PSP shipments down, but software gaining momentum

by Andrew Yoon on Jul 28th 2006 1:12PM

While we were so hyped up about the new 2.80 firmware, some of the smaller news stories fell through the cracks. For example, Sony revealed their quarterly results, and revealed that yes, they finally made money. But, that money certainly didn't come from the games division. Rather, sales of digital cameras, cell phones, and the theatrical release of The DaVinci Code seemed to pour the cash into Sony's pockets. The games division has seen a 29.1 percent drop in sales and operating revenue for this quarter, and the operating losses have increased this quarter to $232.2 million.

Sales for PlayStation 2's notably aged hardware and software predictably went down. Unfortunately, it appears that demand for PSP hardware has dropped worldwide, resulting in approximately 3% less shipments this quarter (note that shipments and sales are two different figures). However, shipments for software have nearly doubled, reaching 9.1 million (an increase of 4.2 million).

While hardware may have seen a small dip, that software figure shows a still-impressive run for the PSP. It appears that the games division will be making most of its money from the PSP for now, as analysts predict that PS3 manufacturing costs will cost the company $2 billion within a year.

[Via Gamasutra]

Source

Tags: profit, quarterly, shipment, shipments, sony

Reader Comments (1)

Game system sales usually do flatten during the summer months - it's not a big gift season. Also, let's face it, the DS Lite has been garnering a LOT of handheld system sales, as one would expect with a device that has undergone a major reworking. The PS2 slimline generated a resurgence in that console sales a couple of Christmasses ago.

Also, the GBA hasn't given up the ghost with the Micro and GBA SP+ models still floating around, so the PSP hardware is actually competing with four Nintendo handhelds - two DSes and two GBAs.

The higher software sales figures are what I'm happy about and what the platform needed badly. These too should be somewhat expected, since there have been a fair number of AA+ titles over the past quarter or so.

After all the NPD hardware sales figures (which don't factor in major chains) and other talk/conjecture, the bottom line comes down to how many copies publishers can expect to sell on a given platform. Beancounters control all the major development at the end of the day, and if they don't see a positive bottom line in doing an original or ported title for the PSP, you aren't going to see it. No games, no system sales. Death ensues.

That's why this is about the best news PSP fans could hope for at this point. I'd really be interested to see a graph/chart or something following PSP software sales since launch in the USA, if such data were available. Andrew, you've worked hard these past few days with all the news and 2.80 stuff, so I'll give you at least 10 or 15 minutes to rest before I expect to see it. ;)