Comment Re:Wishful thinking, opportunists and game analyst (Score 1) 18
There is a reason I'm talking primarily about PSP, not the DS, and it's not because mentioning the DS weakens my arguments. Like you, I think that the iPhone is much less of a threat to the DS, which has demographics both much older and much younger than the PSP.
The PSP is aimed at a hardcore, early adopter, gamer. The iPhone is also popular with a hardcore, early adopter market (particularly young adult males.)
The threat to the PSP is not that gamers switch en masse to the iPhone. It's that *enough* gamers switch to the iPhone that the substantial investment in making a high-quality PSP game (including the cost of manufacture, retail and distribution) is no longer economically viable for third-party publishers, who no longer support it.
Whereas Apple's model (70% revenue share, no physical goods, seamless distribution) means breakeven points are much lower.
Generally, analysts are not talking about pure gameplay quality. We are trying to look for the business issues that matter, and I stick by my view that the iPhone/iPod Touch is a big threat to the PSP (and, to a lesser extent the DS).
Sony's not out - a revamped, more cost-effective PSP2 could bring them back into the game. But Apple are currently making a real disturbance to the status quo.
