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Sony: But the PSP is worth developing games for! No, really! photo

Poor Sony. At last year's E3, they unveiled their newer, slimmer PSP in shiny new colors, promised more games were coming, and basically convinced me that there was hope for the little handheld. I bought my red one, happily buzzed my way through Crisis Core, and waited for all the other excellent releases that were promised.

And waited.

And waited.

Sigh.

In a recent interview with Pocket Gamer, Sony Europe VP of publisher and developer relations Zeno Colaco spoke about the problems hindering the PSP's success, saying "We need to revitalize the developer community to get behind PSP." Colasco also mentioned that the handheld had relied too heavily on third party content, among other issues.

On the future of the PSP:

"So from my perspective, what's important is we continue to tell publishers and developers that there's an opportunity to make money on PSP, which is something that will become apparent over the next two years as the network services are developed,"

I'm trying to be patient, Sony. I really am. I love the little handheld, and if there were more quirky games for it I would probably play it a lot more. I loved Patapon, now all you have to do is keep it up. Have you already given up, or are you still hoping to see the PSP get more developer action?

[Via Games Industry.Biz -- Thanks, Joe]


Continue: More PSP stories





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25 comments | showing # 1 to 25

dtomek's Avatar
dtomek at 06/24/2008 12:36
I have yet to find a game that looks to make purchasing a PSP relevant.
Haxan's Avatar
Haxan at 06/24/2008 12:40
Only geeks and otakus play games on the PSP.
Oolong's Avatar
Oolong at 06/24/2008 12:43
Sony need to lead from the front. If they haven't already started pumping money into multiple, in-house game design teams who will have interesting & sellable products ready within 18 months - they are screwed.

It's really that simple: DS is winning due to it's 1st party titles, PSP is loosing out due to it's lack of 1st party titles.

In saying that Sony also need to start buying up smaller 3rd party developers who have great ideas for PSP games and get them to work.

Whilst Nintendo are in bed with Sega and a whole host of US/UK developers, creaming themselves over the Wii and DS - week in week out we see another PSP developer leave.

Stop the rot now or you might as well just quit.
Oolong's Avatar
Oolong at 06/24/2008 12:45
Haha, just read that back ... never really had myself down as a Sony/PSP fanboy *blush*.
apocsymph's Avatar
apocsymph at 06/24/2008 12:51
I'd really like to see a PSP-2 with two analog sticks. I mean come on...Me being a huge FPS fan, I'd love to be able to play some good ole shooters while on the city bus or on a long trip. Seriously...I probably would have bought a PSP already if there were two analog sticks. I'd say sony really screwed up on that.
Brahms's Avatar
Brahms at 06/24/2008 12:54
It's a pretty decent critique, Oolong. Sony needs to put money into PSP development as well- but then, they seem overstretched even on PS3 development at the moment.
broonor's Avatar
broonor at 06/24/2008 12:55
less ps2 porting from psp prz then moar buy. Also, ratchet & clank makes a great game on the psp, so why not do similar things. Good studios will make good games regardless of the platform. MOAR 3D0
robestyles's Avatar
robestyles at 06/24/2008 13:11
I've had a PSP since launch and everyday it pisses me off the potential of this hand-held and the just plain lack of good quality original titles for it which is why it remains a portable NES emulator to me.
iwontusemyname's Avatar
iwontusemyname at 06/24/2008 13:14
i think the psp has plenty of titles to choose from. crush, locoroco/patapon, mega man: powered up, and others. of course, most of those others are remakes/ports of other titles.

but...uh...still? the screen is nice!
Quansto's Avatar
Quansto at 06/24/2008 13:32
Personally i think todays gaming issue is that the idea of fun over format is gone. Not to say that its not always been there, but format, these days, is choking the life from games and the gaming community. Isn't sad that in this day and time we have such a wealth of ability in these systems, and the most inspiring thing that seems to dominate the minds of developers and the 'big three' (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo) are trying to out do each other? Hand-helds seem to be no exception.
Novakaine's Avatar
Novakaine at 06/24/2008 13:50
Oolong hit the nail right on the head. Retronauts covered the PSP issue a year ago, and came to the same conclusion. Also, Sony took their same business model for consoles--packing in the most tech they could--and applied it for a handheld, and it simply didn't work.

Sony's greatest strength has also been their biggest weaknesses: Their dependence on third-parties. Sony has always succeeded due to the support from third-parties they've received, but now we're seeing with the PS3 and PSP they really are hamstrung when they have to lead the pack themselves.
galagabug 's Avatar
galagabug at 06/24/2008 13:53
but they have a 10 year plan. in 10 years, the psp will have a lineup comparable to the launch of most consoles :)

i feel your pain, but on the bright side, Space Invaders Extreme is a lot of fun.
Shin Oni's Avatar
Shin Oni at 06/24/2008 13:54
What kills the PSP sales?

