Posted Wed Jun 4, 2014 at 08:39 AM PDT by Brian Hoss
10-year life cycle all-too literal.
Sony's first handheld gaming device, the PlayStation Portable (PSP), went on sale in Japan in 2004. And now, Sony has announced two new Vita packs for Japan ahead of ceasing production of the PSP in Japan this June. The PSP has been a huge success in its home market and even now its week to week sales beat the recently introduced PlayStation Vita TV device. The name of the game now though is the Vita, which in its third year in Japan.
In Japan, PSP owners can still take advantage of the UMD PSP Passport program, which allows, for a fee, a digital version of the game to be downloaded for those that own the UMD (physical disc) version. Likewise, Sony is pushing PSP trade-in program, software bundles and other discounts to attempt to get holdover PSP owners in Japan to move up to the Vita.
2008 saw both the PSP-3000 and digital-only PSP Go introduced, but January saw the last shipments to North America. The PSP is still fairly easy to find new, and Sony has given no indication of discontinuing PSN support for the handheld.
Source: Polygon
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