GP2x sells 30,000 units

by Zack Stern { Oct 15th 2006 at 6:17PM }

GameSpot reports that the GP2X has sold 30,000 units since its European launch earlier this year. Craig Rothwell, Director of GP32/2x Distribution, expects the Linux handheld sales to total 50,000 by the end of the year.

Is 50,000 a lot? We think it's a reasonable amount and could sustain a well-run business. According to gamesindustry.biz, the ill-fated Gizmondo sold less than 5,000 units in its first three months. (Both devices were launched in the United Kingdom.) While the GP2X has had three times as long to reach 30,000, over its life-span, the GP2X has sold twice as well as the Gizmondo.

The European Nintendo DS launch dwarfed both systems, totaling 87,000 units in two days. Comparing the GP2X and DS is like comparing an office softball team with the Yankees, but that doesn't mean that both can't coexist. (And yes, the DS Phat was caught juicing, which is why the Lite is so scrawny.)

Read: Q&A: GP2X chief Craig Rothwell
Read: GP2X handheld expected to reach 50,000 sales by Xmas

[Thanks, JamesO]

Tags: Craig Rothwell, CraigRothwell, Gizmondo, GP2X, GP32

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

funkyflea @ Oct 15th 2006 6:26PM

And before anyone jumps in with an anti-N-Gage comment - the tally of n-gages sold is 2million.

Pretty good.

martinj88 @ Oct 15th 2006 6:41PM

I know a few people who have these and all of them got there GP2Xs from Korea instead of waiting..

SO there's probably a few thousand more GP2Xs in Europe than they think

otakucode @ Oct 15th 2006 6:45PM

If your business isn't traded on the stock market, you can serve niche markets very well and garner loads of dedicated customers. It's when a company goes public that things get really tough. You can't just turn a profit, nobody cares about your profits. You can't just have your profits increasing, nobody cares about that either. The rate at which your profits increase is what they look at. So you could be making money, making more money than the year before, but they'll dump your stock and bankrupt you if you're not increasing that gain every single quarter. It leads to companies like EA doing the things they do.

That being said, I was a bit disappointed that the GP2x didn't release with a processor fast enough to make emulation of 32-bit consoles trivial. I haven't checked recently, but have they got such emulators running at full speed with sound? If so, I'll buy one immediately. I sold my PSP after I didn't touch it for 3 months, and I miss portable emulated gaming.

Ibrahim @ Oct 15th 2006 6:50PM

Wow, for curiosity's sake I went over to their site and first thing I see is 275mhz version now on sale. Original was 240mhz. Maybe that will help otakucode.

William @ Oct 15th 2006 7:06PM

"""Comparing the GP2X and DS is like comparing an office softball team with the Yankees, but that doesn't mean that both can't coexist. (And yes, the DS Phat was caught juicing, which is why the Lite is so scrawny.)"""

That might possibly be the funniest thing I've heard all year! Hahahahahha

potato @ Oct 15th 2006 7:10PM

yeah I want one
I price just went down

Pal @ Oct 15th 2006 7:20PM

30,000 units sell in a year and everyone cheers. Sony sells over 3 million PSPs in 2006 alone and is tagged as a dying handheld. I just don't understand.

Pal @ Oct 15th 2006 7:25PM

By the way, however...I do love the GP2X. I just feel sorry for Sony, since they've done so much better than Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, WonderSwan, etc. in sales but still is heckled aplenty.

Ian @ Oct 15th 2006 7:35PM

They're heckled because they're cocky assmunchers. And deserve to die in a fire. That's why.

Also, they are a DIRECT competitor to Nintendos handheld, and Nintendo is CRUSHING them. So relative to their direct competition, they aren't doing so hot.

Ken Edwards @ Oct 15th 2006 8:21PM

Ibrahim and others:

The listed 275 Mhz system is NOT new hardware. These have been tested and run at that speed. I can overclock mine to 300 Mhz just fine.

Some units seem to overclock well, some do not.

I am glad to hear the good news for the GP2X. It is a really nice piece of hardware.

potato @ Oct 15th 2006 8:45PM

#9
PSP and DS are not competing directly. They are going after different markets.

