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Rumortoid: PSP library pulled from stores for not selling? photo

I recently received a very interesting email from one of our readers who detailed his near impossible search for PSP games in East London. After finding the local Morrison's bereft of PSP games, reader Oolong checked out Blockbuster only to find a similar phenomenon:

I went into my local Morrison's this weekend and you know how they sell your usual top 20 crappy titles? A few doggy DS games etc ..  I was having a look and I noticed no PSP games, odd I thought but no biggie. So anyhoo later on I went over to Blockbuster .... annnnnd no PSP games. Well except a few in the bargain bin but they had completely removed the main PSP display.

There's one of those 'Game Station' or whatever it's call in there so I asked the chaps what's happened to the new PSP games and he said ''We've been told to take them down due to them not selling. We've put up more XBOX 360 stuff in it's place.'' I was a bit shocked and replied 'But the PSP is selling bucket loads in Japan it's finally coming into it's prime' and the guy concludes ''Yeah so I hear but we can't sell the game at all here, so they're being taken off the shelf.''

Speaking for myself, I can confirm that the Gamestation portion of the Orpington Blockbuster has a lot of PSP games, but I actually I can't recall ever seeing them in my local Eltham Blockbuster. Either way, I can get them in this area if I want them. Perhaps PSP games just don't sell in East London? Either way, this calls for investigation and I shall find out what other game stores make of the PSP's sales.

It would be a shame if stores are actually starting to do that though, since I'm fond of the PSP and think it could have been something special. It really has quite a few worthy titles these days, and it'd be sad if some stores aren't putting them out anymore.


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37 comments | showing # 1 to 37

AlucardX24's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 05:34
AlucardX24
I <3 NOT having a hacked psp.
Trevsweb's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 05:34
Trevsweb
ya i blame east london.. i shall check out charlton and woolwich later to see if its the same there. might be our crappy area :(
linuxguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 05:36
linuxguy
this isn't gonna end well
P.S:you fucktards downloading isos of games should be ashamed of yourself
garrfunkel's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 05:36
garrfunkel
Ive noticed this problem in Ireland aswell. Unless the store is primarily a game store it can be hard to find more than a few PSP games outside the latest releases.
Artimecion's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 05:42
Artimecion
Yeah, I've noticed a deduction in shelf-space for the psp - but an explosion of available titles in trade in shops like CEX.
I guess that's to be expected though, I certainly was always a bit ired by new PSP games costing the same/more than new PC games..
ParaParaKing's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 05:46
ParaParaKing
I blame Sony for this. They have been pushing the PS3 like crazy and aren't working on any AAA PSP titles. Most PSP games are either remakes of PSOne games or stripped down PS2 games. Who wants to buy those anyway? Since I got a new firmware I haven't bought a single PSP game, but actually there hasn't been a single PSP game I'm interested enough in to buy anyway.
boatorious's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 05:48
boatorious
This is an obviously fabricated story. A store called Morrison's? Towns called Orpington and Eltham? These are not real places and can only be the invention of a madman.
Volomon's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 06:06
Volomon
@ParaParaKing What about God of War? The fact is the PSP is so hack that no ones going to devote money to making a AAA title for that system. Its a dead end system. At least half or more of the sales are probably taken away by pirated copies.
Timmeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 06:15
Timmeh
@linuxguy:

Your ignorance is astounding. Maybe there isn't as much marketing as for the DS or other consoles for that matter, it just isn't that popular.

Back as far as when I had my Amiga as a youngster and was too poor to buy games I had boxes and boxes of copied disks, as did my friends. Everyone always knew where the local bootlegger lived, living on council estates as I did.

