Analyst believes PSP may ship as soon as January in NA/E

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Sony may start selling the PSP in the U.S. as early as January, helping it ship at least 3.5 million units of the game console by March 31 and bettering its earlier forecast of 3 million units, Yang said.
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With their production problems I seriously doubt this, but Sony never specifically said March 2005, they simply said before the end of the quarter. My guess is they'll try to get it out as early as possible. I wonder whether the biggest problem is hardware or software.
 
That's cool by me. Me get one early. Maybe Sony is afraid of the BIG headstart and mind share the DS has.
 
I would love nothing more, but I doubt it. The buzz is just not there for a launch in January. What would they do about advertising, etc?
 
That seems pretty senseless. With problems producing enough as it is, why trip over yourself to make a surprisingly quick launch in that huge sales month of January? January-March normal sales combined won't even match November, let alone December, so I don't think the worry of an increasing DS/GBA lead would be that big of a deal.
 
I'd imagine Sony would have no problems selling out a 100k "soft launch" in jan/feb with no advertising, then have a massive ad blitz to accompany widespread availability in March.
 
the PSP can't meet the demand in Japan as of now, how are they going to meet a demand i the US in about 1 month?
 
These are the same guys who are predicting the downfall of the DS after one days sales of the PSP in Japan. While the DS has sold almost 3x as many in Japan alone, and the entire PSP stoke didn't even sell out!

They must be a firm owned by Sony
 
Deku Tree said:
If they were going to ship in early January, then they should start advertising soon (or now).
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They've already started. I used to work in a movie theatre until recently and the PSP was displayed in the trailers for all the movies.

I would love nothing more, but I doubt it. The buzz is just not there for a launch in January. What would they do about advertising, etc?
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Look at when they announced the release of the PSP for Japan... That was like October, they didn't start heavy advertising til like November.

Is the US pricepoint finalized? At $150 it'd be tough to resist.
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I don't know if the price is going to be 149.99. The PS2 is 149.99 and the price of the PS2 in japan is 19,800 yen the same price as the PSP in Japan. It's very possible that the PSP could be 149.99. On the other hand even in Japan the PSP is slightly priced higher than the DS. Perhaps sony doesn't think they have to match the DS here dollar for dollar. It could be slightly more expensive. Something like 174.99.


At 100,00 per week aiming towards 500k at the end of the month... A late January launch is not out of the question. It really depends on where sony wants to focus new production.

Clearly at some point they are going to have to ramp up production to get to 3.5 million units worldwide by the end of march. At 100,000 per week it would take them over 8 months to reach that.
 
Sony, the maker of the best-selling PlayStation 2 game console, said in October it broke even at its game division during the second quarter ended Sept. 30.
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So, Sony is not profiting hand over fist...
 
:( March was so perfect for me too, I'm not going to be able to get one at launch at this rate. Oh well, the earlier they get it out, they earlier the cut into DS sales or catch up. So it makes sense. Speaking of, when the hell is Nintendo going to announce Europe's launch?
 
I fucking defy Sony to do this.

If they announce this, I swear to God I'll leave work early on the day of the announcement to get my preorder in. :o
 
teiresias said:
US bundle in January for $250 and includes a 1Gig Memory Stick!!!!!!!!!!! :D :lol
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I'll believe that when it's in my hands. That's right, I won't even believe even in the store when I'm purchasing it. Only when it's in my hands and I'm playing it for hours... so I know I'm not dreaming.
 
I know nothing, and the thought that they'd include a 1Gig memory stick at that price is insanity. I don't see them launching in January anyway, they haven't started the US hype machine yet.
 
Smells like bullshit. First of all, there are production issues. That is production capacity issues. I don't think they expected to ship that many units before March. I'd be impressed. However, Gamestop and EB are currently taking preorders. $50 with an unknown price, and the only date given is March. To flip to a January launch would harken back to the Saturn's suprise launch. In other words, placing one foot firmly in the grave. The system won't need much marketing, but it will need some sort of ad campaign. I expect a March release with a very minimalist ad campaign. They went light on the PS2 ads, and that still resulted in a feeding frenzy at launch. Seems like the PSP might actually come with fewer units than that (I know they claim 1M, but I'll believe it when I see it). A lower price point means it might be next to impossible to find. I'm contemplating preordering one, but I don't know if I should give it a few months first to let the first run hardware flaws pop-up. It is very tempting. If I wait for demo systems to pop up, it will already be too late. PEACE.
 
Pimpwerx said:
Smells like bullshit. First of all, there are production issues. That is production capacity issues. I don't think they expected to ship that many units before March. I'd be impressed. However, Gamestop and EB are currently taking preorders. $50 with an unknown price, and the only date given is March. To flip to a January launch would harken back to the Saturn's suprise launch.
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Nah, what killed the Saturn wasn't the early launch, it was the early launch at selected retailers, effectively shutting some very influential people out of a system's first few weeks. They retaliated by not stocking Saturn gear when the "normal" release came and went, and that's what ultimately sealed the Saturn's coffin in the U.S.
 
Well they have that January anouncement coming up and they are infact already advertising it not only vial coca cola boxes but they also already have a Tv commecrial running it starts like any other PS2 game spot with the ps2 logo/chime at the beggining then the PSP comes up etc., etc. anyone have a download link to what I'm talking about?
 
If the NA announcements come the day after NY as ign suggested, that'd leave Sony almost a whole month to advertise an release PSP at the end of the month. That's a longer campaign than what they did in Japan.

I'm gonna try not to be too optimistic atm. Analysts have been wrong on so many things regarding PSP.
 
thefit said:
Well they have that January anouncement coming up and they are infact already advertising it not only vial coca cola boxes but they also already have a Tv commecrial running it starts like any other PS2 game spot with the ps2 logo/chime at the beggining then the PSP comes up etc., etc. anyone have a download link to what I'm talking about?
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You saw this yourself? In North America? Tell more. I've yet to see a single PSP ad, and I've seen a million ones for the DS and other systems. I watch Adult Swim after all, and that's like video game ad central. :D PEACE.
 
I'd be willing to bet my next paycheck that we don't see a PSP launch in the US before we see Gran Turismo 4 on the shelves.
 
You'd think that Sony would like to wait until they got manufacturing under control so that they wouldn't end up with an anemic userbase in all territories, but whatever. If they launch early, they'll launch Saturn style. If they launch late, that gives Nintendo some time to add another million or so to their DS userbase.

Rock and a hard place :)
 
Well you would figure Sony is stockpiling PSP systems for the NA and Europe launch right now. They can't be the same as the PSP systems sold in Japan due to regional coding of movies.
 
Yesterday I was helping my brother fill out the claim form because he won a free PS2 game from that Coke promotion. In the fine print, it said "PSP prize will not be available until 03/31/05."

Middle to end of March, I'm sure. I'll probably go throw down the preorder dollars on payday. My birthday is in March, and so is Spring Break. I win.
 
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