PSP a drain on Sony
Handheld will not be profitable straight away
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Like Nintendo's tricky-to-manufacture and sell and sell DS handheld, so Sony's ambitious PSP - which has driven up handheld gaming benchmarks massively before even going on sale - is expected to hit Sony's profitability as the firm counts costs upon the new console's debut. Early-stage development and component manufacturing expenses are to blame, and will result in no profits from the device in its early life-cycle. Countering this however, Sony does expect the PSP to enjoy an impressive ten year lifespan, which will no doubt see the system driven well into profit if Sony's calculations and estimates prove correct.
"If you're saying 'Day one. Are you going to be profitable on the hardware?' then probably not," US CE at Sony Computer Entertainment Kaz Hirai conceded during an E3 interview. "Hopefully, this will have a 10-year life cycle, at which point I'll look back and say 'Yes, definitely profitable.'"
The financial hit both Nintendo and Sony are prepared to take initially on their respective devices demonstrates amply the importance of the market they will be competing in to both firms; as mobile phones and music players have become de rigeur, so Sony and Nintendo are banking upon bleeding-edge gaming systems become an integral part of today's portable culture.
Comments
I'm a big fan of any kind of handhelds, and from the look of things right now this PSP is going to crush all the competion!
Heh. Personally, i think Sony have lost it. With the new era of mobile phones and convergance and soforth, a mobile gaming device would be lucky to last for 5 years on the international market, let alone 10. Sure, it may look great at launch, but come 2010 the PSP is going to have some serious problems facing up to new technology.
No console ever really has a 10-year lifespan. I'd give PSP 7 years tops. Also, technology isn't everything. Every handheld that has ever competed against Nintendo during its 10 years as king of the handheld market has had impressive technology, but ultimately lost. Sony already took a potshot at Nintendo with the Pocketstation and it failed horribly. What makes the PSP any different?
andrew, ur stupid. of course its not gonna cost $400. Mabye, $300, tops. probly $200- 250. hopefully less :P
oops i meant it not gonna cost $450
PSP WILL KILL DS!
i said this on that other story and i will say it again...
no way in hell am i gonna pay $400(yes $400) for some piece of crap that relays ps2 games. ive seen some of the psp games, they do not have ps2 graphics, even if most of them are remakes. the only game that looks good is metal gear acid. I say this as a ps2 owner.
psp sucks!
I believe that once again the Nintendo product is focusing more on the younger generations and the Sony product is focusing on the older generations... here's where that's a problem... How many grownups do you often see carrying around a video game device? Portability is key, but why would a 30 year old be carrying his PSP to his 3 o'clock business meeting? Nonetheless, power-wise, the DS doesn't quite stack up to the PSP... but in the end, it's not the power of the handheld that necessarily prevails...
u guys suck, the psp is going to be $450. ha u guys will probaly spend two weeks pay check on this
ok listen up people since the psp vs ds fourum is full of comments i have decided to compile up the results of it and find out which will really win. Most of the people who buy the system are goin to post here about it on the psp vs ds fourum, so this is a pretty accurate(i think) way of portraying which will win. I tried to give one tile per person, so if you posted twice, you will only be counted once(although i might have made 1 or 2 mistakes). so people, here are the results:
PSP: 31
DS: 68
NEWTRAL: 42
OTHER: 59
so as you can plainly see, the overall winner is the nintendo ds, so stop postin comments on how the PSP is so good!
one more thing, people who say nintendo is for kids, please realize that most kids dont go online, but the ds is the winner, so ds winns with teens, not psp.
the argument is officialy over
psp is going to be the hotz handheld system yet but it iz goin to cost to much I mean $450.00 yeah right.Ebay!!
the psp dosen't have a chance. I say this as a Sony fan, but Nintendo's been doing this stuff for 15 years. they know handheld gaming. I've seen them both, and honestly, the ds just impressed me much more, and I wasn't surprised. Put simply, the ds will dominate over the psp, unless the public's judgement is based on being a fanboy and loyal to just one company, even if the other's is better. Sony should have just stuck with home consoles. I can't believe they would be foolish enough to challenge Nintendo in this catagorie.
psp is not guna have a 10 yr life span but its still guna last longer than ds :-)
psp will lose, gba is the best sellin hanheld, and psp wont slow it down any, especially with that things price and battery life. 2 hours of battery,, no thanks. ds will sell more because
1)its going to be cheaper
2)way longer battery life
3)no loading times
4)major support from third parties which will match psp's (if not more)
5)no required memory cards
6)MORE INNOVATIVE GAMES
and when the gba2 pops in, psp might as well jump into its grave, its over.
