Overwhelming demand causes widespread PSP shortages
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Dec 15th 2007 at 11:30AM }
"They are impossible to find in most stores, at least in my area." - SaraAB
"It is true about PSP selling surpringly well. I suggested either PSP core or Daxter bundle as a gift for me, and in the past couple weeks it had been generally hard to find or very quickly selling when available." - H22A
"The PSP has been OOS for a long time (Core & Daxter) both B&M & Online. I've been trying to get one for weeks (and a decent deal) and TRU, Target, BB, CC, Amazon, Walmart, Gamestop, Barnes & Noble have all been OOS and then got restocked but sold out very quickly." - J7.
"According to my favorite Gamestop manager...they can't even keep USED PSPs in stock...who knew." - loserboy
"Let me add my voice to the chorus of truth: The Daxter bundle and the piano black slim ARE hard to find this holiday season in many areas. Not bad for a "failed system" (as some bozos were saying a year or so ago)." - canedaddy
"My wife wants the slim black one, and I haven't been able to find them online or in any store." - Clobbersaurus
Wow. Who knew our little system had so much selling power? Has there ever been a better time to be a PSP fan? Those that are looking for a PSP, there is some advice from CAG members. Get the Star Wars white system. Supposedly, no one wants them, and they are easily the most readily available system.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
stephen @ Dec 15th 2007 12:06PM
um, could it be because everyone already has a DS so the only option left is to get a PSP?
qiatrick @ Dec 15th 2007 1:28PM
no
pixelator @ Dec 15th 2007 4:25PM
Not hardly. The DS is selling well in the US, but not so well that 'everyone' has one.
Maybe people are sick of getting conned by gimmicky 'non-games' and the terrible ratio of licensed junk on the DS (and Wii).
John the Snake Man @ Dec 15th 2007 12:07PM
yay...
We need people for better online.
DK @ Dec 15th 2007 12:25PM
Funny, I saw a whole bunch of Battlefront sets at my local Target the other night.
TheDragon @ Dec 20th 2007 9:35AM
As the article says pretty plainly... "...Get the star wars white system. Supposedly NO ONE wants them..."
Literacy FTW.
merc25 @ Dec 15th 2007 12:38PM
it's not true for my area, then again my area isn't exactly a wealthy city. Hell before the holiday shopping season began, I saw a Wii at several stores.
Hashbrown_Hunter @ Dec 15th 2007 12:46PM
Well if you live in Southern California, now it's almost impossible to find one. Every Best Buy, Circuit City, and Micro Center I've been to in the last 2 weeks has been sold out.
So this is definitely good, and I'm sure the price drop from a couple months ago coupled with the Slim release is helping.
ALL I WANT FOR XMAS IS A PSP
:D
rainking187 @ Dec 16th 2007 5:25AM
I went to an EB Games today and they had a ton.
Autobon @ Dec 15th 2007 12:53PM
I could have got one yesterday! Arrgh! I went to best buy here in Seattle area and they were all sold out. I am glad they are selling so well, but its also bad for me since i cant find one anywhere
Tristan @ Dec 15th 2007 1:01PM
Gotta love the PSP, I love playing the games on the TV, such a luxury.
James @ Dec 15th 2007 1:07PM
Hopefully I'll get mine before Xmas. But isn't it a little optimistic saying it's the hottest item? My local stores sell out of Wii's and DS's week on week up to the Xmas launch. The PSP isn't doing so well here.
But that's good for me as it means cheaper games! Well they're cheaper than DS games somehow.
Jacob @ Dec 15th 2007 1:10PM
I'm looking for a substantial source for such a bold headline....all I see is anecdotal evidence from a web forum.
Noshino @ Dec 15th 2007 3:30PM
then look at the websites that those anecdotes are refering to?
I think all you have to do is put the word "Light" (or Lite for that matter) or "Slim" on something to sell it or at least to sky rocket the sales....hey, it worked for the DS :P
TheDragon @ Dec 20th 2007 9:43AM
Would you settle for real-world experience from shoppers? As I outlined in my comment (that wasn't a reply to anyone), I have experienced this shortage first-hand. Personally, I'll take peers saying, "I can't find one at any local stores" as proof over some major news outlet saying the psp is out of stock. Remember when EA said they don't have enough Rock Band to meet demand? Oh man, now we can see how funny that claim was.
Jacob @ Dec 20th 2007 10:14AM
Considering there are several people on this very site in these very comments saying they aren't having any trouble finding them, then no, Dragon.
