Q&A: In-Stat on Handheld Wars — PSP and DS

In the battlefield of handheld consoles, it seems that only two have remained standing and unscathed: the DS and PSP.

Gamasutra talks with Brian O’Rourke, Senior Analyst for the Converging Markets and Technologies Group at market analyst group In-Stat, about the duopoly of the aforementioned consoles in the handheld market and what has allowed them to stay on top. Attempts of the Nokia N-Gage, Tapwave Zodiac, and Gizmondo has proved to be futile and O’Rourke predicts that the DS and PSP will continue to sell well into 2010.

According to O’Rourke, the DS will continue to outship the PSP because of the former’s success in the Japanese market. But he believes that Sony will try to win not only Japan but also all major regions by the fourth quarter of this year by cutting down the price of the PSP. Whether the PSP entertainment bundle will be effective in “keeping up” with DS sales remains unclear.

O’Rourke’s report/forecast on handheld shipments and revenues up to 2010 was based on in-depth interviews with manufacturers and software publishers. In the interview, O’Rourke shares with Gamasutra his findings and what it would mean for the PSP and DS in the years to come. Let us run by the topics discussed:

Why the DS has outsold the PSP: O’Rourke says that the DS’s shipment advantage has been overstated, because by the end of 2005, the PSP outshipped the DS on a worldwide basis. However in 2006, the DS outshipped the PSP for two reasons: 1) DS is selling better than the PSP in Japan and 2) Nintendo has been more successful with game software for their handheld than Sony has been with theirs. Case in point: the Nintendogs and Brain Games franchises. O’Rourke says that the success of these franchises helped sell more DS units.

On other companies’ failure in the handheld market: O’Rourke says that the reason why most companies fail to stay on the handheld market is that they focus too much on graphics and see it as the most important aspect of their consoles. He gives the Atari and NEC as examples of Nintendo’s competitors that had superior graphic performance but did not succeed. According to him, what’s more important is strong software support and recognizable characters that appeal to the pre-teen and early teen market. O’Rourke further adds that this is where Nintendo has been successful in tapping into.

Where Sony went wrong: O’Rourke sees two particular reasons why the DS seems to be more successful than the PSP: 1) the PSP costs more than the DS, with a 70-dollar price difference. 2) Nintendo has created more breakout titles for the DS than Sony has with their PSP. However, he makes it clear that he is not bringing down the PSP in any way and that we should keep in mind that the PSP has been a successful product and will continue to be. He also says that publishers will continue to stand by the PSP in the years to come.

Now that’s what he thinks. How about you, which do you prefer – a DS or a PSP? Us? We have both!

Via Gamasutra

In the battlefield of handheld consoles, it seems that only two have remained standing and unscathed: the DS and PSP.

Gamasutra talks with Brian O’Rourke, Senior Analyst for the Converging Markets and Technologies Group at market analyst group In-Stat, about the duopoly of the aforementioned consoles in the handheld market and what has allowed them to stay on top. Attempts of the Nokia N-Gage, Tapwave Zodiac, and Gizmondo has proved to be futile and O’Rourke predicts that the DS and PSP will continue to sell well into 2010.

According to O’Rourke, the DS will continue to outship the PSP because of the former’s success in the Japanese market. But he believes that Sony will try to win not only Japan but also all major regions by the fourth quarter of this year by cutting down the price of the PSP. Whether the PSP entertainment bundle will be effective in “keeping up” with DS sales remains unclear.

O’Rourke’s report/forecast on handheld shipments and revenues up to 2010 was based on in-depth interviews with manufacturers and software publishers. In the interview, O’Rourke shares with Gamasutra his findings and what it would mean for the PSP and DS in the years to come. Let us run by the topics discussed:

Why the DS has outsold the PSP: O’Rourke says that the DS’s shipment advantage has been overstated, because by the end of 2005, the PSP outshipped the DS on a worldwide basis. However in 2006, the DS outshipped the PSP for two reasons: 1) DS is selling better than the PSP in Japan and 2) Nintendo has been more successful with game software for their handheld than Sony has been with theirs. Case in point: the Nintendogs and Brain Games franchises. O’Rourke says that the success of these franchises helped sell more DS units.

On other companies’ failure in the handheld market: O’Rourke says that the reason why most companies fail to stay on the handheld market is that they focus too much on graphics and see it as the most important aspect of their consoles. He gives the Atari and NEC as examples of Nintendo’s competitors that had superior graphic performance but did not succeed. According to him, what’s more important is strong software support and recognizable characters that appeal to the pre-teen and early teen market. O’Rourke further adds that this is where Nintendo has been successful in tapping into.

Where Sony went wrong: O’Rourke sees two particular reasons why the DS seems to be more successful than the PSP: 1) the PSP costs more than the DS, with a 70-dollar price difference. 2) Nintendo has created more breakout titles for the DS than Sony has with their PSP. However, he makes it clear that he is not bringing down the PSP in any way and that we should keep in mind that the PSP has been a successful product and will continue to be. He also says that publishers will continue to stand by the PSP in the years to come.

Now that’s what he thinks. How about you, which do you prefer – a DS or a PSP? Us? We have both!

Via Gamasutra