Of course back then if a publisher released shit they were less inclined to proclaim it as gold and blame piracy on crap sales. Maybe you should try thinking for yourself instead of being brainwashed by publishers and the media.
coffeesash's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 06:35
coffeesash
The fact that the console is £150 is stopping me buying a console and therefore any games. If it was about £80 like the rest of the world...
linuxguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 06:37
linuxguy
@Timmeh:I guess it's hard to convey tone of voice on a text medium.But I agree with you on the fact that psp games are rarely advertised while DS ones are.
sony should get its head out of its ass
MGS:portable ops
linuxguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 06:39
linuxguy
@Timmeh:I guess it's hard to convey tone of voice on a text medium.But I agree with you on the fact that psp games are rarely advertised while DS ones are.
sony should get its head out of its ass
MGS:portable ops no ads
syphon filter no ads
god of war hardly any ads
patapon nope,not for this game
...
(that's on European TV)
linuxguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 06:42
linuxguy
@GOD:Sorry to be a dick about it but we need an edit button
Timmeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 06:45
Timmeh
Yeah, Living in the UK I think the marketing budget for Hamsterz on DS was probably higher than the total for PSP games over 12 months. Unless it's a multi-platform release and gets its little icon at the bottom of an ad screen along with the big boys.
ParaParaKing's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 07:35
ParaParaKing
Volomon: I wouldn't have bought GoW:CoO. Also it is even easier to pirate things with the DS and still people are supporting it.
Face's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 07:50
Face
Yeah I hate when this happens. I thought the PSP was doing alright for itself though.
ajaxender's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 08:10
ajaxender
The psp is doing well mostly because of the various Monster Hunter games, and Crisis Core. The MH games dont seem to have the same appeal outside of japan, so that pretty much just leaves Crisis Core. And hell, is that even out in England yet? Its not out in NZ.

Most of the other games are either bad, or are good but are essentially ps2 ports which were better on the ps2 (GTA games, God of War, etc). Theres a few exceptions but probably not enough psp gamers willing to gamble their money.
DarkTravesty's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 09:06
DarkTravesty
i'd believe it. In northern iowa at least for me its hard as hell to find psp games unless you go to gamestop. Big stores like target, walmart and kmart... good luck finding any i've seen maybe 10 psp games in those stores not at all particularly good, the rest being filler psp umd movies and not a new release in sight. Sadly even at those above mentioned stores the retail space more recently has been shrinking even more :/
Misanthrope's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 09:51
Misanthrope
Does this solidifies the "PSP is for modders and Pirates matey, arrrr!" Food for thought: the piracy on the DS is easier and in final numbers more widespread yet it still does very well cause of record bending sales.

This is just an indication of the PSP doing poorly when it comes to move units. Yes its sexy, it runs movies and music, when games are not the decisive factor obviously sales are going to hurt.

By looking at the PSP and the PS3 and seeing sony try to push proprietary their formats from other industries ( music, movie and yes Blueray its almost like their proprietary format even if it succeeded ) Sony forgot apparently that selling consoles, no "Multimedia supercomputers!" at lost only works if your software sales follow.

Spend on game development next time, that is all.
gamesronlygames's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 10:15
gamesronlygames
A telling blog as I just listed my PSP slim with several games on the seattle craigslist. A shameless plug no doubt. I was excited about it a few months ago when I bought it but I find it collects dust.
Timmeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 11:02
Timmeh
Maybe if they started using this this in their advertising campaigns there might be a sudden surge in sales.
Timmeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 11:06
Timmeh
Tried to be clever, failed. I'll just go and sit in a corner now. WTB edit button
Mattchewie's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 11:29
Mattchewie
As a psp owner I can state that I don't use pirated games or hacked firmware. However, at the same time, I don't really rent psp games, and if I do, I don't rent from BB, I use gamefly
Johnny Hundo's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 11:49
Johnny Hundo
I bought my PSP so it would sit on the shelf next to my Virtua Boy. Museum piece is all its cracked up to be it seems.
necrozen's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 11:50
necrozen
I think this is a piracy problem. And I know many of you will point to the DS and say "BUT BUT BUT R4!" But what I think you're missing is the fact that the DS has 3 things going for it that the PSP doesn't. One, the casual audience who buy games don't even know how to pirate if they wanted to and they are a big chunk of the pie. Two, childrens games and loads of them, bought by clueless parents. And three, a loyal fanbase like me and many others who COULD pirate using R4, but are smart enough to realize that if we did, it would affect the quality of games coming out.
brainderailment's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 12:13
brainderailment
Is this the same Blockbuster that Americans despise?
Timmeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 12:34
Timmeh
@ necrozen:

1) There's no shortage of more casual friendly titles on the PSP either - there must be a market there for it.

