Portable Gaming Boosts US Game Sales

Portable Gaming Boosts US Game Sales

While current-generation console sales have sluggish, the US handheld market has seen a recent boom in popularity, largely contributing to a 21% increase in retail games sales for the first half of the year. These numbers are expected to climb as more portable titles are set to release in the second half of 2005.

In a market where Nintendo used to be the primary player, Sony's introduction of the PSP has given consumers a second option for advanced gaming on the go. Nintendo's newest handheld system, the Nintendo DS, released in late 2004 and has been the PSP's main competitor. These two portable devices are very much responsible for a 181% rise in hardware sales over the last year.

In the final stretch of this console generation and with next-generation systems just around the corner, sales of Sony's PS2, Nintendo's GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox are down 6% overall. Retail PC game profits are down too--10.5% since the first of the year.

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