Sony’s PSP Helps Boost Games Sales

Source: BloombergSony Corp., the world’s biggest video game console maker, has sold 1.3 million units of its PlayStation Portable player in the U.S., helping spur sales of games and movies, said Kazuo Hirai, president of the gaming unit.

Sales of the device, Sony’s first foray into the handheld market dominated by Nintendo Co., are helping boost revenue of game software, movies, memory cards and other items, Hirai said. The PSP, which can also play music and movies, uses Sony’s proprietary Universal Media Disc and the Memory Stick flash memory card to store games, audio and video files.

“Sales have just been fantastic,” Hirai, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Los Angeles. “We’ve also seen a huge spike in the purchase of memory sticks, especially high-capacity ones, which tells us consumers are embracing the PlayStation Portable not just as a gaming device.”

Global shipments of the handheld have reached 2.97 million units at the end of March, according to the company’s latest figures. The company last month said it sold 500,000 units in the first two days of the U.S. debut in March, after it had prepared 1 million units for the launch. Sony, which started sales of the PSP in Japan last December, plans to sell the gadget in Europe from September.

Source: BloombergSony Corp., the world’s biggest video game console maker, has sold 1.3 million units of its PlayStation Portable player in the U.S., helping spur sales of games and movies, said Kazuo Hirai, president of the gaming unit.

Sales of the device, Sony’s first foray into the handheld market dominated by Nintendo Co., are helping boost revenue of game software, movies, memory cards and other items, Hirai said. The PSP, which can also play music and movies, uses Sony’s proprietary Universal Media Disc and the Memory Stick flash memory card to store games, audio and video files.

“Sales have just been fantastic,” Hirai, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Los Angeles. “We’ve also seen a huge spike in the purchase of memory sticks, especially high-capacity ones, which tells us consumers are embracing the PlayStation Portable not just as a gaming device.”

Global shipments of the handheld have reached 2.97 million units at the end of March, according to the company’s latest figures. The company last month said it sold 500,000 units in the first two days of the U.S. debut in March, after it had prepared 1 million units for the launch. Sony, which started sales of the PSP in Japan last December, plans to sell the gadget in Europe from September.