PlayStation Portable

Lore & Background

Sony Computer Entertainment first announced development of the PlayStation Portable at a press conference preceding E3 2003. CEO Ken Kutaragi called the device the 'Walkman of the 21st century', a reference to the console's multimedia capabilities. The first concept images appeared at a Sony corporate strategy meeting in November 2003, and the console was officially unveiled at a Sony press conference during E3 2004. The PSP's development posed several challenges, with battery life being a primary concern. To address this, Sony implemented power management strategies, including restricting the CPU to two-thirds of its full speed for the first few years. The Universal Media Disc (UMD) drive was another significant hurdle, as it drained the battery and had slow read speeds.

The PSP launched in Japan on December 11, 2004, with over 200,000 units sold on the first day. The North American launch on March 24, 2005, sold 500,000 units in the first two days, though this figure was reported to be below expectations. The PAL launch was delayed due to high demand in Japan and North America, eventually occurring on September 1, 2005. All stock in the UK sold out within three hours, more than doubling the previous first-day sales record set by the Nintendo DS. The system also saw over 25,000 pre-orders in Australia and nearly one million units sold across Europe in its first week.

The PSP uses a 'bar' form factor with a 4.3-inch LCD screen capable of 480×272 pixel resolution. It features two 333 MHz MIPS32 R4000 R4k-based CPUs, a GPU running at 166 MHz, and 32 MB main RAM (64 MB on PSP-2000 and later models). The hardware was originally forced to run at 222 MHz, but firmware update 3.50 on May 31, 2007, removed this limit, allowing new games to run at 333 MHz. The system is powered by an 1800 mAh battery (1200 mAh on the 2000 and 3000 models) providing between about three and six hours of gameplay.

Reader's Guide

The PlayStation Portable was received positively by critics and sold over 80 million units during its ten-year lifetime. It was the first handheld to successfully challenge Nintendo's dominance in the portable market, which Nintendo had held since the Game Boy's launch in 1989. The PSP's advanced graphics and multimedia capabilities—including video and audio playback, Internet connectivity, and the ability to connect to PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 consoles—led some to classify it as a portable media player. Several models were released, including the PSP Street and the PSP Go. The PSP line was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita, released in Japan in December 2011 and worldwide in February 2012. The Vita has backward compatibility with PSP games released on the PlayStation Network through the PlayStation Store, which became the main method of purchasing PSP games until Sony shut down access to the store from the PSP on March 31, 2016. Hardware shipments of the PSP ended worldwide in 2014; production of UMDs ended when the last Japanese factory producing them closed in late 2016.

Did You Know?

• The PSP is the only handheld console to use an optical disc format—the Universal Media Disc (UMD)—as its primary storage medium.
• Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi called the PSP the 'Walkman of the 21st century' due to its multimedia capabilities.
• The PSP's CPU was originally restricted to 222 MHz; a firmware update on May 31, 2007, allowed games to run at 333 MHz.