Developer talks about failing business model for PSP dev

piracy is the #1 reason that PSP sucks

everyone I know who has a PSP (including me) have hacked the PSP and downloaded isos and other stuff

no one I know who has a DS has hacked the DS or download games

so for the people who say DS is easier to hack, that may be the case...but its not which system is easier to hack, but rather which system is hacked more. PSPs are hacked alot more. I would almost guess that 25% of PSPs are hacked vs maybe 2% of DSes.

I honestly feel like like a dope sometimes because I've payed for my PSP games. NO ONE buys them...

PSP piracy is grossly overblown as an excuse by both 3rd Party Developers and Sony themselves. There's simply no evidence that illegal PSP softrware activity is notably more prevalent per capita owner than on DS or formerly, the GBA.

Developers don't know real piracy figures any better than Sony or anyone else. They just make assumption on low sales in the USA and EU (unlike Japan) that are just as likely due to the fact that Sony has, frankly, abandoned those markets (also unlike Japan). No accessories, no new varied system colors, no imported JP games = No interest.

Piracy no doubt plays SOME role, and despite no real data to support it, I'd be willing to allow for a possibility that the PSP does have *slightly* higher losses to piracy than the DS (despite most newer PSP units now either being unhackable or requiring a Pandora battery like the DS requires a flash cart). But I place the blame for this theoretical uptick in piracy right back at the feet of SCEA and mother Sony. When buyers can't easily find games and shelf space at Gamestop, Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy has shrunk to miniscule proportions, people are far more likely to turn to P2P solutions (if available). If we fleshed those shelves out with some nice import JP titles, developers here might take more interest as units start moving... But without a chicken, there can be no egg.

I just bought a PSP 3000 last week to enjoy some of what I sadly think will be the final gen of PSP games coming out this year. I have owned one since December of 2004 and I will own it until the games aren't coming any more, but having watched Sony mishandle this system and blatantly snub overseas markets, I refuse to let the end users take the blame.

If you're into retro / old-school / emulation gaming, you should get a GP2X or a Pandora. Completely open systems designed and intended for this use. No SNES runtime problems there.

The PSP is a great machine but should just be used for its intended purpose of running PSP and authorized emulated PS1 software.

Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with running old emulators on it, and I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with writing homebrew on it. It's when PSP games are pirated that I think people are in the wrong, because it is really hurting software for the platform. People need to buy games to show devs that they should make more games. Piracy only shows them that they won't make any money, and it will lead I the death of the platform.

But there's nothing wrong with getting a little old school Contra on between games of Killzone :) I actually spent a looot of time on my PSP playing through Sweet Home translation on the NES emulator. Great game, worthy of a remake.

I just dislike the idea of forcing open a platform that its owners prefer closed. The constant arms race between Sony and various crackers out there seems a waste of energy too. Why don't the crackers focus on homebrew friendly systems, and then Sony could spend its money and man hours on more consumer friendly efforts. A truce.

If that doesn't work for you just look at the pragmatic angle. With a PSP (or any other closed system) you never know when a system software update, especially one mandated by a new game, will wipe your unauthorized software or even brick your system.

That won't happen on a Pandora or GP2X, or if it does, at least you have some recourse. On a PSP, having knowingly violated your End User License Agreement, Sony will slam the door in your face, and you'll have to buy a new one anyway.

@noshino

Then how do explain the Nintendo DS? The system seems to be going strong with TONS of new releases every week and it is possibly the easiest system to hack in the world.

@ vertigen:

Because whoever is a "hardcore" gamer for the DS can hack it, but what about the BAJILLIONS of people who aren't and buy every single Petz, Bratz, and any other game that has gameplay based on useless stuff with titles that defy grammar. That's why.

The DS is a great mix of casual and hardcore, with more in the former category. The PSP is a mainly hardcore device so the people who would buy the PSP and buy the games are the same people who could find a way to hack it and enjoy pirated games, emulators, and more. That's the real dilemma of the PSP.