PSP and DS are both the fastest selling devices and are both doing well.

nootau @ Oct 15th 2006 8:46PM

You cant compare the PSP and GP2X either, because the company is making a profit off of every GP2X sold (they dont expect to get license fees to support them). so 50,000 units at a profit is pretty good. They need to make it 300,000 a year to sustain a good size company though (if the markup is ~10%)

nootau @ Oct 15th 2006 8:58PM

@potato

the DS and PSP are in the same market now (maybe not at launch), since there will be no more UMD movies. The PSP is just a gaming Device. The DS can also browse the net and play movies and mp3s now too (with add-ons). They are the same. the PSP is just sold with everything built in, the DS is sold with the need for add-ons (if you want to do music and internet browsing).

Dont get me wrong, the PSP is doing "great". Alot of people have problems with the PSP because of statements Sony made about Nintendo and the DS before the PSP launch basically saying they would rule the world! (in normal sony fasion) and now they have been humbled. PSP games rarely reach the top 10, and PSP games rarely hit 1 million sold. And if Sony is still selling the PSP at a loss, that makes it even worse. I dont see any ruling of the world here.

On a side note: the Turbo Express, Neo Geo Pocket, Game Gear and Lynx to my knowledge were not sold at a loss. Its not smart to do so in the handheld market. (can anyone confirm?)

vaylen @ Oct 15th 2006 10:26PM

The GP2X rawks. Nothing like being able to play MAME, Atari 800, Atari ST, Amiga, Genesis, SNES and NES games on the go. Most versatile portable EVER.

calthaer @ Oct 16th 2006 11:37AM

I want it to succeed - emulation rocks.

Duck King @ Oct 16th 2006 4:40PM

It's definately a niche' device. There's a bit of work involved getting the emulators properly configured. This thing does run some wicked games like Samurai Showdown 5 Special and Dracula X Turbo Duo at full speed with sound. The GP2X is the only portable console that will emulate all Neo-Geo games fullspeed.

BPM? @ Oct 16th 2006 12:48AM

As a Nintendo fan, I can honestly say that PSP is selling well. It has outsold Game Gear BY FAR (which was considered to be Nintendo's last REAL competition in the handheld market), and it still continues on. Is PSP dying? Hardly. Just because it isn't the runaway success DS is (really, it's nothing short of phenominal of how well DS is selling) does NOT mean it's a failure, or that Sony should stop supporting it.

The key to DS's success is that not only is it cheaper than PSP, but it has software that appeals to non-gamers (Nintendogs, Brain Age, etc.) whereas PSP really only appeals to those who already are into video games.

The GP2X looks very neat, and I may pick one up someday.

josh @ Oct 16th 2006 4:11AM

The problem with PSP is the whole UMD movies debacle, and that they are fighting the homebrew with the various OS upgrades that are designed to kill homebrew/emulation.

Lots more people (me included) would get PSPs if I could be assured I could use it for homebrew AND for all current and future games. (this means: no worry that a game will EVER make me upgrade the OS to not run homebrew). Of course, buying a PSP to do emulation doesn't help sony much i guess, but if i had one for emulation i would be likely to buy a game here and there as well.

Rayek @ Oct 16th 2006 1:45AM

The GP2X is simply the second best gaming purchase I've ever made, right behind the Dreamcast. I actually bought a PSP, got fed up with so many innumerable things that I sold it and bought a GP2X. And it is well worth any change anyone spends on it. It emulates Genesis, Neo Geo, SMS, Game Gear, NES, Super Nintendo, Gameboy, etc... Very, very well.

Figboy @ Oct 16th 2006 3:12AM

and yet i don't understand how the PSP can sell 15 million units and counting to date, and be considered a "dying handheld" across the net, but a gadget that sells 30,000 and it's "a reasonable amount and could sustain a well-run business."

to me, that points to a very, very biased view against Sony.

and am i the only person who sees that the DS sales are as high as they are because Nintendo released the DS Lite, and orginal DS owners went out and bought the Lite? prior to the release of the Lite, the larger DS had sold 15 million. it isn't unreasonable to think that 6 or 7 million DS owners bought the Lite as well. the same would happen if Sony were to release an updated PSP in a year. a percentage of original PSP owners would probably buy the PSP-EX. that's not taking anything away from the DS and DS Lite, but things really need to be looked at honestly and objectively. the DS is a great system. so is the PSP. they both offer different experiences for their respective markets, and complement each other perfectly. i think they co-exist rather peacefully and surprisingly, and the handheld market is big enough to support them both. now, 3 handhelds (ie, an X Box handheld), may be a bit much to ask. but the DS/PSP combo is pretty sweet (so, in internet speak, would that be a "DSP FTW?").

