Sony retires PSP in Japan

Sony has stopped selling the PlayStation Portable in Japan. The console manufacturer also plans to discontinue PSP sales in Europe. Sony has now launched the Vita as the successor to the handheld.

The PlayStation Portable was released in Japan in December 2004, followed by a 2005 release in Europe and the US. Sony tried to compete with the handhelds from Nintendo, which dominated the market. The PSP gave the gamer a 16:9 display with a resolution of 480×272 pixels. A 333Mhz clocked MIPS RS4000 processor powered the handheld.

Initially, games had to be played from a universal media disc, but with the introduction of the PSP-3000 and later the PSP Go, games were loaded from the internal flash memory and purchased from the PlayStation Store. For storage, Sony’s handheld also used its Memory Stick cards.

Sony has sold more than 80 million PlayStation Portables worldwide. The best-selling game is Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. In Japan, the company has announced that it will stop selling the PSP. Sony also plans to discontinue PSP sales in Europe and the United States, The Verge reports. In Japan, owners of the handheld receive a temporary discount if they exchange their PSP for the successor, the PlayStation Vita.