Which is why it seems Sony is sort of waving the white flag. They tried their best. They released Patapon, a AAA killer app that had potential to appeal to a very large demographic, at a budget price of $20 in the same month as God of War and Crisis Core and even then it tanked. That right there was a clear sign that piracy has conquered over the PSP and it's too late to save it now. Hopefully, Sony's learned its lesson and will be enforcing much more refined security for the next iteration of the PSP.

"Maybe it's the fact that the PSP costs too much, and the good games are few and far between?"

No. PSP didn't cost too much when it launched for what it does, I own 5 PSPs (2 slims, 2 originals) so don't tell me they are too expensive. And there are tons of good games, I own 41

Im sick of people excusing piracy

"Maybe it's the fact that the PSP costs too much"

Wrong, the hardware still sells, usually being on the top spots across all regions

"and the good games are few and far between?"

uh, you can't comprehend huh? in the article right above these comments, the developer mentions that one of the reasons as to why there isn't much support for the PSP is because of lack of support from Sony AND piracy...

People need to stop defending piracy, spin it all you want, but in the end its always bad for all of us....yes, even for those that make use of it

1) Customer pirates game
2) Studios don't stop seeing the PSP as a software seller
3) Studios drop support for PSP
4) No more games for people, so both that buy software and steal are affected by it

I'm not saying that piracy doesn't hurt the industry, just pointing out the success of the DS despite it all.

"I own 5 PSPs (2 slims, 2 originals) so don't tell me they are too expensive."

Ok... there are a few other things I'd like to tell you though.

@Extinction: "I own 5 PSPs (2 slims, 2 originals) "

Does anyone else see something wrong there?

@aj

No, it actually is piracy.

its piracy. I'm beginning to find it quite annoying how everyone is standing up for piracy. GO to any secondary school in any country AND I can guarantee you almost every person who owns a psp there WILL have it modded and pirates games.

Urm, no, you forgot the one that shall not be mentioned, he didn't mention it because he hasn't managed to buy it yet :D PSP2

Demographics. The DS appeals to an age group that isn't savvy enough or income-enabled enough to engage in piracy.

There's a reason 95% of the DS software these days is targeted at the 8-14 year old crowd. In reality it gets just as few quality releases targeted at teen and adult gamers as the PSP does.

Huh? I am sure the whole point of piracy is to benefit the 'non-income-enabled'. For the price of ONE game you could have EVERY game. And again, as said, it is a matter of almost literally popping a cartridge in the slot. Even an 8 year old can figure it out (and probably have).

And while I will agree that there are plenty of 'younger' type games that get released on the DS what is the point? Why not release younger games for the PSP then? The DS isn't specifically marketed one way or another other than a games system for EVERYBODY. While the PSP doesn't seem to know exactly what it is and limits its advertising to the hip young adult. Who's fault is that?

The difference, like someone mentioned before, is that the DS's market is much less tech savvy then the PSP's...prove of that? just look at where Nintendo's focus is on the hardware, and the way they have advertised it (nicole kidman, america ferrera, etc)

Or are you really telling me that a device with the specs of the DS makes tech savvy people drool?

"Why not release younger games for the PSP then?"

Because the system itself is not designed for this crowd in mind....

"The DS isn't specifically marketed one way or another other than a games system for EVERYBODY"

uh, no, the system might be aimed to cater everyone, but the way it is advertised is very specific: Kids and Casual Gamers

And as I have already pointed out, the amount of effort for someone to hack a DS compared to a PSP is miniscule. Even a casual owner or a kid could do it. It is just that easy. On another note, are you telling me that you have the numbers of the amount of people who have hacked their DS's and PSP's? You don't think they could be about the same? You seriously think the amount of people that have hacked their PSP's is that much greater than the DS?

I am not saying that the DS makes tech savvy drool. But you would be a fool to think that a lot of 'hardcore' gamers don't own the system (as well as the casual/kid audience). And those hardcores are more than likely to know how to hack the system and very well might do it.

