Sony: PSP software sales hurt by quality, piracy
by Randy Nelson 
{ Jul 16th 2008 at 7:30PM }
Answer one is the most praising of the handheld. "Multimedia functionality," Tretton says. "There are more things to do with it, so you're not just turning it on to play games, which isn't the case with the DS."
The next one caught us off guard. "Quality of games," Tretton confides. "People will go out and buy a God of War or a SOCOM," he remarks, "but they're not necessarily as interested in buying a PS2 port." So ... people like good games that are original for PSP. Luckily there are some on the way.
Tretton says the "third and almost biggest reason as of late" is piracy. "We have been able to track with releases like God of War that hundreds of thousands of units in potential sales are walking out the door through piracy on day one," he reveals. PSP Fanboy reported on this back in March.
So, is there a solution is in the cards? Tretton says that Sony "has remedies moving forward," but that they won't help with systems already on the market, adding: "That machine is already out there." That machine? Is there a new pirate-proofed PSP revision on the way? Is that even possible? Doesn't Sony realize how popular pirates are these days?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
lawlersauce @ Jul 16th 2008 7:34PM
arrrg!!!
required @ Jul 16th 2008 8:04PM
I actually think there are too many good games: http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/
Mr Khan @ Jul 16th 2008 7:35PM
They did a good job of supplying titles for a platform that definitely had a bleak outlook (at least, outside of Japan)
ButtonMashers @ Jul 16th 2008 7:36PM
I was looking at all the games announced for the rest of 2008, and there are only like 30 games, most of them movie/sports games, come on Sony, is it really that hard to get 3rd party support, and learn that ps2 ports usually don't work!
Fernando Rocker @ Jul 16th 2008 7:37PM
Off topic:
Fuck Kotaku commenters... they are bashing Joystiq bloggers!
http://kotaku.com/5026035/ps3-press-conference-rehearsal-crashed-by-mystery-blogger
Check the first comments.
ThePerfectCompanion @ Jul 16th 2008 7:47PM
Hmm I only see 2 comments referring to Joystiq...
Lol that's funny.
On another note Kotaku's layout is as ugly as ever.
DangerMouse @ Jul 16th 2008 7:49PM
QUICK! TO THE BATMOBILE!!!
Fernando Rocker @ Jul 16th 2008 7:51PM
You see, I'm a Joystiq fanboy... I tend to exaggerate =p
ComradeTrotskii @ Jul 16th 2008 7:54PM
Even more off topic:
Fatal Frame 4:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36708.html
Is this old news? I never knew a thing about it until now. Looks nice.
GreyFox @ Jul 16th 2008 8:08PM
I post both here and there because neither site is perfect. If one site misses a story another usually catches thus I win as a gamer.
GreyFox @ Jul 16th 2008 8:26PM
I read and post on both. One site might miss some news that another picks up and in the end I, as a gamer, win.
GreyFox @ Jul 16th 2008 8:27PM
Agh can someone delete the accidental multi comment? It said it didn't got through so I reposted it :/
wootman @ Jul 16th 2008 9:22PM
someone on the internet insulted someone else?
EGAD, WHAT HAS OUR WORLD COME TO
OH SHI-
Geist @ Jul 17th 2008 2:15AM
To the Stiqmobile!
NANANANA NANANANA NANANANA NANANANA STIQMAAAAAN
Zarigis @ Jul 16th 2008 7:38PM
With such high sales of units like the R4 for the DS which allow easy pirating of DS games, I'm not sure why they can claim the PSP is at any sort of disadvantage here.
cantbeatmegaman @ Jul 16th 2008 7:40PM
but yet the DS still sells.
Nugent @ Jul 16th 2008 7:49PM
...and so does the PSP.
He's not using this as an excuse as to why the PSP is not selling as much as the DS, he's citing a reason as to why PSP software sales aren't that great (in the US, presumably). Nintendo has made more or less the exact same comments regarding piracy on the DS.
I'm surprised at his honesty though. I use my PSP a lot as a video player, and would love to buy more games, but there really aren't a lot of good PSP games out there.
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Jul 16th 2008 7:41PM
Is that a picture of that Pirate Theater Dinner show?
Charlie_Six @ Jul 16th 2008 8:20PM
I wish the PSP could play PS2 games. Like hook up a DVD drive and play PS2 DVDs right there.
ComradeTrotskii @ Jul 16th 2008 8:43PM
Or you could hook a PS2 up to a television?
LaughingTarget @ Jul 16th 2008 7:59PM
I kinda mentioned the multimedia aspect being a huge software sales weakness...back in 2005.
FSK405K @ Jul 16th 2008 8:03PM
Sony: PSP hardware sales helped by quality, piracy
Geist @ Jul 17th 2008 2:16AM
Seriously, how many people would even own a PSP if you couldn't homebrew and use emulators on it?
Mr Khan @ Jul 16th 2008 8:07PM
Off topic: does anybody know whatever became of that secret Nintendo conference that went down at 3 PM PT?
