Could Sony Discontinue the PSP by the end of 2008?

***wraggster*** · January 17th, 2007, 20:24

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.

Agree or disagree, answer via comments

**erix2006** · January 17th, 2007, 20:32

yEa man I agree

**Axelius** · January 17th, 2007, 20:35

Hey, wow, wow wow, this is a little hard, the psp is not dead.

I think it was a very bad decision to make the psp not able to be connected to a TV, as this would have helped the UMD-Movie sales a lot, as nobody wants to spend 20€ on a movie you can only watch in a tiny screen...

But at least the psp is the best-looking handheld ever!!

**inlovewithi** · January 17th, 2007, 20:36

It needs to be redisign. It's a really uncomfortable portable. And though it looked sexy when it came out, after a while, it just started looking really ugly. The DS Lite is the best looking portable ever. By far.

**henley101** · January 17th, 2007, 20:36

The psp will live forever.As long as there is the internet which feeds it applications.With the 3.02oeb the possibilities are endless.I dont care what happens as long as They dont discontinue the MS and the prices are falling on the MS everyday.Unfortunately most people are clueless as to how to use the PSP to its full potential.The PSP will always reign supreme in my mind.

**Shrygue** · January 17th, 2007, 20:38

The PSP is the best handheld console I've ever bought and will always continue to be.

**BLackAdder60** · January 17th, 2007, 20:47

Terminating the PSP !!!! GOD forbidd.....
but... I am aftraid it might come.

And the pricing is to be blamed. Not so much for the units but the media. Prices for PSP titles remain HIGH even higher than those for the PS2 version of the same game. ANd while a PS2 title drops its price after 6-12 months such a development is yet to be seen, at least here in Sweden where GTA-LCS cost the same as a brand new release as late as the release of the GTA-VCS.

Then theres the UMD movies. These were tired old titles, of inferior quality as compared with the DVD edition of the same film, only playable on the PSP and costing much more (2-3 times) as much as the DVD edition.

Any surprise it didnt take off?

Lastly thres the issue with homebrew, instead of encouraging pople to find new uses for their platform and see where they could profit from it Sony keeps exasperating its users by forcing constantly new updates that hamper the devices usability.

In summary: Sonys problem is that while its engineers and designers are a brilliant and creative lot, the manegament is their opposite, an unimaginative and lazy lot who expect the world to stay the same so that they dont have to exercise their imagination to make a buck.

And dont get me started on the Minidisc where I sank a lot of money into as well...

**LilSwish722** · January 17th, 2007, 20:52

To me, the PSP was great at first. Then after about a year, I started to think it was a waste of money. Movies with no extra features, plus the price point on both movies, games, and the system is way to high. Why would I want to buy a movie with ONLY the movie for 20-30USD, when I could get the same thing on DVD for the exact same price, and still have all the extra bonus features and things. In my opinion the Homebrew scene is the only redeeming quality to the PSP. And I can't even enjoy that anymore becuase I acidentally udgraded my PSP to 3.00. I believe if Sony continues the way they are going with this, The PSP will crash and burn

**shedeus** · January 17th, 2007, 20:54

Originally Posted by BLackAdder60

And dont get me started on the Minidisc where I sank a lot of money into as well...

ppl still look at me funny when i whip out my MD binder to play some new music :rofl:

if the psp goes the way of the dinosaur, who cares. i still love the system. its my 2nd favorite handheld next to my nomad