Yes, a lot of hardcore gamers own the DS, and they're the ones using it for piracy. That's why you see just as few games targeted at core gamers on the DS as you do on the PSP.

You're oversimplifying the R4 issue. You say it's as simple as popping in a cart, which is true in a way - but you have to be aware of the existence of that cart, let alone know where to buy one, let alone know where to get the games, install them, etc. My wife and my nieces, all of whom own DS's, have no idea of the existence of such devices.

If women and children own the PSP, it would have a lot more software. But that's not who Sony targeted the device at, and that's not who owns it.

You are missing the point entirely. DS crwod does not "need" to pirate because mommy will buy me game if i get good grades in school and whatnots. It is a younger target demographic with no need and barely any interest in piracy, since they can get originals very easily... You really think a 8 year old will go about hacking a console? Seriously?
PSP crowd is much more mature and knowledgeable in the ways of piracy and technology... I for one am not hacking my PSP, but I do know how to. That is the point.

It is not in discussion whether the DS attracts and has a hardcore public or not, but between the PSP and the DS, which do you think has the most mature, hardcore audience, that is THAT much more capable and willing to mod a console?

Oh how naive so many of you are. Do you think R4 sales have been solely fueled by the DS's hardcore crowds? There are tons of parents who have bought their kids a DS with an R4 so that they can "get the free games". The less tech savvy you are, the less you are likely to understand that you're engaging in wholesale piracy. The DS has a ridiculous amount of piracy. Given the amount of released games and the amount of DS units in circulation, I would say that piracy rates are probably higher on that system than on the PSP.

And the excuse that piracy is a system deterrent is ridiculous. A pirated game is not a lost sale. Not that I engage in piracy, or necessarily condone it in most cases, but people like Yoon and other Sony goons need to stop sticking it up as a be-all-end-all thing to crusade and tirade against. The largest amount of blame belongs to Sony, for not supporting the system *at all* overseas. Yes, we get some trickle in the form of a ridiculously late release or a Sony Bend project every few years, but where are all of the hot titles from Japan? Where is the ludicrous PS1 Classic support, English versions of which are readily available to be made downloadable? Where are the downloadable games? Why isn't Sony encouraging more people to follow Anozor/Realtime VR's example and publish their homebrew games, like No Gravity?

The fact of the matter is that the relative *perceived* software failure of the PSP can only be chalked up to Sony, who support the system with lackluster hardware upgrades and paltry software upgrades instead of supporting the system with games. I'm happy that I can listen to and download podcasts or surf the web on the go with my PSP, but I'd rather be playing GAMES during that time. And I do play games. I have a large collection of them; but looking at games that are out in Japan, or games that should have been placed on the PSP (Suikoden Tiekris anyone?), it's plain to see that even though the system has multiple gems, it just doesn't have enough. How many games does Sony release first-party every year? Relatively few. Software support at the start of the system's life was stellar, especially compared to what it's like now. The widely held opinion on the internet was that the PSP would crush the DS within a year. Look at the markets now.

Everybody with common sense can see that this 2009 year and parts of 2010 will probably be the last "active" PSP years from Sony, before a PSP2 model is announced for early 2011 or the holidays in 2010. There are many great games flooding the market in Japan (look at PSPHyper, the only large aggregate of psp-only news since they made the dumb move to merge this blog.) Will we ever see these? What is Level-5 doing with Cardboard Senki or Ushiro, two unique and original titles that will probably never see a stateside release, despite the obvious youth attraction to similar games? Sony failed their system. Consumers bought an excellent console, only to find that there just wasn't much there in terms of mass-market appealing games, besides Midnight Club (great games, by the way) or Madden. It's ridiculous. And as long as people keep sheltering their images of Sony as some benevolent but fragile corporation, wounded by those big bad pirates, Sony will never be able to change. A pirated game is NOT a lost sale- an assertion long ago proven true, which was recently upheld in a United States court case. Developers need to learn that, grow some balls, and try shipping some support overseas if they want to squeeze the rest of the life out of the system.