2) I'm pretty sure the PSP is bought by many, many parents as a gift, along with games for the little'uns. Are you really saying this isn't the case? And that PSP owners who migt even want those titles don't exist?

3)Are you saying that despite the fact running homebrew/bootleg stuff on the PSP requires someone to be far more tech-savvy than with the DS, they are STUPIDER than "clever" DS users that realise massive scale pirating will hurt development?

Sorry, but your argument is made of fanboyism and BS. the main issues are with marketing and perception.

And no, I don't own either console, not a fan of handhelds myself.
Oolong's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 13:13
Oolong
Erm, I live in Islington, North London not cracktown, East London thanks ;)
MechaMonkey's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 13:21
MechaMonkey
"We've put up more XBOX 360 stuff in its place."

GAMESTATION R FANBOIZ!
slappybag's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 13:34
slappybag
I work in a video game shop in N/London and we have 1 shelve of new psp games, mostly backed out with dummy cases. And a whole bay just for new DS games, It's sad.
Rifter01's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 14:30
Rifter01
I've noticed before now, but esp. since GTA4 came out, brand new titles on all platforms are only out on the shelf for a maximum of 6 months and .. POOF they're gone. To echo what Necrozen said, but with a small twist, when I first bought my DS I wanted Wario Ware Touched.. And it was nowhere to be found even on my travelling around the state, out of state, etc. On the 360, Culdsept Saga and Beaut.Katamari are no where to be found either. Sad, sad indeed. And we all know Wii's are/were nearly impossible to find on the shelf for so long. Conspiracy!! Lol
Dan CiTi's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 14:50
Dan CiTi
I've never seen a lack of PSP games. Oh well.
dephect's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 16:27
dephect
What console isn't for Pirates? The only one that hasn't been able to run back ups yet is the PS3, but give it time.
The lack of blu-ray burners in peoples pc and the ease of upgrading your PS3 HDD with ease points to back ups running from the HDD. Hell they are already working on it.
Anyhow, my point is dont place blame on the lack of sales of games on PSP due to piracy. Its even easier to mod a 360 and they are selling games like crazy.
I live in America and never see many PSP on shelves, maybe 5 to 10. I love my PSP/PS3... Just hard to find any PSP games.
I usually end up playing ISO's to try and if I like the game the much I buy it (looking at you GOW and FFCC).
GOLD5's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/29/2008 20:15
GOLD5
I live in Canada and the Walmart here has a top 20 new release tier and then a whole case still full of PSP games. (DS case is TWO full top-to-bottom shelves PSP is ONE.) Also they have an end cap facing the store with a demo kiosk and more games and movies in there. Blockbuster here still has half a case of new PSP, too. EB Games, check. Kmart, check. HMV, check. Best Buy, check. Future Shop, all have em. Sorry to be hoarding the PSP games, rest of the world!
GamerD's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/30/2008 05:31
GamerD
I say Sony should drop the UMD drive , increase the battery size, add build in memory (2GB) and use digital distribution (will cut costs and make games cheaper , might even counter piracy a bit).

Capcom needs to market MH better , I'm a huge fan of MHF2 and MHP2G
mistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 01:40
mistic
you uk people can also transfer the channel and get your games in Belgium :-) We've still got'em :-)
Magesx's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/02/2008 20:12
Magesx
Wait, there are games in England?
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