PSP, PS2 Sales Skyrocket

Spurred by the scarcity of the PlayStation 3, hungry consumers are buying all the PSP and PS2 units they can get their hands on. The PSP's sales have shot up by 280 percent over last year, while the PS2 was up a respectable 115 percent. From the Eurogamer article: "Additionally, sales of first-party software are also up, according to SCEA. PS2 game sales rose by 120.6 per cent, with PSP software sales increasing by almost 168 per cent. Sony has yet to publish figures for exactly how many PlayStation 3 units have been sold in North America since the console launched there on 17th November."

Is this from the PS3

[HappySqurriel]

Just as a question, is this really from interest in the PS3 or could it be something else? I don't know about the PSP but The PS2 has had Final Fantasy XII and Guitar Hero II released in November with Okami and Bully released not too long ago. Could the sales actually be more directly releated to the fact that these systems are providing more gaming content for far less money than any of the "Next Generation" competition? Seriously, with budget games you could buy a PS2 a second controller and 4 or 5 games for the price of a Wii; compared to the XBox 360/PS3 you could probably get close to 20 games ...

It's that time of the year

[medeii]

Spurred by the scarcity of the PlayStation 3...

You mean, "Spurred by the impending holiday." It's highly unlikely that the upswing in PS2 sales has any meaningful correlation with PS3 scarcity; after all, I still don't know a single person who actually plans to get one. The PS2 and PSP, however, are still as viable (and cheap, comparatively!) as they were a month ago.

Hungry consumers?

[WidescreenFreak]

I don't buy the "hungry consumers" line at all. People saw the $600-700 price tag of the PS3 and choked in addition to the extreme shortage of PS3s, so they bought the next best thing. That's all.

I was in EBGames to pick up a Wii yesterday and saw brand new PS2s for $129. The PS2 already has a huge established base of games and it's much cheaper than the PS3. Think about it! You can get a Wii, PS2, and base XBox 360 for the same price as a PS3! I'm still considering getting a PS2 if only to play the Guitar hero series.

I don't think it has anything to do with "hungry consumers" as much as it does people who lost their appetite over the whole PS3 debacle. Instead of buying some $600-$700 gourmet dinner (to keep up the "hungry consumers" metaphor) at an elite restaurant that few people can get into, they came to their senses and decided that not only would a family meal at a quality restaurant be cheaper, it has a better variety of dinners, can hold more customers at a time, and is a much, much better value overall.

If news about a surge in PS2 sales comes as a surprise to anyone, the human gene pool is in need of a bit more chlorine.

Massive Numbers Of Quality PS2 Titles

[RichardMarks]

Just off the top of my head:

Okami
Final Fantasy XII
Guitar Hero II
Bully

are new major releases. And God of War 2 is on the horizon. And then you have the massive number existing PS2 titles - the single greatest game library for a console ever all at cheap prices now. Huge numbers of major PS2 titles can be bought for 19.99 now.

All that for 130 dollars.

And PSP sales are most likely going to continue to go up now that the PS3 has arrived and has so many PS3/PSP connectivity features - remote viewing of your PS3 over wireless and soon remote play of PS3 games on your PSP.

Re:Hungry consumers?

[Franio]

Microcenter has a $100 rebate for xbox 360, so:

Wii - 250.00
PS2 - 129.00
Xbox 360 - core system - 199.00
= 578.00

Less than the $599 PS3.

Gamecube

[pubjames]

I don't see this as odd. I've just been thinking that now would be a good time to purchase classic Gamecube games, so I can play them when I have a wii.

Re:Poor kids not getting what they want...

[soft_guy]

Buying your consoles once they get to be one generation old saves a ton of money. I can't believe that a PS2 today can possibly be less fun than it would have been in 2001. There are more games, plus all the reviews are out and people really know what the best games for PS2 really are.

If you aren't rich, it sounds like a good plan to me.

Re:And yet the DS is ignored.

[Anonymous Coward]

But the article wasn't about the DS, or even overall console sales. It was an article mentioning that PSP and PS2 sales have gone up. No comparison to any other consoles were made.

Re:Poor kids not getting what they want...

