PSP Tops 600k During Opening Week in US
Not quite the sell-out Sony would have hoped for, but that's what happens when you have ample supplies available on launch day.
The PSP may be the sexiest and most powerful handheld gaming machine to ever hit the mainstream market, but at $249 (£130) it's also the most expensive. Perhaps this, then, is why the opening week of the portable in the US was generally seen as a success but not the manic free-for-all Sony was hoping for.
More than 500,000 PSPs were sold in the US during the first two days and the final tally topped 600,000 for the opening week, Sony has revealed. But with a million PSPs on shelves on day one, this means that there are still a few hundred thousand lying unclaimed in the US.
Opening sales in the US have been considerably swifter than in Japan, where the PSP was released in early December, but Sony was struggling to keep up with demand then and only had 200,000 available on launch day.
SCEE is currently holding back the European release of the PSP so that Japan and North America - and South Korea in May - can be kept well stocked. There's still no word on when the PSP is coming to Europe.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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