Nintendo, Sony Are Only Two Survivors in Handheld Game Market

INstat: In the past year, the Nokia N-Gage, Tapwave Zodiac, and Gizmondo have all been taken off the market, leaving only two competitors in the handheld game platform space: Nintendo and Sony. In the current generation of handheld consoles, the Nintendo DS will outship the Sony PSP over the life of the consoles Nintendo followed up successful Japanese and North American launches of its DS product in late 2004 with a successful introduction in Europe in the first quarter of 2005, . The DS’s two screens have proven popular, and have opened up the handheld market to new types of game play, as well as new demographic groups.

• While the PSP outshipped the DS in 2005, the DS has turned the tables in 2006, spurred by very strong sales in Japan. Sony will likely respond with a price cut in all major regions by the fourth quarter of 2006.

• While the DS is a more traditional game console, Sony’s PSP aims to be a portable multimedia convergence device that primarily plays games, but also offers web browsing and a digital audio player.

• Sales of the Nintendo GameBoy, Nintendo’s cornerstone franchise since its 1988 launch, have slowed considerably since the launch of the DS. The last GameBoys will ship in 2007.

Handheld Game Platforms 2006: And Then There Were Two Publ 20060906