Sony's new PSP strategy: 'You cannot have ports.'
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Sep 25th 2008 at 6:00PM }
Sony hopes to guide publishers and developers down a better path, enabling them to produce PSP games that take a cue from their console versions, but leave the identical content and gameplay behind. "The recipe for success on the PSP resides simply in providing franchise games that are strong brand names like on consoles, but have unique gameplay on the system," said Koller, listing Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, God of War: Chains of Olympus and the forthcoming Midnight Club as titles that stand on their own, despite their recognized branding.
Koller went on to predict that 2009 would see "significant growth" for the PSP, with "a number of very strong franchise games" on the way and revitalized hardware sales bringing publishers back from the brink. And who knows? Maybe those persistent petitioners will finally get their Assassin's Creed PSP game.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Clinton RRoD sept.3 @ Sep 25th 2008 6:09PM
i hope new better games come out for it but i dont see it happening
Tiptup300 @ Sep 25th 2008 7:20PM
The problem are the controls. A right analog would greatly help the console, but nubs still aren't quite that tactile. Actually, I'd really really love a solution where the thumsticks pop in/out. It would have to be in the PSP2 though.
required @ Sep 25th 2008 7:44PM
Tiptup300, the superabundance of great games on the system highlights how wrong your analogue x2 assertion is.
Rodney McKay @ Sep 25th 2008 10:51PM
Yeah, I sold my PSP right around E3 when they announced that there would be one game coming out that looked good (Resistance). One of the only companies coming out with high quality games is Square-Enix(Kingdom Hearts, FF13: Agito?, Dissidia) and those probably won't come out for at least another year or so.
Where's my Gran Turismo, Sony? Oh, wait, it's on the PS3... oh, wait again, it's not even out on that yet. >:(
JRM @ Sep 26th 2008 8:03AM
There's a lot of excellent games on the PSP, the problem is that they're all in Japan. There are so many rpgs, anime related stuff, it's mindblowing! It's not a surprise why the PSP is so popular in Japan. In America, developers have just given up. They should just bring the Japanese games over. Atlus, where are you? make more localizations!
Tiptup300 @ Sep 26th 2008 9:22AM
I've owned a psp. I played like 4 psp games on it, then I just played emulators on it. Which is around the time I sold it. Speaking of which, isn't the pandora available for preorder?
ZeroCorpse @ Sep 27th 2008 10:50AM
JRM - You assume people in America want JRPGs and anime games? Bleh. Sony can keep those in Japan for all I care, and I'm not alone in my complete disinterest in Japanese-style games and animation.
What I want is more official PSOne games that I can download and play on my PSP and PS3. I also wouldn't mind some PS2 ports of less popular titles, as well. Why is there a Fire Pro on PS2, and On GBA, but not on PSP?
Some of us like being legit. I don't do the PSP hacks. I just play what I can buy-- And if Sony wants my business for games purchases, they need to get more downloadable games for the PSP, and stop making me waste battery power and personal space on UMD games.
juju187 @ Sep 25th 2008 6:14PM
so no disgea 2 or 3>?
Cody @ Sep 25th 2008 8:09PM
Oh just give it up Sony.
BigD145 @ Sep 25th 2008 6:15PM
What they are trying to say is, "We only want top name game companies producing titles... if they have the time in their busy schedules."
Hashbrown Hunter @ Sep 25th 2008 6:51PM
No, what they're basically saying is: "We don't want your shitty shovelware anymore, we want at least decent titles."
Makoto99 @ Sep 25th 2008 7:12PM
No, what they're saying is: "We want you to spend your time working on other systems, which you'll inevitably decide to do since you didn't want to spend dollars on design for games in the first place, for fear of being pirated."
Sounds like good strategy to me! .... uh...
Ayrkain @ Sep 25th 2008 6:16PM
Well, with stuff like Parasite Eve and Agito coming, I'm not too worried. Mana Khemia will be a good time waster too.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Sep 25th 2008 6:51PM
Yeah but Square can't support the PSP alone. And those are both pretty far off from now.
Ayrkain @ Sep 25th 2008 7:06PM
Really, I could do some list wars, but it's easier to just look at what's coming out in Japan in the next few months to know what's coming out here next year. There is a lot of stuff (even taking account of those that won't hit here). It ain't the DS avalanche, but it's a very nice release list.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Sep 25th 2008 7:18PM
Yes that's true, but there's no guarantee those games will be released stateside anytime soon...or soon enough for Sony.
