SONY Corp's PlayStation Portable will narrow the lead of Nintendo Co's DS in Japan's handheld game-player market in 2008, helped by exclusive software and a new model, according to Enterbrain Inc.
The number of PlayStation Portable machines sold in Japan will reach 10 million units this year, compared with 27 million units for Nintendo's dual-screen player, the Tokyo-based researcher told Bloomberg News yesterday. Nintendo will sell 2.7 DS players for each PSP in 2008, compared with 2.8 last year and 3.1 the year before, according to Enterbrain data.
The PSP was Japan's best-selling game machine in Japan in March for the first time in six months, helped by the release of Capcom Co's "Monster Hunter Portable 2nd" game, which is exclusive to the player, Enterbrain said.
Sony introduced a lighter, slimmer version of the PSP in September to boost sales.
"The new model put PSP on a steeper growth trajectory and helped cast off the impression the hardware isn't selling well," Enterbrain Chief Executive Officer Hirokazu Hamamura said.
Nintendo may announce an updated model of the three-year-old DS "sometime soon," he said, though the company was not releasing details. The PSP and DS went on sale in Japan in December 2004.