Sony sells 70 million PSP units worldwide, still firmly in DS' rearview mirror
Sony's PlayStation Vita is obviously the company's handheld of tomorrow, but it's the PlayStation Portable that's being credited with the assist. The PSP has been a flagship device for Sony since December 12, 2004, and during its time on the market, a grand total of 70 million have been moved globally. That's the number belted out here at E3, which sounds downright ginormous at first listen. Unfortunately, that's nowhere near the 100 million DS units that Nintendo had shipped... back in 2009. It's worth mentioning that this tally includes the original PSP-1000, the slimmer / lighter PSP-2000, the not-too-different PSP-3000 and the critically panned PSP go, and we're guessing the Vita will eventually be lumped in here as well at some point. So, Mario's still laughing, but hey -- at least Sony's sold 298 million UMD units, right?
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PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) Sales Reach 70 Million Units Worldwide
TOKYO, June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that the cumulative worldwide sales of PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system reached a total of 70 million units(*1) as of April 27, 2011.
As the first handheld platform from the PlayStation® family, PSP made its debut on December 12, 2004 in Japan, March 2005 in North America, May 2005 in Asian countries and regions, and September 2005 in Europe/PAL territories. PSP has continued to evolve as an innovative handheld entertainment system, offering a wide array of exciting software titles and fun peripherals, as well as upgrading features through regular software updates.
With the launch of PSP, SCE opened up an entirely new gaming market by offering users new ways of enjoying digital entertainment, including playing games on-line with family and friends via a wireless LAN feature. In fall 2008, PSP users were given access to PlayStation®Store directly via wireless Internet, where they could access many games available for download. This was followed by the launch of the video delivery service, offering access to downloadable movie content for the PSP system, which was launched in the United States in July 2009, followed by Japan and Europe in November 2009. In October 2009, "minis" offering a range of all-new downloadable games for PSP became available exclusively via digital distribution on PlayStation Store, whilst the digital comic service was launched in Japan, the United States and Europe in December 2009.
On the games front, more than 3,200 titles on UMD are available worldwide, with cumulative software sales reaching 298 million units to date (*2). In addition to packaged games, many games have become available for download via PlayStation®3 or PC. Currently, a total of over 2,180 titles, ranging from PlayStation®Network exclusive games to "Game Archive" titles featuring the original PlayStation games, and downloadable version of UMD titles are available for download(*3). Many more exciting new software titles are planned continually for release from third party developers and publishers as well as from SCE Worldwide Studios.
Inheriting the basic functions and the design philosophy of PSP-1000, slim and light PSP (PSP-2000) was launched in September 2007, and SCE introduced PSP-3000 to the world in October 2008, featuring an advanced high contrast LCD and a built-in microphone, while maintaining the form factors of PSP-2000. As an additional lineup of the PSP series and the first handheld platform which is exclusively a networked device, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) go was launched in October 2009.
SCE will continue to promote the expansion of the PSP platform and offer a variety of interactive digital entertainment along with PlayStation®Vita as an official name of for next generation portable entertainment system, which will make its debut at the end of the this year.
(*1) Sell-in number
(*2) As of the end of March 2011
(*3) As of the end of April 2011