Ayrkain @ Sep 25th 2008 7:26PM
That's true of any console, seeing as until it's street-dated, it can be delayed. But taking into account how those that have tentative dates, there's really nothing to worry about. This year was really bad, but they knew that long before it was being discussed on here. ;)
Hashbrown Hunter @ Sep 25th 2008 7:30PM
Yeah to the people who were actually paying attention to the PSP this year they knew that it started off with a lot of potential and went straight up in to crapsville.
required @ Sep 25th 2008 7:51PM
Hashbrown Hunter, what the four star expletive are you talking about? A bunch of great games did in fact come out this year. Was there something in particular that you missed that you'd like to share?
Hashbrown Hunter @ Sep 26th 2008 10:02AM
Well 2008 started out great with Patapon, God of War, and Crisis Core. And those are pretty much the only noteworthy ones. Any ones I missed that YOU would like to point out to me, required?
Gurbinder @ Sep 28th 2008 9:39PM
I agree with hashbrownhunter, but you forgot wipEout pulse which was a great game IMO. I thought it was going to go into bigger and bigger games until i heard in May a depression would start. That depression of psp games still lasts today, though we are slowly recovering. They should have released the 4 main games at seperate times in order to keep psp hardware and software sales at bay rather than fall.
PersonOfSorts @ Sep 25th 2008 6:17PM
Heh. I read that title completely wrong.
I thought Sony's new policy was going to be to remove all USB ports from new PSPs in an effort to kill piracy.
sinai @ Sep 25th 2008 6:23PM
me 10 seconds ago:
WHERE THE FUCK DO I PLUG MY HEADPHONES INTO THEN?
me now:
goddamn these joystiq editors need to learn some more betterer grammars.
juju187 @ Sep 25th 2008 7:30PM
USB for the mutha fuking win buddy,
take your Proprietary loving ass home....
Xoviet chiK @ Sep 25th 2008 6:17PM
Microsoft's new XBLA strategy: "You cannot have ports."
First I'm denied localized dodonpachi DAI-OU-JOU, and now all hopes of portable Chrono Cross have been dashed. What next, Nintendo outlaws fun?!?!?
Ayrkain @ Sep 25th 2008 6:24PM
Well, there are ways, but that's more of a Maxconsole discussion. ;)
hey_big_dck psn:fuliano626 @ Sep 25th 2008 6:42PM
what are you talking about i have portable chrono cross ..... oh wait nvrm ummm no i don't .
sadt @ Sep 25th 2008 6:26PM
How about piracy? Sony does not seem to be doing anything on this issue. Everytime they release an update, it gets hacked few days later. I think the piracy is the main concern for the third party publishers because piracy = no profit
Churchy @ Sep 25th 2008 6:49PM
it seems to me that piracy is less of a problem on psp than its made out to be. My psp can play pirated games, but I don't (I do rip games I do buy and play them from my memory stick, tis a savior of battery life), I think most people mod their psp for older emulation.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Sep 25th 2008 6:55PM
Actually the PSP is probably the easiest system to hack and play pirated games and while that issue is once in a while thrown out of proportion, it is still a much bigger problem than compared to the piracy on the DS.
@ sadt:
What do you think the PSP-3000 is for? Rumor is that it's Pandora-proof which means it will take a while to hack.
sadt @ Sep 25th 2008 7:07PM
@ Churchy - I myself have a modded PSP and I also use it purely for emulation older systems. However, I disagree with you. IMO the piracy is the main cause of the lack of third party publishers support.
@ Hasbrown Hunter - I give at most a month until the new PSP-3000 gets hacked.
BigD145 @ Sep 25th 2008 7:25PM
Churchy? Replace "PSP" with "PC".
Gurbinder @ Sep 25th 2008 8:04PM
I agree with Sadt , nothing can stop hacks or piracy on the psp at this point with the amount of homebrew support it has its not going to die easy.
Einhanderkiller @ Sep 25th 2008 8:15PM
Actually, I'd say the DS is the easiest system to play pirated games on. Just get one of those R4 carts, put some ROMs on the memory stick, and it works instantly. The PSP is a little more of a hassle, but once you get it working, it's very easy. Then 3rd easiest, I'd say, would be PC, then 360, Wii, then PS3.