I can't find anything on it, so i'm wondering if it was just a fluke
Gun Barrier (Gamer Tag) @ Jul 16th 2008 9:02PM
You picked a really bad topic to post this off topic question under.
Nah, I didn't even know of it's existence. If it happened, i hope something good came out of it.
WorMzy @ Jul 16th 2008 8:18PM
I thought that the PSP only had one game out for it - FFVII: Crisis Core
I think that's the main problem that the PSP has with regards to its sales. It seems that during a standard 3 minute advertisement block, on the TV channels I watch at least, there'll be at least one Nintendo DS game advertisement. Sure, most of them are absolute Betty Swallocks, but someone out there will be thinking "Hey, that looks interesting, I might buy that next time I'm out".
What I'm trying to say is that if there were more PSP advertisements, then there'd probably be more PSP sales.
..then again, looking at Sony's previous advertisement attempts.. Well, if Sony could sell WTF moments then they wouldn't be worrying about profitability.
dabamf @ Jul 17th 2008 12:40PM
GoW:COO is a great game and worth playing...feels like a PS2 game. Loco Roco and Patapon are really fun too.
TK @ Jul 16th 2008 8:24PM
Anyone else sick of game companies crying about piracy? It's never, ever, ever going away so stop whining about it.
BigD145 @ Jul 16th 2008 8:25PM
No, I'd say it's the UMD form factor that's not selling well.
DangerMouse @ Jul 16th 2008 8:33PM
I'd purchase a PSP player, kind of like what the Gamecube had with the GameBoy Advance player. That could curve piracy a bit, but only if the games got better. I hate playing on the PSP, the controls just suck. The DS is much more enjoyable to play.
But to be honest, i haven't purchased a PSP game in a year and a half. The last one i got was GTA, so i could hack it. I've never downloaded a PSP game before, but i use it for NES and SNES emulators, and there's nothing i want to buy anyway.
Also, if they expect me to pay 40 dollars for a handheld game like God of War, then they're out of their damned minds. Make the prices 30, 40 is too much money. It's a handheld. I can get a real game for 10-20 more.
eminemd12obie @ Jul 16th 2008 8:40PM
they are right on the 3rd part for sure... they have quality titles and i've played them... haven't purchased any of them either (i "rented" them)... it's so easy to pirate the psp as opposed to the ps3/360 or any other console, it takes a simple firmware install and i bet they do lost millions more than a console does in software piracy
EMaster @ Jul 16th 2008 8:42PM
It's not piracy it's shitty games that are causing the low sales. I mean do they really think they can break the bank with games Like Wall-E and secret agent clank? Last game I bought for my psp was the SNK collection and before that was the metal slug compilation. Some of the only games worth dishing my money out to.
obiwankenobi77 @ Jul 16th 2008 10:25PM
The reason that there aren't that many quality games for the PSP is because of the piracy.
The software companies don't want to spend money and work hard on a game if people are just going to steal it. That's why we end up getting so many ports of games instead of new quality games.
Sarge @ Jul 17th 2008 9:59AM
The problem with that statement, of course, is that it's even _easier_ to pirate on the DS. The ROMs are generally much smaller than PSP ISOs, and on top of that, doesn't require a potentially system-breaking firmware replacement in the process. And yet DS games sales skyrocket, in comparison to the PSP.
I've got both, and I have an R4/AK2, and my PSP has the latest custom firmware. I almost solely play games on my DS, but for the PSP... there's some decent stuff, and it's a far cry from the Neo Geo Pocket Color (we hardly knew thee!), but if it were not for the ability to emulate older systems, the PSP would definitely have been money wasted.
wootman @ Jul 16th 2008 9:22PM
yeah, its not like theres tons of functionality you gain by haxin it...
wait, that came out wrong.
Klepto @ Jul 16th 2008 9:27PM
They should be opening it up to let people make apps for it. Screw it, if piracy is so bad, what do they think? That it'll ever get better? Yeah right.
Too controlling. Fuck em. I don't use my PSP for much but internet anyways anymore.
koehler83 @ Jul 16th 2008 10:29PM
Its funny. I have a custom firmware PSP, fully capable of running both pirated PSP ISOs and PS1 ISOs as well as emulation. I fully admit owning such hardware.
However, even with a cracked PSP I can also admit that I have NEVER played God of War Chains of Olympus. Never played it. Only ever seen the demo. But I was more than happy, thrilled in fact, to buy Crisis Core, Patapon, the 20th anniversary Final Fantasy's and downloads from the PSN store like Echochrome and like the 2 decent PS1 games available in the Classics menu.
The PSP suffers as much as the PS3 in terms of Sony simply not delivering enough on the types of games that people want to play on those platforms.
h0mi @ Jul 17th 2008 1:18AM
Look on metacritic and you'll see 1 title with a score over 89. PSP games tend to be pretty mediocre, nothing spectacular.
Conor @ Jul 17th 2008 7:46AM
Its just as easy to pirate games on the ds.
And Ds games are way smaller downloads as well.