PSP’s have never really done as well in the USA as they have done in Europe. Not sure why, as they are very popular over there - so much so that they even use them in schools and Sony have developed (or helped develop) educational games for PSP in the UK. And recent research by Flurry (aka Pinch Media) suggests that at least some US gamers are abandoning their PSPs for the iPhone!
Techcrunch reckon the reason is simply that:
When it comes to mobile gaming, fully-featured, general-purpose computer phones are hard to beat.
The fact that there are over 30,000 free games on offer has to also be a big draw card. But lets face it - these figures really overstate the case as a lot of these games get a serious thumbs down from users (with less than 2 star ratings out of a possible 5). All the same, that still leaves a LOT of free games with good ratings to choose from.
But most of these are really not in the same class as PSP games. They are short limited games - more like mini games! All the same, the figures speak for themselves. Apple is chomping away at the PSP market here and that can only be bad for the rest of us loyal PSP gamers as Sony also faces massive loss of revenue from games being copied.
Lets face it, the PSP is a mobile device. That means that it a superior game platform for use on the move. Unlike PS3 gamers, we are not stuck at home base in order to play our games. We can while away boring trips, boring lessons and boring waits at the dentist/doctor/whatever, by playing our games on the move.