PSP sales hit 800,000 as Sony pledges higher production

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Shipments of the PlayStation Portable console have reached 800,000 in Japan since the system launched last month, and Sony has now pledged to increase output by April in order to accommodate overseas launches.

The new shipment figure was announced by Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi at a press conference in Tokyo, where he also reaffirmed the company's commitment to launching the PSP in North America and Europe by the end of March.

Monthly production of the PSP is set to increase by 100,000 units to a million units a month in April, which will help to meet the demand of the overseas launches, according to Kutaragi.

News source: gamesindustry.biz

Cont...

Production levels will continue to ramp up throughout the year, with two million units a month being targeted by Summer, and a final target of three million units per month thought to be the goal for next Christmas.

Addressing the low shipment numbers of the PSP to date, Kutaragi confessed that the sales figures are disappointing, but pointed out that this is down to lack of supply rather than lack of demand.

"I must admit (sales) are not big enough yet," he commented. "But demand is so strong that we already do not have enough supply... [800,000 units] is not a small volume, but it's not good enough to satisfy the market either."

Kutaragi also confirmed that Sony is hoping to add mobile phone technology and communications functions to the PSP "in the not too distant future," and said that a web browser for the device is on the way - but he downplayed rumours of a word processor and spreadsheet module, saying that these programs would be difficult to operate on a handheld console.

(3 replies) #1 Liquid on 22 Jan 2005 - 03:36

Wow thats alot. DS is at 1.5 Million for both Japan and North America now ? Once PSP hits NA its gonna stomp on DS

Last edited by 21093 on 23 Jan 2005 - 00:05

#1.1 Danrarbc641 on 22 Jan 2005 - 06:39

It sold 1 million plus in each region last year alone.

#1.2 TGD on 22 Jan 2005 - 22:52

DS has sold 2.5 million between the US and Japan. It's sold three times the number of units in Japan that the PSP has sold.

Just to add some perspective to this, last week in Japan 58,000 DS' were sold, and 57,000 PSPs. This brought their totals to 1,458,000 and 562,000 respectively. Sony have not sold 800'000 PSPs yet, they have shipped them.

Sony have consistently been selling 50'000 a week since they launched the hardware. Nintendo sold 100'000 of units some weeks, and demand is just starting to die down a bit. There's no evidence of any increase in demand for the PSP, it hasn't even come close to selling as many units as the DS did before it's demand lowered.

Last edited by 28670 on 22 Jan 2005 - 23:08

#1.3 macrosslover on 24 Jan 2005 - 08:45

dude follow your own logic, Nintendo has shipped not sold 2.8 million DS too. and quoting your own numbers it appears taht psp and ds have the same sales mostly. only reason DS is ahead is cause it launched earlier. but for crying out loud, the war isn't over for either of them, it just started and people are alreayd saying mine's beat yours. you have to wait for the performance of each at the end of their fiscal year then compare them. we have no idea how many psps Sony might produce for the United States launch and no idea how well it will do here.

before you start claming DS the victor, i'd advise you to remember that psp still has to launch here and anybody with a real opinion will tell you that it will do well at launch at the least.

(3 replies) #2 SyntheticDarkness on 22 Jan 2005 - 03:40

Dude the usa is in North America. why should we talk about USA as if it isn't part of it.

#2.1 TruBD on 22 Jan 2005 - 04:15

lmao

#2.2 bfoot045 on 22 Jan 2005 - 05:08

I think that was a typo for him, He probably ment to say it is 1.5 million in Japan & NA

#2.3 DarKNIGHTiLLuSiONisT on 29 Jan 2005 - 02:55

thats funny

(4 replies) #3 SecretAgentMan on 22 Jan 2005 - 11:05

Sony junk, nothing to see here.

#3.1 nookadum on 23 Jan 2005 - 03:23

Yup, nothing to see ^^ here, just another low-life troll who can't tell good hardware from bad.

#3.2 SecretAgentMan on 23 Jan 2005 - 09:34

Ah, the clueless one replies again trying to defend Sony and their junk products. Any person with half a clue knows Sony sells nothing but junk.

#3.3 nookadum on 24 Jan 2005 - 13:23

But, you see, you are the clueless one here since everybody knows that Sony sells quality (althought not uber-quality) products that actually work compared to most out there.

#3.4 SecretAgentMan on 25 Jan 2005 - 09:25

I would say try again when you actually have a clue dum but you will never have one.

Yawn, this is just to easy and my work here is done now.

Junk.

