There's no denying that the rise of the iPhone and Apple's App Store, as well as Google's rising Android marketplace, has had a significant impact on the portable gaming space. A new report from the researchers at Interpret reveals that more and more people are turning to their phones for game time, leaving the DS and PSP behind.
The report, "The Phone Gaming Revolution: Do the DS and PSP Stand a Chance?," found that 43.8% of the phone/DS/PSP gaming market plays games on phones, which represents a significant 53.2% increase over the past year. At the same time, Interpret says that the proportion of those who play on the DS or PSP has fallen by 13%.
The company notes, "Gamers appear to be defecting from their handheld gaming devices to phones to get their gaming kicks: a full 27.2% of consumers who indicate that they play games on their phones only (and not on the DS/PSP) actually own a DS or PSP, but do not actively use the device(s)."
"The proliferation of highly multifunctional smartphones and messaging phones is a very real threat to the dominance by the DS and PSP of the handheld gaming market," said Courtney Johnson, Manager of Research and Analysis at Interpret. "Devices which satisfy a variety of entertainment and utility are fast outstripping single-function devices as consumer favorites."
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter recently commented that Sony's PSP2 (still not officially announced) would be "dead on arrival" and that the handhelds market would continue to decline.
10 Comments
December 8, 2010
It's good to hear that the narrow-minded twits might be only small in number. Those odd few that say nobody will play games on a touch-screen device without having physical buttons or that it's sacrilegious to do such a thing. Consumers are voting with their wallets. I do like my PSP, but games are games and if they only come in touch-screen form, they'll do. I'd be happy if some third-party vendor came out with a iPod Touch cradle/controller that used physical buttons, but it doesn't seem likely to happen. It would be pretty amusing if Apple cornered the hand-held gaming market without having a dedicated gaming device.
December 8, 2010
Talk about missed oprotunity. You have the psp go and no phone and God Of War and like 4months in-between the next decent game. I spent 250.00 on a psp go 6months ago.
What are they thinking at sony? Its like they held back. Why not get moderwarfare when they had the market. Stop paying your excutives so much and take those millions and thow it at the the time Infinity Ward. Make a deal.Sony could say"will carry your game but we want one for the psp." I just feel it was all about the fast buck. It has to be the worst purchase I ever made. I use it as paper weight.
December 8, 2010
I really steamed. They had whole world in the palm of there hands(no pun intended) Did they ever push the envelope as far as graphics? Not really. It just seems like a waste of a good system. My I phone games are more fun and the art is better and the games are cheaper.
It shows they hung back. If they failed because it ran it course fine, but that wasn't the case.They were basically lazy
December 9, 2010
I have always known that the ultimate device is the one that does it all. I dont want pack a zillion things around. Camera, computer, phone , gaming device, gps, radio, ect.... is easily a smart phone. Just need one that is designed for everything and is dependable and rugged and not to expensive. Iphone is good start but the best is yet to come. Will be an awesome device really..
December 9, 2010
Apple seems to take time & Then Release a Handset that Is of which all feature shave well been thought of.
I did consider getting one nut instead whent For THE NOKIA N8 !
BIG MISTAKE, THIS NEW Set doesn't Even work properly, Send it for Repair to"Nokia Care", But Guess What They DON'T even CARE!"
Can Not Be repaired !!!! A NEW Set ...Can NOT BE REPAIRED !!!!
So MY Advice to All Of You Who may consider buying a SMART Phone.
Go For the best , Forget the compagnies that Create a NEW Phone Every 2 Month In the Phone To create a better one as teh Previous One hand to many FLOWS!!!!
Be SMART ! Foegt Nokia & Tell Your Friends 1
December 9, 2010
So this poll asked people (apparently adults as polling children is difficult at best) who have used PSP's and DS's whether they play more games on their cell phones now.
And the results couldn't be guessed? That young adults will be ditching their handheld games for cell phones which they can use for gaming at work, on their commute, etc. without looking like an 8 year old?
Of course cell phone game sales will be up, there is more and more content offered every week. What would be more interesting is seeing how sales of DS/PSP units and games stack up against sales of cell phone games over time. Perhaps both segments are growing, perhaps not. But asking young adults if they are ditching their GAMEBOY for a cell phone gaming is a no-brainer.
But those of us with kids know that the DS market is alive and well. Maybe it is losing market share to android and iphone gaming, but this article doesn't actually address that. Most of the people who dropped their DS would have done so anyway...they just happen to have something less geeky to replace it with now.
December 9, 2010
December 9, 2010
I don't give a dam about what people think. What I care about is what thing is going to give me the best gaming experience.It should have been that dsi psp were so far ahead of the phones you stayed w them . Sony dsi just sat and let the phones take over. It wasn't inevitable they had
To lose. The didn't even have to go multifuntional, just make better games and visuals.
December 9, 2010
my 9 yr old son has a psp a xbox a desktop a laptop and the ipod touch is all he plays with its small its hand held fits smoothly in his back pocket he can text anyone search the web has free online games and can buy and download anything plus he gets to record and upload all his videos to youtube come on whats not to like n then they made the bigger version they can do it all plus read books thats the real plus for me cause i want him to read everything all the time ita just awsome and the biggest thing ever and means alot to people who have special needs children who cant leave their house ! they can be anything and go anywhere !....... thanks waiting on the next big learning sensation
December 13, 2010
Now, I'm speaking only as a hardcore gamer. I believe Sony was on the right track with the PSP. Being able to sync the PSP from ANY wifi network back to my home console to play a full fledge game is AMAZING! The problem is Sony can't get a lot of good titles to carry across with the PSP sync. And I guess the rumor you "could" do the same with xbox live on WindowsPersonally, I can only stand to tolerate Angry Birds for so long before I want to play a real game (i.e. Gears of War, Fallout, etc). And touch screen is great for games such as Angry Birds, but with a real controller in my hand is such a huge difference. Its been frustrating to try and play an old school side scroller on my android.