Whatever happened to the PSP? The device that Sony once touted as “the Walkman for the 21st century” is fast disappearing from popular consciousness, and if you believe the rumors circulating just three-and-a-half years after its launch, it’s up for a major rethink in 2009.
Over the crucial month of November, the Nintendo DS shifted a jaw-dropping 1.5 million units in the US alone (up 20% from last year) while the PSP languished, managing just 421,000 sales — actually down 27%, in what was in general a tremendously strong month for video games.
The truth is, the PSP is a piece of crap, the games suck, and the system itself sucks. You can’t have all three of those and have a success. I’m happy, though. Sony was loaded with hubris and arrogance upon release of the PSP. They were fully convinced that because it had the Sony PlayStation name on it, every Tom, Dick and Harry would buy one. Instead, Nintendo came out of nowhere with a more innovative device and beat the crap out of them.
Imagine that. Innovation sold consoles.
