10 million PSPs served worldwide

TOKYO--Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that its PlayStation Portable has shipped 10 million cumulative units worldwide as of this morning. A shipment of 10 million units within just 10 months of launch is the fastest penetration speed for a PlayStation gaming machine in history.

Broken down by territory, Sony has sent 3 million units to Japan and Asia (launch date: December 12, 2004), 4.47 million units to North America (launch date: March 24, 2005), and 2.53 million units to Europe and other PAL regions (launch date: September 1, 2005).

However, the system's software-to-hardware ratio leaves much to be desired, as SCE disclosed that it has shipped 19.6 million PSP games as of September, a tie ratio of less than two games per unit. It seems the machine is being used for watching UMD movies almost as much as playing games, as shipments of video titles on the proprietary format exceeded 15 million units as of September.

A newly announced Giga Pack with a 1GB memory stick could spur sales of the hardware this holiday season, while portable versions of popular console franchises like SSX, X-Men Legends, Virtua Tennis, Prince of Persia, and WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw could improve the ratio of game-to-hardware shipments.