And, since people are much too stupid in general to realize that and make that happen, I'll just say that I hope the PSP2 fairs much better. I'll continue to support the PSP as a platform, but as a company, Sony can jump off a cliff.

@Oz: What if I don't want to study and get good grades but instead I want to play on my DS? Mommy won't give me money, so I'd better hack it. And since it's as simple as slamming a cartridge in the cartridge slot anyone can do it. The PSP is hard to mod and requires quite a lot of documentation and on top of that the newest PSPs can't even be modded. And I really think that this worked against Sony, lots of people will buy a DS instead of a PSP because of its ability to run homebrew applications and maybe pirated games. On the other hand, there are lots of people out there that have modded PSPs but DO NOT play pirated games. They mod their PSPs just for the homebrew applications that really enhance the device. I'm the unfortunate owner of an unmodable PSP and I must say that I would really enjoy watching YouTube on my PSP. But I can't, because it can't be modded. I would pirate games, yes, but only to "try them out". I would definetely buy games I like and games I would want a sequel to.
Sony simply does not back its device up right and it does not make any effort in convincing developers to, well, develop for it.
The fact that the PSP has a more mature audience doesn't mean its audience is more susceptible to pirate games. On the contrary, it means that its users are more conscious and they know that pirating games makes developers not make any games for it anymore.
Another BIG mistake Sony made was the UMD. In my opinion, the UMD is the reason why games are so expensive. The UMD can only made by Sony and that makes it terribly expensive, so when you buy a game 5-10 (maybe more) bucks actually go in the UMD. Also, the UMD drive built in the PSP costs a HELL LOT MORE to build than a cartridge slot. And uses more battery. And is more susceptible to break down. And has bigger loading times.
The PlayStation Store might save a bit of their asses, but not the whole butt. Games on the PSStore are cheaper (because there's no UMD - d'oh!), but not everyone (especially collectors) are happy to play downloaded games. There's no "I own it" feeling. On top of that, you can't really release a serious game on the PlayStation Store; not a lot of people feel like spending time and bandwidth to download a 1.5GB game.

The DS appeals to a *wider* age group, not an exclusively toddler-esque group incapable of buying a flash cart or knowing how to use it. It seems rather naive to assume that just because more 'casual gamers' own a DS that this somehow means fewer of these people are savvy enough to pirate its games - or that they are ignorant of how to do so.

And the DS isn't exactly for toddlers, either. An 11 to 13 year old is quite capable of having mom and dad buy a flash cart and knowing full well how to use it (and P2P)... As is a 'casual' older gamer.

The DS appeals to a *wider* age group, not an exclusively toddler-esque group incapable of buying a flash cart or knowing how to use it. It seems rather naive to assume that just because more 'casual gamers' own a DS that this somehow means fewer of these people are savvy enough to pirate its games - or that they are ignorant of how to do so.

And the DS isn't exactly for toddlers, either. An 11 to 13 year old is quite capable of having mom and dad buy a flash cart and knowing full well how to use it (and P2P)... As is a 'casual' older gamer.

There's simply no indication that DS (and formerly GBA) sales are not similarly impacted by piracy. The difference is, there's so much more interest and market momentum behind the DS that it doesn't matter as much. There's tons more games being released for it and more people are willing to shell out money for those games because of an overall level of interest (it sure as hell isn't because the games are of a generally higher quality - that's for sure).

Ben,

"The DS has a ridiculous amount of piracy."

No, its nowhere near close to that of the PSP, hell, actually do a research, you ll be surprised to find out that after PC games, the PSP is the one with the most torrents available, hell, its even above that of the PS2...(oh, and the DS's torrent numbers, in average, tends to be after the Xbox's)

"God of War: Chains of Olympus - 94,154
Patapon - 112,183
Ratchet & Clank - Size Matters - 197,113
Crush - 48,959
LOCO ROCO - 163,904
Wipeout Pulse - 116,965
Castlevania X Chronicles - 102,354
Metal Gear Solid - Portable Ops (Not Including Plus) - 231,054
Burnout Dominator - 269,486"

Look at those number, those are the numbers of downloads of JUST ONE SITE, this is from back on March 08!

