PSP is number 1 in Japan the first half of 2008

by Alan Tsang { Oct 2nd 2008 at 5:00PM }

During the past few weeks the PSP's sales have been less than ideal, but Sony's portable is still on top in Japan for 2008 ... so far. According the Enterbrain, the PSP has sold 1,583,731 units the first half of the year in the land of the rising sun. The PSP's main competitor, Nintendo's DS, sold 1,314,919 units during that same period. Nintendo's portable is still way ahead of the PSP in terms of lifetime sales though -- 23,484,680 units of the DS were sold versus the PSP's 10,157,757 units sold.

In the software arena, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G is in second place with 1,602,386 copies sold. It was beaten by yet another Nintendo product, Mario Kart Wii, which sold 1,744,387 copies.

With the PSP Brite launching in about two weeks and DSi launching in a month, the two handhelds' struggle for dominance in Japan will truly begin. Now we gotta ask: who are you rooting for?

Tags: ds, dsi, enterbrain, famitsu, nintendo, psp, psp-brite, sales, sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

strike @ Oct 2nd 2008 5:12PM

The psp shuld get the sales it deserves! And im glad to see the Japanese buying so many psp's. I think the psp is ahead of the DS in so many ways! My opinion.

Light @ Oct 2nd 2008 5:26PM

I have both handhelds, a DS Lite and a PSP 2000.

The new versions of the two are neat, but the DSi packs just enough new stuff into the system for me to want to replace my Lite.

I won't be getting a PSP 3000, only because the essentials are still there.

I have to admit, BOTH companies could've done a lot more to their models, as it feels like i'm getting a newer model car, not jumping from a mid-size sedan to a sports-car.

Jeremy @ Oct 2nd 2008 6:30PM

Honestly, I'm really starting to think that Sony should just throw in the towel and come out with a PSP2. I wouldn't up the specs too much (like what the Wii is to the GC), but add a whole lot more ram (since it's cheap), add a touchscreen, keep the UMD drive but have an Ipod/DSI like store for simple games to be directly downloaded to the gizmo.

There's just no more software coming for the PSP, at least nothing great other than a few titles. And the best Sony could do at TGS is a couple of adventure games?

xgk3000 @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:07AM

yea they are gonna have a direct psn store in psp i heard but i do think psp 2 shoukld just come out but no touchscreen psp don't really need that shit yet but u know i'm rooting for psp 3000 cause there is proble gonna be a lot more down loadable contents now since sony is like totally switching from hardware to software in both psp and ps3 so have faith in SONY AND PSP 4 EVER

Don @ Oct 2nd 2008 6:59PM

"Now we gotta ask: who are you rooting for?"

Me. I'm rooting for me. Not to get screwed over by the companies.....

HairyBalls @ Oct 2nd 2008 7:04PM

The DSi has more new features to make worth the purchase, unlike this PSP 3000.

Darlaten @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:05PM

I'm rooting for the PSP. As for those people who don't think there are enough changes on the PSP 3000 to warrant purchasing - all I can say is you will change your mind when you actually get the chance to see the difference in screen quality that has gone into the system. That, alone, is worth the upgrade.

Trust me, that is better than a .3 megapixel camera update to the DS any day :)

Jeremy @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:52PM

What's the point of a great screen, when there are no more good games to play on it?

Gurbinder @ Oct 3rd 2008 6:44AM

@ Jeremy, i have no clue what your taklking about since they are getting dissidia final fantasy, gundam vs gundam, and tons of other great titles over there. Only problem is "OVER THERE". you wont see them here in NA. Times call for imports.

doc j @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:24PM

rooting for more games!

xgk3000 @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:24PM

yea

TM @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:45AM

Nintendo is a little behind...doesn't the psp already have the store, camera, browser, music and video playback and photos?

Chin-Poh @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:49AM

I am very glad to see a competitor to Nintendo that has survived against them, where Sega and SNK for instance fell.

I'm glad to have a choice, to have a handheld with two touchscreens and play many quick and fun games or a handheld that can really give a console experience on the go.

Both are great systems in of themselves, equally as good, both system's strengths are equal to the others IMO.

pixelator @ Oct 3rd 2008 8:04AM

I'm rooting for neither. The DSi keeps the puny postage stamp sized low-rez screens and paltry low capacity cards. Meanwhile, the PSP has lost developer support and sold less than half what the DS has thanks to Sony refusing to support the USA market with localized high profile JP titles or hardware accessories.

Nintendo shows they're no more innovative than anyone else by adding in 'buzz features' like downloadable games, 'real' flash card support (SD) and an integrated cam. I'll probably buy one, but for every good DS game there's 20 kiddie IP crapwares and another dozen mediocre titles masquerading as A quality. Expect DS 'online store' sales to be moderate at best in the face the rapidly growing and more widely accessible cell software market.

Of course, a robust library of downloadable ORIGINAL games is something the PSP could've had since 2005 but still doesn't. Sony could've made PSN for PSP as big as Microsoft did for XBOX. They didn't even come close.

So pardon me if I scoff at both handhelds. Neither is consumer oriented. Both claim to be more than they are, and neither has had more than a couple of games in the past year or so that really made me rush out to buy.

If only the iPhone had frigging BUTTONS...

sekhmet @ Oct 3rd 2008 9:31AM

i am rooting for the psp... i am glad to see another handheld giving nintendo some fight. the next psp will be better. sony's first foray into nintendo's turf(20yrs to expand the turf) i think should be applauded.

biffpow @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:09PM

Rooting for the PSP (of course). But halfheartedly so, given Sony's continued disinterest in porting Japanese games to the US (or UK).

I mean, how do they rationalize the difference in the PSP's success in Japan vs. the US? The only real difference is in the number of games that appear on a regular basis in Japan. There is as much (if not more) pirating in Japan as the US. There are as many game players in the US as Japan (if not more). And the fan community is as strong in the US as in Japan (Sony US, however, just hasn't seen fit to work with this community, unlike Sony Japan). It's absurd, really.

Frastoglegnia @ Oct 3rd 2008 3:14PM

Who cares whether the DS adds a camera and mp3 support? The camera's useless, and homebrew plays mp3s already.

Both the new PSP and DS are less flexible in the most important way: gaming. The PSP3000 kills off homebrew. The DSi kills off backward compatibility.

PSP: No more ROM consolidation -- which means carrying around ten UMDs -- no more feature tweaking, and no more ISO ripping.

DS: No more GBA cartridges or ROMs. (We don't know whether they've done anything to prevent homebrew yet.)

Personally, I'm not buying either device until I know more. If the 3000's screen isn't spectacular, I'll probably buy a second 2000 as a backup.

Don @ Oct 3rd 2008 8:13PM

"Who cares whether the DS adds a camera and mp3 support?"

It might not even be mp3 support; I've read that the DSi will support AAC only....

Bryan @ Oct 4th 2008 2:38PM

well at least now we cant complain that the psp and ds shouldnt be compared against each other.

Sai Asuka @ Oct 4th 2008 8:12PM

The photoshopped picture in the blog post had to be made by a Red Alert 3 fan. :)

manaman @ Oct 5th 2008 9:58PM

Well,

This wasn't a very fair question since this is a PSP site. I'm a Nintendo man, myself. I have often been interested in the goings on of the PSP (which is why I'm here) but ultimately I've been rooting for the DS. Now, with the DSi announced, I can't help but feel that Sony is going to either have to throw in the towel or revamp their business strategy in the gaming department.

Peace,

manaman