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The PSP business has certainly seen its ups and downs over the years, and the introduction of the PSPgo hardware last year seemed like a complete misfire, confusing consumers with a higher price point and no compatibility with the existing UMD discs (or a way to transfer them onto the PSPgo). In our recent conversation with SCEA Senior Vice President of Publisher Relations Rob Dyer, we asked the executive about the state of the PSP business and how Sony's addressing it. While Sony's first-party support has been pretty solid, third-party support could be better. Dyer's aware of this and promised that some big games will be coming this year. The biggest issue, however, remains piracy, and he believes Sony will have an answer to that problem soon.
“I think we had a great lineup last year. The biggest problem that plagued PSP was piracy; we have not been able to slow that down. We think we have some answers going forward, but we're not ready to talk about that publicly at this point. So we're working on fixing that, because that's been a big problem. Publishers, when they put out good games, are not getting the same sales results that they got a few years back. So piracy's been a big issue and we're working on that very diligently to bring about some solutions,\\" he said.
Dyer continued, \\"That said, we still have a very robust lineup this year from third parties on the PSP, starting with Metal Gear Peace Walker. I won't go through the whole lineup because I want our third-party partners to make those announcements, but there are some big, big titles coming out this year and you'll see those announcements at GDC, DPS (Destination PlayStation) or E3. We're into the sixth year now on the platform, and that's a long time for a handheld. I think given where we're at right now, we're doing very, very well. But yes, the business has had problems and I think it all stems, candidly, from the piracy.”
We asked Dyer if the somewhat perplexing PSPgo launch was a way for Sony to address the piracy issue, and he said it was certainly a part of the strategy at the time. “We wanted to find a way to give the consumers what they want, so if they didn't want to go to a retailer they could stay at home and download [games and content]. And we were hoping really to eliminate the piracy issue. Did the PSPgo confuse [consumers]? Yeah, I think the higher price point didn't help matters any either,\\" he admitted. \\"So we're going back and re-communicating, and I'm sitting here looking at multiple decks on what we're going to do this year. You'll see a lot of things coming out from us to better educate and inform the consumer. All I can say is watch this space, because we'll have answers to those questions.”
IndustryGamers then pressed Dyer on whether one of those answers might be all-new PSP hardware, considering the PSP2 rumors that are flying around. Naturally, Dyer could not really comment, but we'd expect Sony to announce something major at one of the upcoming shows.
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