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So,
two months after one of the most chaotic day’s in this years
gaming calendar and at last, we now have the time to sit, take a
breath, and reflect over the massive input the PSP is having on our
fragile-yet-rapidly-growing market.
It
wasn’t unexpected I have to say, there were plenty of warnings
that it was all going to go a little mad, first from SONY when on
the 13th of March 2003 Ken
Kutaragi, president and CEO of SONY Computer Entertainment Inc.
released a press statement, stating. The PSP “is
the 'Walkman' of the 21st century.” Just a small hint at the
multi-million pound marketing campaign SONY had planned for the
little beastie. In the same press statement were the intended stats
for the machine. “(The) PSP will be
equipped with a wide screen 480 x 272 pixel (16:9) TFT LCD monitor
with a backlight, and powered by super chipsets utilizing the
latest 90mm semiconductor technology. For graphics, 3D rendering
will be enhanced by the employment of curved surfaces (NURBS) along
with conventional polygons. Video quality will also be enhanced
with MPEG4, which delivers quality equivalent to DVD video at a low
data rate.” Proving the inevitable sales of the machine, they
need not have mentioned the “USB Port 2.0 for further
expandability” or the “Memory Stick [Pro Duo] slot for network
applications and data transportability in a wireless
environment”, as not only do SONY have the new walkman - which
will go down in history as the best marketed tape deck in the world
– but also what appears to be the most advanced handheld
technology available.
The second warning came in February 2004 when an arm of the New Zealand
government, Tech NZ, started providing funding for one of its
countries leading games development companies to support the PSP,
showing how important they thought it was to be on the band wagon
rather than watching it. Then, just three months later, SONY gave
us a final warning in the form of two lists released on the same
day, one was a list of the complete statistics of the PSP (See
PSP Technical Specifications), showing that the PSP would have
totally wireless networking, be able to play “A broad range of
digital entertainment content such as music video clips, movies and
sports programs” and have a download feature with it. The other
confirmed third-party developers for the PSP, there were 99,
nearly a hundred companies lining up to throw software at whatever
SONY gave them. If this wasn’t enough to warn people about what
was coming then it was too late.
On
the 27th of October 2004
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. announced that the PSP would be
released in stores all over
Japan
on
12th December, 2004
, this was coupled with the announcement of the twenty-one games
planned for release with the console. At exactly the same time SCE
stated for the first time that the PSP would actually be online,
with the options to “download
game characters and content and also to play games on-line with
families, friends and on-line community members.” and so
the SONY marketing gears churned. Within three months every
pre-order that was available in Japan was taken and those that
found themselves caught by the hype a little late were resigned to
queuing, some from before midnight, to get their hands on one. The
launch Line-Up was increased from twenty-one games to almost one
hundred meaning that the only thing on any gaming chart that week
was the PSP. So Japan had their PSP’s, and SONY was declaring to
anyone that would listen that it’s first shipment of 200,000
units had all been eaten up on day one, it’s games were a massive
success and at the top of most charts. So on to the
US
.
By the time the announcement came from Sony Computer Entertainment
America on the 3rd February, 2005, SONY were able to
inform the American public they had already shipped 800,000 units
to Japan and the American wouldn’t be getting the console till
March 24th, 2005 – totally destroying any hopes of
meeting the suggested European release date in March, 2005, - a
mere four days after the NintendoDS launched. So the fact they had
24 games for release day probably didn’t make them feel much
better. Consequently when release day came although there were the
queues and the anticipation and SONY took over $150 million, it
took nearly two weeks for them to hit the same sales as the
NintendoDS managed in a week! Though reports do vary greatly on
this, one press release states the PSP sold over 500,000 in the
first two days!
It only took two days from the American launch for SONY to announce
the final European release date - six months later! This angered a
lot of people, though no-one more so than SONY, who fourteen days
after the announcement told many internet firms to stop selling
American PSP’s to the
UK
market. Then not even a month after SONY’s showing at E3 in May,
2005, confirming all 29 games planned for UK release plus 19 UMD
Movies, they started taking small independent firms to the high
court for trademark infringement and loss of profits,
this follows on from the recent Cease and Desist orders
issued to UK businesses selling what’s seen to be a highly prized
commodity to UK and European gamers desperate to get their hands on
the product in light of a six month product launch delay. This all
came to a peak on
the 19th July, 2005
, when SONY won their High court battle against Nuplayer, so they
released this press release:
“SONY
Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has won its recent battle
against importing and selling of its forthcoming PlayStation
Portable console from
Japan
. In a recent case against online retailer Nuplayer Ltd, Mr Justice
Lawrence Collins ruled that Nuplayer had no arguable defence and
Summary Judgement was given. Nuplayer have been ordered to pay
substantial Costs and Damages to Sony for bringing the case against
them and to hand over its remaining stock, details of sales,
supplier data and some customer data.
SCEE claimed that the imported sales of the PSP console was
undermining SONY Computer Entertainment Europe's million-pound
marketing programme in run up to the console launch scheduled for
1st September, 2005
.”
These tactics really made many independent firms think twice before
attempting to import PSP’s or their software, something that
could really have dampened the spirits of those gamers that always
have their new product a month or so before everyone else, but not
the general public, nothing could dampen their spirits.
Pre-orders
were being sold like hot coffee, here, there and anywhere, with
many, many big retailers purposefully going far above and beyond
the amount they knew was allocated to them. This meant as the end
of August came up larger companies were taking pre-orders for
deliveries they would be getting in June, 2006! This didn’t
falter the British public though, who still got out of their beds
bright and early on
Thursday 1st September, 2005
, to stand in the queue of people wanting to buy one without
pre-ordering. And so started the most chaotic day I’ve known in
the games industry.
Did the PSP do it then? Did it change the face of gaming as we’ll
ever know it? Well I think it would if people fully grasped the
concept that these new wireless consoles have behind them, but both
the software developers and the public are failing at this. The
hardware’s all there waiting to be used to it fullest extent
people just need to see the possibilities. Once SONY get their huge
Christmas Line-Up out and double the games that are available, and
once people realise what the Giga Pack is and how useful it
could be, maybe the gaming network will be complete. SONY have
already announced the shipment of over 10,000,000 PSP’s
worldwide, many more than this and there shouldn’t be a person
left that doesn’t know someone that’s got one, then the fun
will kick off!
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