14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has announced that it will cease shipments of the PlayStation Portable handheld gaming console to the domestic Japanese market starting this month. The company has not made any announcements regarding the overseas markets, but it's likely they'll follow closely.
The discontinuation of the popular PSP device has been revealed alongside the introduction of two PlayStation Vita Super Value Packs for the region. Furthermore, Sony is offering Japanese users discounts for PSP trade-ins on PlayStation Vita products.
The PSP was launched in Japan in 2004, then in North America at the beginning of 2005, and made its way to PAL regions later that year. Remodeled versions followed in 2007 and 2008, improving many of the handheld console's features and adding new ones.
The company even made a version of the PSP that featured a sliding screen, under which lay the controls, but discontinued the model in 2010, focusing its efforts on the next generation of products, the PlayStation Vita.
The portable system is approaching its tenth birthday, and it has provided a ton of entertainment to users all around the world. In addition to being a very robust platform that also plays music and movies, the PSP is also highly configurable, which has led to the console selling over 76 million units worldwide.