Sony Lowers PSP HW, Raises PS2 HW, Lowers SW Projections for Fiscal Year

Sony had a strong quarter overall in its Network Products & Services Division (which includes PSP, PS2, and PS3), but the company has reduced its PSP hardware forecast by 1/3 for the year and software by 1/6.

[TheGameLlama]

Oh PSP... only popular in Japan.

[Duke_Silver]

That's sort of surprising do to the huge amount of quality PSP games coming out this year

[RememberThe357]

Was that sarcastic?

[ClownBelt]

Pretty obvious its not. There really are a lot of promising games that will come out this year for the PSP.

[RememberThe357]

Cool, I haven't used mine since Resistance: Retrobution (great game). Are there any titles I should be keeping an eye on?

[PirateThom]

Peace Walker.
Valkyria Chronicles 2.
Resident Evil.
SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3.
Duke Nukem Trilogy: Critical Mass.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.
And, of course, Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! 2: Time To Tighten Up Security!

[afroafro]

yeah, I was pretty surprised when I saw the list of psp games scheduled for 2010. Check the full list here:

http://news.vgchartz.com/ne...

[MaxwellGT2000]

Yikes! Hopefully Sony can pull out some big games this year like they did last year.

[Braineater2448]

Interesting analysis. Not surprised by PSP hardware.

[maskedwarrior]

PS3 at 33.53 million worldwide. According to GAF the XBox 360 is at 38.7 million.

[Pistolero]

Microsoft announced weeks ago that the 360 was already past 39 million...a Sony exec just stated in an interview that the 360 is 8 million ahead.

[i_am_interested]

he also stated 31 million

peter dille was wrong

EDIT -

peter dille was interviewed feb 3, 2010 - where he claimed 31 million

xbox numbers from DEC indicated ~38.5, Ballmer announced 39 on Jan 7, 2010

[Pistolero]

Peter Dille said that the PS3 was at 31 million and the 360 was at 39 million...obviously both have sold a little more since then...but those were the latest figures.

[afroafro]

Please do not spam the whole thread by repeating your comment all over it.

Petter Dille was wrong. Please take a look at the official sony numbers which was updated today to reflect the oct-dec report.

http://www.scei.co.jp/corpo...

PS3 has sold 33.5 million units by the end of 2009. (that's excluding Jan sales.

In January, Microsoft announced it has shipped 38.7 million units.

So there you have it;
Xbox 360: 38.7
PS3: 33.5
The gap: 5.2

These are both official numbers announced by the companies and not estimates.

[Noctis Aftermath]

The gap is down to 5.2mil, PS3 will gain huge grounds this year and may even overtake the 360 if things go well.

The 31 million number is obviously older numbers, if you think otherwise you are just trying to do damage control.

[RedHurriKane]

11 mil to 5.2 in 3 years.........only growing smaller by the seconds

[njguy2]

Sony's three systems combined now barely sell more software than Wii by itself...amazing switch from five years ago.

[RememberThe357]

Sony as a muli-national corporation is doomed because they're gaming division just returned to profitability...

/s

[Braineater2448]

Probably more profitable than Microsoft's 360.

[swiftshot93]

They're still 5 million behind Xbox. They need to do something about that.

[Pistolero]

Even Sony's own exec just said in an interview that the 360 is 8 million ahead...so why are you trying to claim 5 million?

[Rush]

They have been 8 million behind since like 2007 I don't get why everyone's constantly calming there catching up. They are selling the same amount of consoles constantly. Microsoft is just ahead thanks to the 1 year head start.

Well and maybe the RRoD a little but ya know...

[saint_john_paul_ii]

what he said was an approximation from his head. this is on Paper. you cant take interviews as the final say.

As for the PSP, thats what they get for not dropping and keeping the price of the PSP GO at $199

PSP Go should not be worth $250. I have a PSP Go, its a good system. But not worth the Price. especially when its 5 year old hardware.

PS2 numbers were expected. its a 10 year old system. people are buying next-gen hardware now, primarily PS3 systems. the PS2's plug could be pulled any moment from now. it all depends on the success of the PS3 this year.

[afroafro]

It goes something like this:

Xbox has shipped 38.7 million units in 4 years. that is:
38.7 Divided by 4 = 9.6

9.6 million has been Microsoft's average annual sales.

Sony has sold 33.5 million units in 3 years. that is:
33.5 Divided by 3 = 11.1

11.1 million has been sony's average annual sales. (exculding psp and ps2 of course).

11.1 - 9.6 = 1.5

Because PS3 has been outselling Xbox on average, analyst say "it's been catching up".

You've probably heard the phrase more recently, because in 2009's last quarter (that is oct-dec) ps3 outsold xbox by more than 1 million units.

However that is not to say this speed is enough for sony. there are 4 things that we should consider.

1 - will sony be able to keep the momentun and outsell xbox in the coming months? most analysts expected the momentum to drop shortly after september. However, this was not the case. But it doesn't mean sony can keep outselling xbox for the rest of the year. we should wait and see.

2 - Natal and Arc have the potential to dramatically change the scene. I think Natal has a better chance because of it's "wow" factor. I think arc is the more practical approcah to motion controller in gaming, but that doesn't necessary affect the sales.

3 - it's important to remember in the end, a larger install base, means potentially more software sales and hence potentially more profit. So no matter how late sony has come to the race, or how "on average" it can outsell xbox, Microsoft can benefit from it's larger install base.

4 - and most important of all; it doeasn't matter if sony or xbox finally come "third". What's important is that both of them maintain a healthy flow of profit so that they can stay in the market and serve us the gamers by competing with each other.