I'm sorry, but a few people on a web forum saying their local store is sold out does not qualify for the following:
"Overwhelming demand causes widespread PSP shortages"
Alien @ Dec 15th 2007 1:37PM
lol Hashbrown_Hunter ... they should have put that video up :P
Anyway , even though its not sold out here , it is bought , and suplyes are needed on weekly basis , so yay for the PSP :D
xxjudgmentxx @ Dec 15th 2007 8:13PM
i dont know where all these shortages are happening, but here in wisconsin they're everywhere. i end up going to best buy or walmart or somewhere about every other day and they always have at least 20 star wars ent. packs and 7-10 piano black slims in stock.
Ben @ Dec 15th 2007 3:20PM
I'm incredibly happy. In fact, it took me 3 hours and 5 stores to find a Star Wars PSP. I enjoyed every minute of it though, since 2 Targets, 1 WalMart, and 1 BestBuy didn't have ANY PSPs in stock. Nothing better than hearing the online population (hopefully) will be growing. Hell, my aunt had to import a Daxter pack from Canada for my cousin :-P
Trekster_Gamer @ Dec 15th 2007 4:09PM
go Away DS troll, go back to your little DS POS TOY and STFU
Trekster_Gamer @ Dec 15th 2007 4:22PM
this was meant for the comment made first by "qiatrick"
Ispert @ Dec 15th 2007 5:45PM
The thing is, the place i live :D the psp sell cheap :D hmm i think about 3000 krones, means u have to calculate a lil, a dollar is 15 krones so u have to 3000/15 yea :D thats right 200 bucks and u have one :D
NukeAssault @ Dec 15th 2007 8:01PM
I got the last Daxter set at my best buy but that was about a month ago.
Don @ Dec 15th 2007 9:35PM
This happened last year too, at least in my area (west coast Canada)
Dewy9 @ Dec 16th 2007 1:22AM
Keep in mind that for a very long time, up until yesterday, Amazon's supply of DS' have been quite sporadic and most of the time, the Amazon warehouse has been out of stock.
I'm not a troll, just pointing something out. I don't have a horse in the DS/PSP race, though I've owned both of them at one time or another.
wukong @ Dec 15th 2007 11:30PM
Well...I can say that GameStops in my area, as well as the one I work at, have PSPs generally in stock. That is only the older PSPs. The PSP Slims are getting harder to find for a few reasons:
1) The Daxter/Family Guy combo PSP Slim is getting harder to find. However some rumor are stating that Sony is starting to discontinue them.
2) Regular PSP Slim model isn't really hard to find, almost easy, but it is selling well because of this simple reason: It's cheaper than the other Slim bundles. Sure they're nice but more and more people seem to want the cheaper version so they can save a few more bucks.
Anywho, while it is selling well...I'm still seeing more DS sales. Still, glad to see it selling well, my co-workers betted AGAINST PSP while I betted for it to still sell.
Selling Power, Inc @ Jan 11th 2008 2:24PM
Dear Mr. Yoon:
I just ran across an article you wrote entitled, “Overwhelming demand causes widespread PSP shortages,” posted December 15, 2007, http://playstation.joystiq.com/2007/12/15/overwhelming-demand-causes-widespread-psp-shortages/, and I would like to raise an issue that is of concern to Selling Power magazine, which is the use of our trademark.
The word "Selling Power" is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for sales effectiveness. For example, in your article you ask: "Who knew our little system had so much selling power?" We do not condone such uses of our trademark.
As a practical matter, when you describe sales effectiveness, there are a wide range of terms available such as: sales excellence, sales savvy, sales mastery, sales acumen, sales efficiency, and many more.
The reason for this letter is to educate writers like yourself that we want to protect our trademark, since we don't want to risk Selling Power being declared by the courts a generic word. Therefore we ask you not to use Selling Power as a phrase since it is our legal trademark.
We would like to receive a written acknowledgement of this letter stating that you will in the future identify Selling Power as a trademark if you should write about our magazine, and not use Selling Power as a phrase. If we do not hear from you, we will need to take further action.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
All the best,
Gerhard Gschwandtner
Founder and Publisher
Selling Power
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GG:ts
Byakk0 @ Dec 18th 2007 5:08AM
Hell, I work at a WalMart in Maryland and we had at least 20 PSP's in stock.
The Wii is still the holy grail of the holiday season
TheDragon @ Dec 20th 2007 9:28AM
My birthday was on December 7th, and for my birthday my fiancee let me buy a new PSP as I sold my old fat psp a while back due to lack of funds. I knew exactly which one I wanted, the Daxter bundle. (Though, in retrospect, importing an FFVI: Crisis Core bundle may have been more expensive, but would have been significantly sexier). We went out to pick one up, and stopped at ten places before stopping at the last resort. Gamecrazy. A video game store attached to most Hollywood Video rental places. They had it in stock, so if you're hunting for one of these packs, I recommend you start thinking of the more obscure game shops.