Sony’s remarkable, disruptive and yet as some claim ‘underachieving’ handheld gaming console – PlayStation Portable – will cease to ship in Japan later this month, new reports have indicated.
Launched in 2013, the PSP entered made a debut in its home country in 2004 followed by a European launch in 2005. The console’s UK launch was one of the most remarkable ones with over 180k units sold within one week – a number that was only second best to 2013’s PlayStation 4 debut in the country.
According to Polygon, PSP will cease to ship in Japan and that too rather quietly considering that Sony hasn’t blown any trumpets over this.
Sony has released a couple of Value packs for PS Vita for those looking to migrate to a newer console. The offer will run till August 29, it has been reported.
Sony managed to sell somewhere near 80m PSPs globally, but the fact is that the console never managed to best Nintendo DS. There are quite a few reasons for this – one being Sony’s choice of a proprietary and expensive disc format over traditional and cheap memory cards.
Further, there have been no PSP exclusives that have managed to strike the chord and motivate consumers into buying the handheld by the boatload.
Sony will also stop shipping PSP to Europe sometime this year; however the console will continue its journey for some time in emerging markets.
