Why did the PSP sell so poorly in North America?

[Sora96 17,256]

The PSP is Japan's 4th highest selling video game platform of all time. In Europe, it performed as you'd have expected, 8th highest selling video game platform in Europe. And in the rest of the world, it's the 2nd highest selling video game platform of all time.

 

In North America however, it sold poorly in comparison. It's the 12th highest selling video game platform in North America, behind the SNES and Atari 2600.

 

So why did it sell poorly in North America? The PSP would have easily been the 6th highest selling (until the PS3 surpassed it's sales) video game platform worldwide. Instead it's 9th with a very slight chance of taking 8th.

 

Thanks to VGChartz for the details.

[Sorual 607]

lack of quality titles except for square enix and capcom's games. thats the reason i think. i got one at the end of its life span so i could play BBS and mega man powered up.

[Sora232323 36]

  On 3/15/2014 at 1:53 PM, benj0818 said:

lack of quality titles except for square enix and capcom's games. thats the reason i think. i got one at the end of its life span so i could play BBS and mega man powered up.

That and we have a majority of a population who like shooters or first and third-person games more than anything else on the market. The psp lacked that people who only wanted shooters didn't get the quality they wanted.

[Sorual 607]

  On 3/15/2014 at 2:03 PM, Sora232323 said:

That and we have a majority of a population who like shooters or first and third-person games more than anything else on the market. The psp lacked that people who only wanted shooters didn't get the quality they wanted.

i guess. i dont have that taste but i can see what you mean.

[Kingdomhe 1,362]

idk, once you put CFW on it its easily the 4th best platform and a lot of games are big and long.

[Queen Tery 4,591]

I would say it was probably the games. I mean it was a good handheld console and I personally enjoyed it. But Square Enix probably made the best games for it and not as many people over here in NA are fans of JRPG's as opposed to games like CoD.

[Aang 649]

The PSP never had quality titles. It was outdated quickly. And, the games are hard to find. Much like PS2, but the PSP never lasted.

[CrownKeeper13 688]

Because the only good games for it were capcom, KH, and FF.

[Shulk 8,623]

It had a decent amount of good games (BBS, Crisis Core, Dissidia, FFIV, Naruto, etc.) but they didn't catch the attention of the Western audience as much as others. It was great for JRPGs, but that genre isn't too popular outside of Japan. It didn't have many of what the Western audience tends to enjoy (First Person Shooters, for example). I personally enjoyed mine and the games that I've gotten for it, but I can see why it wouldn't sell very well.

 

Also, they're kinda clunky and fragile. I went with the original model to get a cheaper one that wouldn't break as easily (I've heard the other models would break from just a tiny fall), but then I had to deal with a giant system that took ages to load. With the PSP, you either got a giant system that took ages to load, or had to risk it breaking it you accidentally dropped it.  (And I know that most handhelds these days can screw up if they're dropped, but given what I've heard about later PSP models, those are a LOT easier to break.)

Edited March 15, 2014 by Yellow Flash

[Jilly Shears 2,144]

Probably the fact that it was easily jailbroken early in its lifespan and the UMD storage device was notoriously easy to break so no one wanted to risk making games for it?

[Kaweebo 3,617]

Look at all of the PSP games they decided NOT to sell here.

 

I think that sums it up quite nicely.

[Sora96 17,256]

  On 3/15/2014 at 6:54 PM, Kaweebo said:

Look at all of the PSP games they decided NOT to sell here.

 

I think that sums it up quite nicely.

 

Ummmm. PSP games are region free. And Europe got the same games.

[DaxtotheMax 193]

Finally someone agrees, I mean it had Daxter, Daxter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.........and Birth by Sleep

 

 

 

And I think people liked the DS better and thought Sony was trying to copy it

[Cucco 1,907]

  On 3/15/2014 at 5:42 PM, Yellow Flash said:

It had a decent amount of good games (BBS, Crisis Core, Dissidia, FFIV, Naruto, etc.) but they didn't catch the attention of the Western audience as much as others. It was great for JRPGs, but that genre isn't too popular outside of Japan. It didn't have many of what the Western audience tends to enjoy (First Person Shooters, for example). I personally enjoyed mine and the games that I've gotten for it, but I can see why it wouldn't sell very well.

 

Also, they're kinda clunky and fragile. I went with the original model to get a cheaper one that wouldn't break as easily (I've heard the other models would break from just a tiny fall), but then I had to deal with a giant system that took ages to load. With the PSP, you either got a giant system that took ages to load, or had to risk it breaking it you accidentally dropped it.  (And I know that most handhelds these days can screw up if they're dropped, but given what I've heard about later PSP models, those are a LOT easier to break.)

I've dropped my 3000 a lot in the past and its fine aside from a couple scratches

[Shulk 8,623]

  On 3/16/2014 at 12:57 AM, Christopher Sexbang said:

I've dropped my 3000 a lot in the past and its fine aside from a couple scratches

Really? All the reviews I read said they'd break if you dropped them from even a really tiny distance. Oh well, at least the 1000 was cheaper...

[Velvet Scarlatina 607]

  On 3/16/2014 at 12:18 AM, Sora96 said:

Ummmm. PSP games are region free. And Europe got the same games.

But some of the more promising games for the PSP were Japanese only, and most people don't understand it.

[Sora96 17,256]

  On 3/16/2014 at 1:59 AM, Velvet Scarlatina said:

But some of the more promising games for the PSP were Japanese only, and most people don't understand it.

 

True, but it didn't affect sales in the rest of the world.

[Kaweebo 3,617]

  On 3/16/2014 at 2:12 AM, Sora96 said:

True, but it didn't affect sales in the rest of the world.

Well, obviously North Americans prefer to actually be able to understand what they're reading. Not to mention that even with that, importing games from other countries isn't exactly the most efficient way you could be buying them. 

[Sora96 17,256]

  On 3/16/2014 at 2:45 AM, Kaweebo said:

Well, obviously North Americans prefer to actually be able to understand what they're reading. Not to mention that even with that, importing games from other countries isn't exactly the most efficient way you could be buying them. 

 

I'm not saying the rest of the world imported games, simply that the PSP still sold great everywhere except for North America.

[Kaweebo 3,617]

  On 3/16/2014 at 2:46 AM, Sora96 said:

I'm not saying the rest of the world imported games, simply that the PSP still sold great everywhere except for North America.

I wasn't saying that, either. I guess what I'm saying is that Americans expect more (Because let's face it, NA gets treated a lot better than other countries as far as the game industry is concerned) and are too lazy to import games from other countries. That's why there's all sorts of petitions being made (Usually by Americans) to translate Japanese games to English and sell them in NA.

 

And of course, when that doesn't end up happening, hardly anybody in NA even bothers with it. That's what I'm thinking, anyway.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Kaweebo

[Aang 649]

  On 3/16/2014 at 1:04 AM, Yellow Flash said:

Really? All the reviews I read said they'd break if you dropped them from even a really tiny distance. Oh well, at least the 1000 was cheaper...

I too have the 3000. Had it for three years now. Dropped it on the ground at least 15-20 times. It fell in the bath tub once as well. Still works like a charm!