Custom firmware. With that in mind, about 90% of the PSP owners just download the iso files on a big mem stick and move on. Whereas the kids and people who don't know anything about it (and still trying to buy UMD movies for it....lol.) continue to give sony and 3rd party developers money. It's not that it's the PSP's fault, it's sony's fault for not making the little handheld so easily hackable.

The same could be said for the DS...but the DS is loved by all which easily makes up for the small amount of R4 users out there. PSP and its teen/up force are alittle smarter than your average DS gamer.

I personally think 3rd party developers are scared to make a game on the PSP to lose sales to homebrew/custom firmware users. Plus just as sony loves to do, they talk about playing games online when only a few games on the PSP as a whole are actually online. It still amazes me how almost everytime I look at a game that SHOULD be online, it's simply "Ad Hoc" and nothing more.
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 06/24/2008 13:59
I have a friend who recently bought a PSP, mostly because he's a bit of a Sony fanboy and a bit of a nitwit. (He religiously buys NASCAR games, for fuck's sake.) I've fiddled around with it a bit and I think it looks like a decent system. But there are just too few games that I find compelling enough to make me want to buy the thing. The whole thing just stinks of wasted opportunities.
Aex's Avatar
Aex at 06/24/2008 14:06
I find there are plenty of games on the PSP to occupy my time with :p I really need to start beating a few. MGS:PO, GoW, Jeanne D'arc, FF7:CC, Monster Hunter, Patapon and Loco Roco...

Though, I'm sure if you bought a PSP just for Patapon and Loco Roco, you might be a little disappointed in the lack of titles in that style...

Then again, I only play with mine for like 45m during my lunch break each day :P
Sueng's Avatar
Sueng at 06/24/2008 14:07
I really hope the PSP is successful. I have high hopes for a PSP2 where it will have a slot for SIM card, complete touch screen so your buttons will all be right on the screen, and all the UMD bullcrap is gone and you download games for it instead...but right now, it doesn't appear so. :(
Aex's Avatar
Aex at 06/24/2008 14:12
Hmm, Quick question before I go...

@Sueng - How do you define successful? Personally, I'd say the PSP has already been pretty successful, you know.. with 37 million units out the door and all :p
DinnertimeNinja's Avatar
DinnertimeNinja at 06/24/2008 14:32
Yeah, I mean, technically, the PSP is the first NON Nintendo system to even be REMOTELY competetive in the market. It has about a 33% market share compared to the DS (which I find pretty damn remarkable, really) and has more systems sold than the 360 and PS3 combined.

It's FAR from being a failure of a system in any respect. The problem is that, game-wise, it's DEFINITELY losing steam.

Not 6 months ago I could have spouted off a list of a dozen games I was looking forward to on the PSP, and all of them were coming out in nicely spaced intervals over the next 6 months. Now, I can only think of two I'm even remotely interested in playing (FF: Dissidia, which could be complete trash, and Loco Roco 2) and neither of them are coming out til years end AT BEST.

The PSP is in a long dry spot right now. Luckily, I've got plenty of unfinished games on other systems to keep me busy. But Sony needs to up the ante if they expect people to keep shelling out money for their machine.
CaptainApocalypse's Avatar
CaptainApocalypse at 06/24/2008 14:44
My PSP gets very little use, much to my sadness. Crisis Core is the last game I seriously played, but even then, I got bored. Here's hoping the PSP will kick it up a notch.
Wookiee's Avatar
Wookiee at 06/24/2008 15:14
Castlevania X is worth it IMO.
Curious George's Avatar
Curious George at 06/24/2008 15:49
A dancing Wookiee FTW! (Look up)

A PSP is the only thing I don't have for this generation of game systems. I just got a PS3 but mainly for Blu-ray.

I think that dancing wookie GIF is more entertaining than a PSP at the moment. The new Kingdom Hearts might change my mind though.
Novakaine's Avatar
Novakaine at 06/24/2008 16:00
From a LTD point of view the PSP isn't a failure, and it's bar-none the most competitive handheld Nintendo ever went against.

However, if you go back to the PSP's objective--not to establish a foothold in the portable industry, but to single-handedly crush Nintendo in it (remember, analysts predicted the PSP to beat the DS just as they did PS3/360 to beat Wii), it is indeed a failure in that regard. They just set the bar too high for it.
kawitchate's Avatar
kawitchate at 06/24/2008 16:16
last fall i finally felt the game lineup (both out then and announced to come out) was finally at a point where i could say "ok, this warrants a purchase." that said, looking ahead, there really aren't that many games i can think of off the top of my head that i want for the damn thing. Star Ocean remake maybe?
Crunshii's Avatar
Crunshii at 06/24/2008 18:04
make dev kits cheaper for indi gamers and offer them a chance to put their stuff on the PS3 store, that might help.
mistic's Avatar
mistic at 06/24/2008 19:31
Only geeks and otakus play games on the PSP.
so true so true
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