PSP might just be the worst idea Sony's ever had. The thing has 2.5 FREAKING HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE! Only 2 and half hours, huh? Guess you won't finish what mediocre games the PSP will come out with. (AKA: PS2 Ports. PS2 Ports. More PS2 ports.) At least the Nintendo DS is innovative and interesting! The PSP is merely Sony's cry for help. I mean...they're pissing about how the GBA is outselling the PS2. Can't they just admit defeat? The GameCube isn't the most bought console out there, but I can tell you this...THEY'RE STILL LOYAL TO THEIR FANS! They are not willing to change their "kiddy image" because that'd be rude to Nintendo's true fans. Not to mention, M-rated games do not make a mature person. Too bad Sony fanboys/fangirls think otherwise. Anyway, I'm with Nintendo on this one. They have experiance, innovativeness, better gaming lineup, longer battery life...and more amazing stuff I could ramble on about. Why even bother to compare? Am I the only one who's heard about the PlayStation Pocket? It failed. End of discussion. (For now.)
here is why psp sucks:
short battery life.
focuses on add-ons instead of gameplay.
it has moving gears inside so if you drop it then you're screwed.
it needs a memory card.
it can only play the few games coming out for it (ds can play all gameboy, color, advance games.
crappy button layout (square too close to screen).
the screen is completely open so it is prone to getting scratched.
its large and not as portable as nintendo ds.
its made by sony which is completely depending on third party support.
since it has moving parts inside, it will overheat quickly
get a nintendo ds instead. you'le be thanking me later.
I noticed a lot of these comments are old so let’s go with facts in stead of just random bashing. The DS can play GBA and DS games. The DS does not support older GB and GBC games.
I have used Nintendo's hand held systems since their launch but I feel that I have grown out of them. If Sony wants to attract an older crowd then that is great. I am all for it.
I am 25 and I will be using my PSP when I am out and about. If I go out to eat and there is a 45 minute wait having my PSP to either watch my free copy of Spider-Man too or playing a game will be useful. Not everyone wants to play Mario. Sorry, but some of us want something more or somethng different.
Why is there so much bashing against entertainment devices? Is there really so much pride stored up in a bit of plastic and circuitry?
Yes the PSP's battery life is somewhere between 4-6 hours. You can always plug it in and play or have a life outside of gaming and do something else.
PSP needs a memory card? Well, damn...too bad the packages being sold here in the US come with a 32meg memory card...
You know screen protectors are only a couple dollars right? You know it’s always a good idea to be careful with a $200-$250 investment right?
Depending on 3rd party support? Well, it seems Sony made a pretty damn good library of games based on 3rd party support with their PS2. If you look at Nintendo's release schedule accord to EB their line of games for this year is pretty thin and mainly only Nintendo made games.
It’s not portable because it is "large"? Have you even seen one? It is not that larger than a DS. The point of the PSP is that is portable.
Focuses on add-ons instead of game play? Where did you get this info? What add-ons? Are you talking about playing games over the net with Wi-Fi? Hmm, that seems like a damn good idea for playing games and WiFi is already built into the PSP.
"it can only play the few games coming out for it "? Well, I guess I will have to make do with the 19 games that are coming out around the launch or the couple weeks after. Oh no. only 19 games...what will I do? I guess I should just stick to my DS and the 1 game that ever interested me from the launch which was Mario 64 DS.
I don't really care who wins this little battle. If Nintendo pushes out more DS games I will play my DS more, but if they continue with this lackluster line of games then I won't bother with it. So far I have picked up 3 PSP games at EB that interest me and since the PSP is more than just a game system I am sure I will get my use out of it.
If anyone has noticed, neither system is crushing the other one.
I don't believe age is truly a factor unless you are stereotyping the brands. As far as Sterotypes go, there are quite a few that still consider ANY gaming is for kids.
Anyway, after playing both systems, the DS is more interesting and more fun.
The PSP is a decent system with good graphics (they aren't amazing, probably due to a cheap LCD screen that blurs constantly). Between the loading times and lack of interesting games, it's rather boring.
The NDS boots up immediately and you are good to go. I've also noticed that DS games do a much better job of gearing towards portability and "quick play".
However, both systems don't have the good games yet.