Erwartungsgemäß geht Sony's neue Hardware am Launchtag weg, wie geschnitten Brot, aber möglicherweise ist der Launch der PSP, die erste Konsole Sonys, die auf dem amerikanischen Markt seit Einführung der Ur-Playstation nicht so heiss begehrt ist, wie erwartet.
IGN hat Umfragen gemacht und Feedback bekommen. Es gibt einige Hinweise darauf, dass die Amerikaner mit dem Preis der PSP vollkommen unzurfrieden sind, und das Gerät als überteuert erachten. (Nintendo DS: $149, Sony PSP: $249). Andererseits kann auch die Verdopplung der intialen Launchmenge (von 500.000 auf 1.000.000 Stück) dazu geführt haben, dass die Hardcore Gamer bedient, und Joe Average sich das Gerät irgendwann in Ruhe holt. Dies sind aber alles nur Mutmassungen und sollten mit vorsicht genossen werden.
Was aber klar scheint, ist, dass sich die PSP nicht so gut verkauft wie der Nintendo DS zum Launchtag, aber lest selbst:
[quote]I work for a Best Buy in a major metropolitan area in the Midwest and so far sales haven't been very impressive at all. Our store was allocated 150 units and by the end of the night we still had about 100 units left. Our region, consisting of roughly 10 stores still had 1700 units left, that averages about 170 per store. There are 3 other larger stores in our district that were allocated about 300 units and each of them still had between 200 and 250 units remaining. This couldn't be because of people not knowing because 3/4 of our front page ad this week was on the PSP and launch info.
--Carverts[/quote]
[quote]I'm a pretty geeky girl, but for some reason, I wasn't excited about the PSP...until four hours before the American launch. At that point, my friends told me that there was no way I was going to get a handheld for quite some time, what with all the pre-orders and massive lines forming in their cities. Just to make sure, I called the local game stores, and they didn't expect me to have a PSP in my hands anytime soon, either. I gave up, and decided to go to Wal-Mart, where...lo and behold, they were stocking the PSP at midnight. I waltzed in an hour before launch-time and stood in one of the most low-key lines (six people, and I live in a decent-sized college town) I've ever seen for any game or hardware release. A couple other guys walked in twenty minutes before midnight, and every one of us left with a shiny new PSP Value Pack. The sales clerk said that they had 80 of the units. And I learned something new. I think any of my fellow gamers who didn't manage to get a PSP yet should check out some secondary sources. Think beyond EB Games, Best Buy, and GameStop, and it might just pay off!
-- Michelle
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[quote]I think you need to contact stores not on the coastlines to gauge how the PSP is becoming one of the worst launches in history. I'm in St. Louis and this thing is easier to find than a Gamecube right now.
Go ahead, call some Best Buys in the area. Some Toys R US, or Circuit City stores. And then rewrite you're glowing praise to reflect what's really happening.
--wmatistic[/quote]
[quote]Just to let people know, there are still plenty left in San Antonio, Tx. Out of our initial shipment (Target), we got rid of about 20 out of 80. Kind of funny, considering school's out because of good Friday. If there's any left on Sunday, I might pick one up for myself. Checking by the Gamestop in the same shopping center, they had a few left as well.
--G[/quote]
[quote]I work retail, and our store received 60 PSP's and sold 10 the entire day. Outside of hardcore gaming stores, I was curious to find out if that was just an anomaly, or the standard. I actually had many people come up and talk to me about it, but balked at the price of $249.99.
--Jeff L.[/quote]
[quote]Just thought i would shoot you guys some feedback on the PSP sales in my area. I'm a retail manager at a Target in the Denver Metro Area. We do the 3rd most business in the state of Colorado for target stores. We received 40 PSP's for the launch and we only sold 10 at yesterday. During Christmas we had people lining up everyday, to see if we got any DS, PS2 or Xbox in. We had only a handful of people really ask about the PSP, it seems to me that most non-hardcore gamers really didn't know the system was coming out. A few parents i talked with didn't even know what it was and was amazed when i showed them it. Just thought i would shoot you guys a heads-up on sales on the PSP in my store.
--Jimmy[/quote]