Highest Selling PSP Games in North America

Kris Erickson • Dec 2, 2008 • Comments ()

2008 was a tremendous year for PSP owners, with some stellar titles released on the system. Even though there were few games, standout releases like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and God of War showed the world what could really be done on a handheld gaming machine. While we have been busy celebrating another great year in PSP sales, the pessimistic folks over at Gamasutra have conspired to harsh our buzz. Through diligent research, they compiled a list of the top selling PSP games of all time, and found that not a single 2008 release was on the list. In fact, some of the games date from as far back as 2005! Keep in mind that these sales figures represent only titles released in North America. A chart of Japanese software sales might show Crisis Core or Monster Hunter placing high on this list.

Top 5 Best Selling PSP in North America (March 2005 - October 2008)

1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories -- 2,000,000
2. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition -- 1,100,000
3. Need for Speed: Most Wanted -- 1,100,000
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories -- 950,000
5. Star Wars: Battlefront II -- 809,000

This data is extremely interesting for a number of reasons. It tells a compelling story of consumers snapping up the device in 2005 and 2006, buying a few high-profile franchises, and then putting down the system in disappointment in the early part of 2007. There simply has not been enough enthusiasm over the PSP in North America to move more than 1 million units of software since Vice City Stories shipped in late 2006. There is some silver lining to this cloud however -- the data does show that third party software can do extremely well on the PSP, especially when it is branded with an existing franchise behind it.