Phantom @ Sep 25th 2008 9:48PM
@Ekiller
Well , The ps3 is I think the only console that hasn;t been hacked yet ,YET , so I wouldn't put the PS3 on the list at all YET
dsub @ Sep 26th 2008 3:09AM
I use my PSP (that is modded) to play everything BUT PSP games. I play some Roms, but I mostly just play backups of my Sega CD and PSX games. Thanks to Sony putting PS1 emulation software on the system, the handed a golden ticket to anyone owning a PSP with custom firmware. I literally seek out PSX games now just so I can make ISO's, convert them to PBP files, and play them flawlessly on my PSP.
DangerMouse @ Sep 25th 2008 6:36PM
It's no surprise, most games capable of being ported are already emulated :-p
glitched @ Sep 25th 2008 6:54PM
I must be alone in that i WANT ports!
Give me a gran turismo port!
Give me a command and conquer port!
give me a sim city port!
give me a civilization port!
oh, ive got the originals on my memory stick, but optimize em for the psp for cryin out loud.
I want an at-home gaming experience on a go.
required @ Sep 25th 2008 7:46PM
"I want an at-home gaming experience on a go"
I do too.
PojoMofo @ Sep 25th 2008 9:05PM
agreed, if i didnt I would just play my DS
dsub @ Sep 26th 2008 3:10AM
Give me an RE4 port...
ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Sep 25th 2008 6:59PM
What if they just allowed ports and offered more compensation money for studios who are willing to create exclusive high-budget titles?
AoE @ Sep 25th 2008 8:42PM
Because developers/publishers pay Sony to put games on the console and not the other way around.
When they do offer compensation to 3rd parties, it's because they're buying exclusivity; a policy Sony has said it's shying away from these days.
sinai @ Sep 25th 2008 7:40PM
in all honesty, sony has no one but themselves to blame as they were the ones who reportedly raised the cost of development sky-high.
Immortal Technique PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Sep 25th 2008 7:55PM
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/02/04/psp-development-costs-reduced-via-cheaper-dev-tools
Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Sep 26th 2008 7:11AM
@Immortal: that's precisely the point. Dev prices went down == they were high.
PSP problem now is two-fold... Because DS, you know, has two screens. ^_^
But essentially, they lost install base fight and they lost developers. They have to do something (more than usual) if they want to keep PSP floating, not sinking.
Mr Khan @ Sep 25th 2008 8:02PM
Good. Since they're ports or co-developed versions of Wii games usually, fewer PSP ports means more Wii exclusives, and exclusives tend to be better
Alien Syndrome could've been much better, at least.
ecco6t9 @ Sep 25th 2008 9:45PM
I'm confused Sony.
Where are all these ports at? I mean I haven't see too many PS1/PS2 Classics that would make excellent PSP games come out.
Where's my Dark Cloud?
Where's my Final Fantasy 7?
Where's Grandia?
Where's Lunar?
Where's GTA 3?
Where's Silpheed?
Fact is ports do work when you port the right games that people always wanted to take anywhere with them.
Nintendo sold many many GBA games that were SNES classics and no one complained! Sony please take a page out of Nintendo's book and port games worth a damn and do not encourage lame spin offs.
Abscissa @ Sep 25th 2008 11:23PM
In other words, you're expected to buy multiple systems (a portable and a TV-based) in order to have access to Sony's full game library. (Not that Nintendo is any better in this regard.)
Why can't portable vs. non-portable just be a matter of consumer choice? As a gamer, I resent this attitude (shared by most of the game industry, to varying degrees depending on the company) of "If you want to play game X, you have to buy the portable system and play it on that. If you want to play game Y, you have to buy the TV-set-top system and play it on that." I can understand the discrepancy when there's a technical reason, but for most games and systems these days that just isn't usually the case.
BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Sep 26th 2008 1:31AM
Uhh.. hasn't this ALWAYS been their PSP strategy?
I mean, hell, it's the reason why the PSP ports of Rockman DASH weren't localized into MegaMan Legends over here...
And, yes, I would've bought them both again, just to show Capcom how much I love Legends!