Sony: We need to revitalise PSP development community

[Shrygue]

via Games Industry


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.