKatt]

It's ridiculously easy to pirate PSP games, no modchip needed. And since the game prices are so high, it's gonna happen more. But it's not only that, it's also bad advertising.

[aCoL]

im not buying alot of games not because of piracy, just takes me so long to beat one game and theres doom in homebrew

[gamer456]

lol come to think of it the last time i bought a psp game was way back in may06, i use its other capabilities anyways

[snkrock25]

My 2 pennies.

I believe a lot of why software sales for the psp are low is due to to their piss-poor marketing overall. We've all seen the website, i wont mention it again. Anyone who thinks piracy is factor is giving people too much credit. people arent that smart. yes, you and i know how to go and figure out how to download a game, but the average joe's i know with psp's (everyone but me that owns one) doesnt know a thing on how to get games on their psp. If i come over showing off the latest build of Daedalus or CPS2 they pee a little. But whenever I look at their game collections, it's usually brands that are well known (sims, gta, midnight club) only because they happened to see the things in the store and were familiar with it. Something else that was almost apparent overall is that they were all disappointed that the experience wasn't very distinguished from the console experiences that inspired them. There are great games for the psp, but the most memorable thing about those psp commercials for me are the squirrels. Seriously, i can hardly tell if they even mention the gameplay on the tv behind them. I think a lot of people are walking away with the image of the squirrels instead of what they're intended to promote. Since sony is seemingly beginning to move away from the UMD format by offering movies for Mem sticks, i think they should shift focus to gameplay instead of being a multimedia device. I mean hell, their focus should always be on what is going on with their games division no matter what, all that other stuff is secondary.

[slayer2psp]

the games have gotten cheaper still hasent helped sells gta vc is only 29.99 and the warriors is listed at 19.99. no i havent bought any psp games all year. i play mostly ps1 games on my psp right now and there free i just convert the 100s of ps1 games i own

[esence25]

Without getting into a way to deep of a debate, some of the reasons PSP is doing bad...
I can start with the age we live in, where quality no longer matter, but quantity. The flea marketization of the world well USA!!! buy, buy, buy... stfu, stfu....
And of course the main reason, shiitty games.
PSP Has a very small number of games that are actually good. They need to stop fkin with the firmware and concentrate on RPG's more and games that are actually confortable on the machine. Look at some of the SNES and PSX classics. I cant stop playing if I make the mistake of popping in a classic.

And I'm sorry, but loose the shooters(as a general type of games), playing a shooter on the PSP is like masturbating with a pair of long nose pliers, it hurts, it sucks and feels retarded.
Anything available for another console will be considered underpowered on the PSP therfore people will prefer the home console version. We need exclusieve games. And not games developed over night. Regugitated... Ah, and the games based on movies, loose those 2, wow! very exclusive to play a game of a movie you just saw, or vice versa.

We need dungeons, castles, swords, mystery, adventure, stratey etc.

I don't even want to hear anything about PIRACY.
It's far from being the reason.

But thank the people for the homebrew ps1 etc, it saved the PSP.

Wonderful pice of hardware, but unfortunatelly we're not ready for it.

[philage]

In my opinion, one major reason why DS games are selling way better than PSP games is because of the amount of diversity in DS games compared to the PSP. I have yet to play a unique game on the PSP other than maybe loco roco, the DS on the other hand has such a varied library of games (as well as the usual suspects), its unbelievable.

How many PSP titles can you think of that actualy bring a new concept to gaming ? not that many i would guess. However, there are many many original titles on the DS with its touchscreen and mic input put to good use.

This, amongst other reasons that people have mentioned, all adds up to less software sales for sony.