Sony must act on 'worrying' PSP performance – Climax

[Darksaviour69]

Developer fears publishers may begin to abandon format

Karl Jeffery, CEO of developer Climax has told GamesIndustry.biz that Sony must act to reverse poor performance of the PSP before publishers begin to abandon the format.

The out-spoken development boss, who's company has recently released a new ATV Offroad Fury title for the system, is concerned that the Nintendo DS is trouncing the PlayStation Portable, while Sony is doing little to support its own handheld.

"To be honest and frank about it we worry about the future of the PSP," said Jeffery.

"In terms of sales of the actual units, it's not doing so great. The DS is going gangbusters, the sales volumes are going up exponentially. But the PSP worrys us, because we're sitting here thinking about what Sony is going to do to get the platform back on track and we're not hearing much from them."

Jeffery believes there are two ways to reinvigorate the format – redesign the handheld to create a more ergonomically appealing unit, and develop a serious digital download content strategy.

"Personally, I love it as a platform to develop for, it's very powerful and it's a great machine. But it's a big bit of kit to lug around and the battery life's not great. Perhaps they could bring out a 'PSP Lite' or something along those lines," said Jeffery.

"Another thing that would be smart is to get into a downloadable games model, which Sony hasn't really done yet. There's wi-fi possibilities and memory stick features that could be used - we can see where Sony could take the platform to re-energise it, but it's very disappointing at the moment when you look at the installed base and the sales of the games that are out there - it's not a compelling prospect for many publishers."

When asked whether he thought publishers may begin to abandon the format, Jeffery replied: "That's my instinct, yes. Maybe Sony has got something planned, but at the moment it's very worrying. It's probably the platform we're most worried about."


Gamesindustry.com

[mnuhaily22]

This guy just basically read my mind.

[juggaleaux]

i've abandoned commercial psp games long ago.

*goes back to playing SNES on his PSP*

[Baboon]

i've abandoned commercial psp games long ago.

*goes back to playing SNES on his PSP*

I’m still playing commercial games, its just a shame there isn’t much of a great choice out there. The games that float my boat right now are GTA Vice City, Tekken Tag, Ace Combat X, Star Wars Lego and Moto GP, in my opinion all are worthy titles that deserve some playing (even though there not very original)!

...but to be honest playing the old skool emulators is still my favourite time killer when I’ve got my PSP with me!

Going from what this guy has wrote though he really does paint a bleak picture (commercial game wise) for the PSP’s future.

[doverkiller]

I don't know what's wrong with this?
people, who can't afford a PSP, buy the cheaps#!t toy DS..

I played with DS, and I had a big laugh..
my cellphone has better gfx

and by the way.. UMD is still better then Nintendo's chinamade flash cartridges

[The_Ultimate_Eggman]

I don't know what's wrong with this?
people, who can't afford a PSP, buy the cheaps#!t toy DS..

I played with DS, and I had a big laugh..
my cellphone has better gfx

and by the way.. UMD is still better then Nintendo's chinamade flash cartridges

YEAH RIGHT !!! the DS has what the P$P lacks originallity & quality games yeah the core system is cheaper but publishers back the machine and the price point is right.This may be the kick up the arse $$$$ONY need.

[Baboon]

Yep I agree with ya. Nintendo have got it right... The price, the playability, the marketing/promotion etc etc.

You really cant beat a mutilplayer blast on mariokart on the DS!

[kiariki]

Yep I agree with ya. Nintendo have got it right... The price, the playability, the marketing/promotion etc etc.

You really cant beat a mutilplayer blast on mariokart on the DS!

Mario Kart's just too awesome

The only reason I have and still use my PSP is because of the easy accessibility to get stuff into the machine... ... ... Download things into it...

That my only beef with the DS... ... Unless you buy the flash card and stuff that's like 180 bucks... O.O

I've never been much of a Sony person anyways... But I have to admit that I do have both consoles (not PS3) because of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts... Darn SquareEnix....

[GobboFett]

This really isn't new at all, Sony have done very little to pimp it's handheld console and I am personally surprised that software companies still even develop games for it. As stated in the above, the PSP REALLY does have marvellous potential and power to utilise but Sony have done all the wrong things in the eyes of the consumers. Crappy UMD software/movie format, poor POS, atrocious (at best ) advertisement campaign and a hefty price tag (why haven't we seen a price reduction yet)...

These matters as well as the sales statistics really says out loud that Sony can't save the system from a total software-dev abandonment in the near future. It really comes down to what Sony can cook up for us PSP users, even if most of us are homebrew savvy. I personally cannot see Sony doing anything in the right direction for the PSP to warrant commercial software being worth it. I will keep my PSP, but as a homebrew machine.

[darthhaze420]

$ony is not very smart when it comes to staying on top they are very arrogant and think there name alone is going to keep them on top there is many ways $ony can help the psp but they rather support the ps2 psp can support many ps2 titles if they would just bring out some of the same games that are coming out for the ps2 that would be a great start and i mean the whole game like midway did with mortal kombat $ony is just now pushing advertising tv commercials and and downloads and if they would just support homebrew from the beginning the ds would have not have had a chance