The PSP's Comeback Trail

Next Generation has up a feature on the rising fortunes of Sony's PSP. Overlooked for quite some time now as the DS dominates the headlines, the article argues that the handheld console still has a lot to offer ... and people are starting to notice. "Sony has always commanded strong third-party support for its systems since the success of the original PlayStation, and [senior PSP marketing manager John Koller] believes that PSP developers are similarly finding ways to get creative and present fun titles. 'Upcoming launches such as God of War: Chains of Olympus from a first-party perspective, and Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron from LucasArts, are certainly good examples of fantastic franchises made unique on the PSP,' he says. 'It's clear that consumers do not want the same game on their PSP that they play on console.'"

Re:My PSP story (since others are sharing)

[hidannik]

I think that folks like you are such a tiny minority that you don't figure into Sony's calculations at all.

What I believe Sony is legitimately afraid of is homebrew capabilities being used to pirate games. Easy homebrew equals easy piracy (unless you design for a sandboxed homebrew from the outset, like Microsoft's XNA Studio). That in turn equals a precipitate drop in game sales, which is where Sony gets a lot of its profit.

Hans

Re:It's not about PSP vs. DS

[Derekloffin]

That's 9.77 for 2006, ie 1 year, not cumulative.

Re:I hope so

[superbus1929]

If you like FFT, then pick up a PSP RIGHT NOW. There are incredible games for that system in that genre; it's literally got the best RPGs and strategy games on the market.

Just a sampling:

* Jeanne D'Arc - Take FFT and Fire Emblem. Have them fuck. Take the child, and put it in the Hundred Years War. Add in magic transforming armour and British soldier ZOMBIES. Hit puree. This is probably the best strategy game out for this system that didn't come out years ago.

* Disagea - The same game as the PS2 version, with additions.

* Generations of Chaos 1 + 2 - Decent games from the same people that did Disagea.

In addition to those, there's a host of JRPGs, such as Riviera (which I don't particularly care for), three Legends of Heroes games, and a few others from NiS (Disagea). It's an awesome system.

Re:What, more of the same?

[drinkypoo]

Selling 26 million devices is "tanking"?

Point the first: Sony made a loss on every PSP for at least the first two years, while the GBA, GBA SP, and DS all sold at a profit.

Point the second: Sony's gaming division posted losses for quite some time after the PSP was released.

Point the third: Over 110 million units sold for GB and GBC combined, over 80 million GBAs and SPs. Each unit sold at a profit. 25 million PSPs sold? That's not just chicken scratch, that's chicken shit - especially given how many were sold at a loss.

Selling 25 million units of anything doesn't automatically denote success. You have to actually make money.