Last edited by 21440 on 25 Jan 2005 - 09:49

(4 replies) #4 Hekx on 22 Jan 2005 - 12:45

Oh, I thought PSP meant Paint Shop Pro.

#4.1 i like chips on 22 Jan 2005 - 22:04

hahahah

#4.2 eilegz on 22 Jan 2005 - 22:18

LOL jajja

#4.3 )(RockerBoy on 23 Jan 2005 - 00:49

rofl

#4.4 DarKNIGHTiLLuSiONisT on 29 Jan 2005 - 02:57

paint shop pro? man, that kills me, thats so funny

psp- play station pocket, buddy iz all good tho

#5 BartAfterDark on 22 Jan 2005 - 20:12

Hope they are going to add the browser thingy. So we can use it with Wlan

(7 replies) #6 wa22guy on 23 Jan 2005 - 09:23

My opinion: Sony's going to loose on this. As much as I respect them for trying, Nintendo with do ANYTHING in it's power to win this battle. Unfotunately, I just don't think Sony has enough innovation on the product and I feel the DS is too much of a household name already. Getting it out before X-Mas in the USA and Japan was key to the success it's had so far.

#6.1 theyarecomingforyou on 23 Jan 2005 - 10:51

QUOTE

As much as I respect them for trying, Nintendo with do ANYTHING in it's power to win this battle. Unfotunately, I just don't think Sony has enough innovation on the product and I feel the DS is too much of a household name already.

Yeah, I don't think Sony are very innovative, but that didn't stop them taking over in the home console market - as much as I like Nintendo they keep making so many silly mistakes (the design of the GameCube, for instance - if they had of styled it like a normal console without a kiddy controller it would have had such a better image). The PSP is so much better looking than the DS (I don't want either, I'm just neutral).

#6.2 TGD on 23 Jan 2005 - 15:14

I don't get how people don't like the Gamecube's design. Sure, the purple version = mistake. But the platinum or black versions are the best looking consoles on the market. Much nicer than the XBox or PS2 if you ask me.

As for the controller...the colour scheme is a little childish I guess. It's still an awesome controller for most games though

#6.3 ienhz on 24 Jan 2005 - 02:04

Slim PS2 = best looking console.

At least the PSP does more than just play games though. More bang for the buck if/when they decide to discontinue it, it can remain as my portable websurfer, MP3 player, and movie player.

#6.4 TGD on 24 Jan 2005 - 04:27

Slim PS2 is nice. I still think a platinum Gamecube owns it though

Seriously.

#6.5 ienhz on 24 Jan 2005 - 17:20

Sorry but that thing is still fugly.
The ONLY thing close to competing with the PS2's looks is probably that Panasonic GameCube in Japan. That thing looked awesome, too bad Nintendo chose not to release it in North America. Too bad it's already discontinued too.

#6.6 Monkeh on 25 Jan 2005 - 02:41

The only good thing about GC is Zelda and Tales of Eternia/Symphonia.

#6.7 DarKNIGHTiLLuSiONisT on 29 Jan 2005 - 02:59

for the gc, metroid prime n metroid prime2 echos wuz pretty good ps2 is better tho, since u can do alot more with it than with the gc, n y did they make tiny disks for the gc ne way?

(1 reply) #7 bunniz on 23 Jan 2005 - 20:35

I dont post on these to often, but this is dumb all of you commenting on something you havent touched or seen yet. Wait to see what happens and then you can make comments otherwise you are just making statements that are either all wrong or totally wrong, but could be right. The point is you have no clue either do i so wait and see.

#7.1 DarKNIGHTiLLuSiONisT on 29 Jan 2005 - 03:05

ok bunniz

#8 Joshie on 24 Jan 2005 - 07:41

See, people defend their side as much as they can so when the results finally do come in, the winners can gloat until their heads explode. Sure, there's a risk of being the loser and looking stupid as hell, but this risk is ignored.

Plus the losers can always rebound and insist their console was still the better hardware and was only beat out because of sketchy marketing practices and so on. Then the winners will say hardware doesn't matter without third party support, and so on. Then the losers will...well, I'm sure you already know how this goes.

#9 neo_joel on 25 Jan 2005 - 03:52

cant wait to get my hands on one!!!

#10 DarKNIGHTiLLuSiONisT on 29 Jan 2005 - 03:04

sonys makin lots of money by sellin all them psp's, i mean they sold what, 1 mill or 1.5 million for japan & NA , jeez thats alot, im gonna have 2 check out the ps3 thats supposed 2 come out within a few years or somethin like that

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