[LWATCDR]

You forgot that there are tons of cheap used games that you can buy for a song.

Must be mistaken identity..

[kinglink]

Ok I can understand the PS2, but I own a PSP and I have to say there's not much reason to give it to a kid. It's great for a inexpensive music player that plays games, but I bought mine for 200 dollars, and 6 games came with it and I still think I overpaid.

280 percent? That's definatly a case of mistaken identity.

Re:Poor kids not getting what they want...

[eln]

Maybe his parents saved their pennies all year to get him that. Maybe they went all over town collecting aluminum cans to get that money. Maybe the kid got a paper route and paid for it himself.

My point is, you have no way of knowing how he got the money for that, and to condemn an entire system because some kid got something you wanted is absurd.

I grew up in a single parent home, and my mother worked 2 jobs and refused to apply for welfare, and yet I don't remember ever feeling any kind of contempt for anyone else getting something I wanted, whether they were on welfare or not.

Oh, that summary is way way off

[Red Flayer]

That is not an increas eover the past year. FTA:

In a statement, communications boss David Karraker said the top five retailers in North America were reporting a week-by-week rise in PS2 hardware sales of more than 115 per cent over the Thanksgiving period. Sales of PSP units, meanwhile, were up by 280 per cent.

That is not over the past year; that is a week-to-week increase.

Two reasons:
(1) Almost every entertainment good sees a rise in sales post-Thanksgiving;
(2) As others have pointed out, those who could not get PS3 may have opted to get PSP instead (hence the huge rise in sales, rather than the small bump for the PS2).

Newsflash: Company says its products are selling better in the US during the holiday shopping season.

Nothing to see here, please move along.

Re:Poor kids not getting what they want...

[Kyokugenryu]

I'd cry if I was a kid and had to wait six (!) years to get a PS2 while every single one of my friends had one, and would always talk about how much fun they had playing it. Perhaps this tactic would work for someone who's a casual gamer who enjoys the occasional game of Yahoo! Euchre or something, but for the average person, being a cheap bastard and waiting for a generation to die just so you can save a few dollars is not close to being an appealing option.

I'll put it this way: You say a PS2 can't possibly less fun? Try playing Metal Gear Solid 2 or 3 and knowing what's going to happen at the end. It ruins the experience, because many games in that generation are about a combined effort of gameplay and dramatic experience. Final Fantasy games don't sell like crack because they have good gameplay, you know.

Re:And yet the DS is ignored.

[drinkypoo]

Umm, I don't think anyone with a job finds $70 to be that important unless they are dirt poor.

Dude, that's hours of work (post-tax) for most people. It's also a sizable phone bill or a medium electrical bill.

$70 is a big deal. Try setting fire to $70 and tell me how you feel about it.

Re:And yet the DS is ignored.

[Stormwatch]

I almost NEVER see anyone play a DS on the subway. Not a day goes by I don't see someone with a PSP. That's the only statistic I need.

"I don't know how Richard Nixon could have won. I don't know anybody who voted for him." - Pauline Kael

Summary Incorrect....

[Psychotext]

The article doesn't say an increase since last year, it says week on week.

"In a statement, communications boss David Karraker said the top five retailers in North America were reporting a week-by-week rise in PS2 hardware sales of more than 115 per cent over the Thanksgiving period. Sales of PSP units, meanwhile, were up by 280 per cent."

According to NPD (US numbers sold, not shipped):
October 2005 PSP = 131,000
November 2005 PSP = 353,000
which gives us an 269% increase for November 2005.

Did everybody just fall for an announcement of a sales increase that can pretty much be attributed to seasonal variations?

Re:Poor kids not getting what they want...

[LKM]

And how do you suppose that works? A single mother who has to take care of a child and a household, probably has at least one job, and is also supposed to "develop some job skills," and is not allowed to give her kid something to play with so she doesn't constantly have to "parent" him. I happen to know single moms. Juggling a job, a child, a household, some last remnants of a social life, and doing it all alone is not pleasant. You should be glad you had a better childhood than this boy, and you most certainly shouldn't be jealous of the money they get. Trust me, you had it better.