i'm not one to jump on any joystiq is anti-whatever bandwagons, but i do distinctly remember articles on this site about the PSP being finished and a "dead" handheld, so an article like this one does raise ones eyebrows. double standards? i don't know.

melime @ Oct 16th 2006 3:13AM

I had the gp2x and before that the psp

I really liked the community of the gp2x and the device is great in homebrew and emulation and video
( dont have to convert most of the videos )
but the joystick is soooooo crap !!!!
that I sold this shit and got my PSP back for Atari, nes , snes, etc

BPM? @ Oct 16th 2006 4:02AM

Figboy, the difference between PSP and GP2X is huge. One is a mass-market device, aimed at all sort of people. The other is a lesser known device meant for homebrew and the like (c'mon, it even runs on Linux!).
The PSP is direct competition with DS; GP2X is not.

Ask anyone you meet, and see how many of them know of PSP, and how many know of GP2X. Likely, most of them will know of PSP, and most of them will never have heard of GP2X (or think it's something else).

For a device made for such a low scale, 30,000 units is good. For PSP, it is kind of bad how it continues to trail DS (and we all know Sony plays to win).

nintendofanboyandproud @ Oct 16th 2006 9:35AM

But where is the Tapwave Zodiac, the greatest handheld of all time?

And before anyone contradicts me, tell me on what other handheld you can

-Surf the net with touch screen simplicity
-Have unrestricted emulation of retro systems
-Play older PC games (Quake!)
-Use MSN, Aim etc
-View PDF's, Edit word docs and spreadsheets (basically use any pieceof palm software)
-Watch nearly any media file, with simple conversion of unsupported formats (of which there are few)
- Run an iTunes inspired music player
- Have up to 8gigs of storage through 2 sd card slots
- Use as a GPS
- Enjoy the, erm, shitty first party games (though they do have force feedback!)

The last one shows why it failed, but if it had been supported more by devs it could have dominated the handheld industry. Definitely had a lot going for it.

dsub @ Oct 16th 2006 11:28AM

otakucode-

the biggest reason why the GP2X hsa trouble emulating 32-bit consoles, or more or less any 3D game is because it doesn't have a 3D accelerator at all. Sure, a faster CPU would help, but the graphics processing unit in the GP2X is only a 2D accelerator and it lacks alot of the necessary support to run 32-bit games, like openGL support. The XGP from Game Park (www.gamepark.com) that is made by the spinoff company from Gamepark Holdings that makes the GP2X actually has a 3d accelerator and Open GL support...but...if I'm not mistaken they took the mainstream route and it won't run unsigned code. Only official "XGP" games.

Mike @ Oct 16th 2006 10:43AM

I recommend any one who uses emulators regularly on their PC, and is a tinkerer at heart to get a GP2X. It really is the best toy I've bought in years. Every night before bed I can play some old arcade games, maybe a bit of gameboy scrabble, continue my Genesis Tecmo Superbowl season, play a little "Sam & Max", watch some "One Piece". All on a really nice 3 1/2" screen.

PiratePete @ Oct 16th 2006 10:48AM

The GP2X is IMO the best over all handheld out there right now. Come on, It plays MAME (Arcade classics), NEO GEO, SNES, Genesis, not to mention many others. Think about it, NEO GEO on a hand held with full sound (You can hear the voices so clearly:) support. Man, what is there not to love.
Check it out. When I whip this baby out I get stares like, "What the heck is that. That's no pspds, Booo!".
And I'm like "Oh nothing, only something YOU CAN PLAY ALL YOUR FAVORITE CLASSIC ARCADE GAMES AND MORE ON!!".
Then I show um some Tempest, Robotron, Sinstar, KoF2001, Samurai Showdown V, (I know, I'm old school :) and it "Drools" all around.
Also (With the TV cable and break out box) you can connect it up to your TV and add usb controllers to have your friends join in.

I have a DS and PSP but since I got this unit those two have not been getting any love.

I'm VERY happy with mine. Oh and yes the joystick could be better.