Santa Claus to pwn PSP this holiday season

A lot of you guys might go ballistic with this, but lots of market researchers think that PSP sales will plummet this Christmas season. No, we’re not talking about just another sales-figure drop. We’re talking “abysmal” here. Why so? Lots of reasons. And you might even contest these observations. Well, let’s discuss them point by point.

The next-gen consoles are coming out: PS3 and Wii. It’s a fact; consumers are most likely to buy something that’s hot. With the November release of both consoles, does the year-and-a-half old handheld have what it takes to boot it up? Maybe not. And of course, most of Sony‘s attention is being focused on the PS3. They’re making sure that its release would run smoothly into Santa’s pocket. The effect of this is that the poor little PSP will be left “un-hyped” as much as the PS3 is being marketed.

And then there’s the much talked-about “PSP2.” If they’re coming out with a beefier sibling for the handheld early next year, then lots of people who never owned a PSP before would rather go for the more powerful PSP2. More than anything, this will really spell doom for the PSP hardware sales.

Where does this leave us? No one knows. Surely, you’ve got something to say, though. But understand, before you click that “Post Comment” button, do understand that this is just something of an analysis of the market and nothing really writ on stone.

A lot of you guys might go ballistic with this, but lots of market researchers think that PSP sales will plummet this Christmas season. No, we’re not talking about just another sales-figure drop. We’re talking “abysmal” here. Why so? Lots of reasons. And you might even contest these observations. Well, let’s discuss them point by point.

The next-gen consoles are coming out: PS3 and Wii. It’s a fact; consumers are most likely to buy something that’s hot. With the November release of both consoles, does the year-and-a-half old handheld have what it takes to boot it up? Maybe not. And of course, most of Sony‘s attention is being focused on the PS3. They’re making sure that its release would run smoothly into Santa’s pocket. The effect of this is that the poor little PSP will be left “un-hyped” as much as the PS3 is being marketed.

And then there’s the much talked-about “PSP2.” If they’re coming out with a beefier sibling for the handheld early next year, then lots of people who never owned a PSP before would rather go for the more powerful PSP2. More than anything, this will really spell doom for the PSP hardware sales.

Where does this leave us? No one knows. Surely, you’ve got something to say, though. But understand, before you click that “Post Comment” button, do understand that this is just something of an analysis of the market and nothing really writ on stone.