The PSP is an amazing piece of kit, but everybody knows that the system doesn’t get as much love from publishers as other systems. This has not gone unnoticed by Sony, and the company’s Worldwide Studio boss, Shuhei Yoshida, is all glum about the situation:
“Yeah, it’s really, really disappointing and it’s a lost opportunity for the third-parties… They should look at what the PSP can do for their titles and the potential for the business that their IP has.”
It’s true — the PSP is capable of some amazing stuff, as Capcom and Square Enix like to prove. Sadly, however, nobody else seems to care very much. Yoshida is at least more positive about the PSP’s Japanese success:
“We have to show by examples. What’s happening in Japan is interesting — because of the massive success of Monster Hunter, Japanese publishers realize, ‘here’s a resource.’
Lots of people are playing PSP in groups of fours and when you go to Japan it’s hard to find a train or a bar where you don’t see some people playing a PSP. So other publishers in Japan are seeing these consumers, and thinking, ‘Wow, we can make games for those consumers’.”
That’s terrific for Japan n’ all, but sadly that’s never translated so well over here. It continues to be a shame, because the PSP is somewhat awesome as a system. It’s just not awesome as a continuous source of fresh new titles, and we in the West need more than Monster Hunter to sell a handheld.
