Sony: We need to revitalise PSP development community

[Shrygue]

via Games Industry (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-we-need-to-revitalise-psp-development-community)


Sony has said that it needs to revitalise the development community and educate studios that making PSP games is a profitable business.

Speaking to consumer site Pocket Gamer, the company admitted it has "probably suffered" due to a high reliance on third-party content which is no longer appearing on the PSP as regularly as previous years.

"We need to revitalise the developer community to get behind PSP," said Zeno Colaco, VP of publisher and developer relations for Sony Europe.

"One of the issues when you rely on a business model that relies on 25 per cent games from Sony and 75 per cent from other publishers is that if they start to refocus, you can't recover that space because you don't have the internal capacity, so we've probably suffered from that," he admitted.

Colaco said that SCEE is hoping to encourage developers to create quicker, cheaper games for the PSP – a similar model to DS titles – as Sony continues to push the handheld in different directions.

"Our sales for PSP is over 37 million units, which is huge, particularly when you take into account the level of third-party sales there are for PSP compared to DS.

"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," said Colaco.

He also stated that with support of the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Network, the company hopes the handheld will enjoy a ten-year lifecycle.

"We definitely have the ambition for it to feature very strongly in the future, both on its own and also complimentary to PlayStation Network environment and the PS3."

[Qmark]

Um...
The PSP has a huge development community - it's just 'unofficial'.

[Buddy4point0]

10 year life cycle....
lame, shoulda been 5.
I wanna see a PSP2!

[mateo_salta]

um, the psp dosent need more bad games. it needs a second stick, pressure sensitve buttons, and a second set of triggers.

[mike_jmg]

Um...
The PSP has a huge development community - it's just 'unofficial'.

:rofl:, you couldn't be more right

[Eviltaco64]

10 year life cycle....
lame, shoulda been 5.
I wanna see a PSP2!

I think theyre gonna release the PSP 2 in a few years, but theyre gonna keep the PSP alive until 2014/15 (i doubt that)

[ojdon]

*Facepalm @ Sony*

Ok... Are they REALLY REALLY desperate? They really have copied every other console now with both failing consoles... >.< Well... PSP is just old and doesn't have any games. XD I seriously think Phantasy Star Portable is going to be my last PSP that I buy for a couple of... years.

[jamotto]

What a shame, if I wanted crappy DS like games I would have bought a DS.

[andwhyisit]

*Facepalm @ Sony*

Ok... Are they REALLY REALLY desperate? They really have copied every other console now with both failing consoles... >.< Well... PSP is just old and doesn't have any games. XD I seriously think Phantasy Star Portable is going to be my last PSP that I buy for a couple of... years.

But what about Far East of Eden IV? Star Ocean 1 & 2? Yggdra Union?

[The Hombrew Hunter]

Translation: Our console is dying and we need more commercial games.

[wiggy fuzz]

true. it's just that lots of psp games are either not interesting or ports of what's already there. there really isn't much insentive to keep a psp, other than to play snes or gba games... and that's what i have a ds for :confused:

[andwhyisit]

true. it's just that lots of psp games are either not interesting or ports of what's already there. there really isn't much insentive to keep a psp, other than to play snes or gba games... and that's what i have a ds for :confused:
Can your DS play ps1 games? :rolleyes:

[jamotto]

true. it's just that lots of psp games are either not interesting or ports of what's already there. there really isn't much insentive to keep a psp, other than to play snes or gba games... and that's what i have a ds for :confused:

Um, kinda true two years ago. The psp has a good number of exclusives now.

[dangee]

I'm sure that relatively high Licensing and commission fees
charged by Sony discourage many small scale/startup development
companies, even though the support, production and distribution
networks on offer are a valuable asset.
Maybe Sony should consider reducing or waiving the 3rd party
commission for new PSP games until some sales theshold is reached.

[Veskgar]

Um, kinda true two years ago. The psp has a good number of exclusives now.

Exactly. Those who still complain about the amount, quality, and exclusiveness of PSP titles are extremely biased or have not been keeping up to date with PSP games.

Unless you are fairly wealthy or a pirate and have purchased/pirated every single decent PSP game, there is no reason at this juncture to say that there is not enough good quality commercial content for the PSP. For new PSP owners just getting a Slim for the first time, there is so much available.

And its not really a fair or accurate comparison pinning the PSP up against the DS Lite. They are too different. Actually the DS probably outnumbers the PSP in terms of garbage licensed shovelware.

A new PSP hardware revision is inevitable and it will probably be sooner rather than later. But SONY would need to make it backward compatible and ideally allow ripping/converting the UMD to a digital copy on memory stick. Maybe even be able to play PSP games on the PS3.

[Qmark]

Maybe Sony should consider reducing or waiving the 3rd party commission for new PSP games until some sales theshold is reached.Playstation Store exists. This means manufacturing is nonexistent and distribution is dirt cheap.
What Sony needs to do to get "more development" is make the official devkits less expensive and more available, and/or provide some sort of accessible process for these mythical "small scale/startup" outfits to get games officially 'signed' to play on locked PSPs.

[dangee]

@Qmark: all good points.
The companies i had in mind are those with about enough resources to
develop,produce & support a decent quality UMD size game or 2.
There are plenty of these worldwide. But not that many,
so the various consoles are in competiton to attract them as native
development platforms.

Sony's unlikely to completely 'unlock' the PSP because it'd crash their
business model, but they could make it more accessible.
Maybe by releasing a devkit lite on PSN ?

[Art]

but they could make it more accessible.
Maybe by releasing a devkit lite on PSN ?
I don't think they'll ever do it again since the original PSX Net Yaroze was a failure.
They didn't do it properly then either.

[dangee]

Go!pmf would be a nice gesture. you know, to have your own
little movie loop playing on the UMD icon instead of the game .pmf,
while the PSP's idling. That'd be more popular with users &
unsigned developers than some
"Yaroze" type system.