PSP — PlayStation Portable and the UMD Disc

The PSP (PlayStation Portable) launched in North America on 24 March 2005, sold only as a $249.99 Value Pack. Japan had it first, on 12 December 2004, at ¥19,800 before tax (¥20,790 with tax), and Europe waited until 1 September 2005. North America came more than three months after Japan, Europe nearly nine.

In Japan, Nintendo's DS had arrived ten days earlier, on 2 December. In North America the order was reversed by a wider margin: the DS launched on 21 November 2004, the PSP four months later.

27 October 2004: PS2-class graphics in the hand

On 27 October 2004 Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) announced that the PSP, model PSP-1000, would go on sale in Japan on 12 December. The press release claimed graphics processing equivalent to the PlayStation 2, with stereo sound, so that full 3D games and high-resolution video could be enjoyed anywhere. It listed this specification:

The release called the 4.3-inch screen the largest on any handheld game device. UMD was an optical disc made for the PSP, and the release said a new category of software mixing games, music and video on a single UMD was expected in spring 2005. Twenty-one games from Sony and other publishers were promised by the end of the year.

North America: the Value Pack only

The North American terms came on 3 February 2005. According to Game Developer, the PSP would launch on 24 March at $249.99 and, unlike in Japan, only as a single bundle, with a 32 MB Memory Stick and an AC adaptor; the first million also came with Spider-Man 2 on UMD.

According to the Associated Press the same day, Sony had by then shipped 800,000 PSPs in Japan and planned to have one million ready for the first week in North America.

According to a Reuters report of 8 April 2005, Sony said it had sold 500,000 PSPs in North America in the first two days—about half the number it had aimed to supply to retailers—and that first-week sales at North American retailers came to $150 million. The same report put sales in Japan at more than one million.

Europe: more than five months late

Europe came last. According to The Register on 26 April 2005, Sony announced a launch in the UK and the rest of Europe on 1 September, with a Value Pack—Memory Stick, case, earphones and more—at £179 in the UK and €249 in the euro zone. The article said this was more than five months after Sony had first intended: Europe had been held back so that more units could go to American buyers, and the date had slipped to April, then early summer, then late summer.

From 10 million to 76.4 million

According to SIE's company timeline, the PSP reached South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in May 2005, and worldwide sales passed 10 million in October 2005. Later milestones:

SIE's business data gives cumulative sell-in of more than 76.4 million PSPs worldwide as of 31 March 2012, and more than 331 million games. The Nintendo DS, from the same year, sold 154.02 million according to Nintendo IR, so the PSP reached about half that—though the two companies' totals are counted at different dates.

Sony's home console PlayStation 3 followed two years later, in November 2006. For the wider story, see the game consoles timeline.