I mean, just look at Patapon, the game had only been released by the end of Feb 08 at 20 bucks!

and don't give me the bullshit excuse that people just wanted to try it out, some of the games above DID HAVE DEMOS, including Patapon!

We know that Sony is also to blame, no one has been denying that, but piracy is even more to blame for it.

And as for why Sony hasn't been bringing Japanese games, do you really blame them? they have been bringing many japanese games like Patapon, even released it at a really low price, yet it was pirated like hell....why should they be putting that much effort on bringing software from Japan if the same is going to happen?

"A pirated game is NOT a lost sale- an assertion long ago proven true"

No, the right assertion is:

"A pirated game is PROBABLY a sale"

Thing is, like I mentioned before, some of the games above DID have demos, they could have been legally "tried", so why would they download it?

That's right, because they don't want to buy it, and guess what? THAT IS A LOST SALE

"I am sick of hearing about piracy on the PSP. Why is it that when a shit game comes out and doesn't sell well that it is because of Piracy on the PSP. The reason that the PSP doesn't have a good game dev following is because of the very reason listed above: poor support."

Problem with your rant is that is that poor sales aren't limited to the "shit" games. GoW, Crisis Core, Patapon---all amazing titles, all pirated to hell and back. Now, maybe you could blame poor sales of a AAA list title on lack of advertising. Okay. I can get behind that. Only problem is that people are *obviously* aware of these titles as the disgustingly huge torrent numbers will attest to.

People need to stop with the "DS piracy exists and is easier, so it doesn't matter on the PSP". As others have said, it is a totally different demographic. I own 2 devices that use stylii and touchscreens: a Palm TX and a DS Lite. It's just as easy to lose the stylus for either one. Why, then, does every single DS accessory include an extra stylus (or three) while Palm stylii are always sold separately? Easy. Demographics. Kids lose stylii, adults don't. Likewise, little kids don't pirate games as much as teens and young adults--regardless of which platform is harder or easier to hack.

IP means "Intellectual Property", fancy name for "franchise" when it comes down to the world of games.

Dissidia, a Final Fantasy fan service game featuring most of the memorable protagonists/antagonists of all previous games in the franchise?

Yeah I'm sure it won't get pirated AT ALL.

Nobody's saying it won't get pirated if/when released in the USA. But if you think that it wasn't already pirated in Japan (a lot) you're dreaming.

This is stupid. Sensationalizing SCEA- and SCEE's spectacular failures in terms of software marketing and volume will lead you to inaccurate conclusions like this. Sony doesn't even necessarily need software support for the PSP anymore. At 42+ million units sold, one of the highest-selling consoles this generation, the PSP has more than payed for itself. Will they need to make up for their inadequacies in terms of universal game support when they roll out the next iteration? Surely, but that's an expected and doable upgrade. Will there be a PSP2? You can safely bet on it. Especially in a slowing economy. What better to entertain yourself with, than an incredibly capable portable multi-media gaming system retailing at a cheaper cost than most consoles, but offering more in terms of depth and content than your standard Nintendo deal? Sony Is in a prime position to reap the rewards of a technologically-oriented culture that will still want its fix while riding out super-harsh economic times.

"Sony Is in a prime position to reap the rewards of a technologically-oriented culture that will still want its fix while riding out super-harsh economic times."

Your speech seems to be more philosophical than realistic. People in super-harsh economic times will be busy looking for food (I don't mean gathering fruit from trees of course, but you get what I mean). They won't be seeking entertainment, especially the more expensive forms of it. Sony has already been closing many of its factories. And during the 'mild' economic downfall in the early 2000's in the US, Sony stopped supplying their high-tech line of Clie PDAs to the US, and made it Japan-only. So Sony has done it before, and it won't be surprising if it does again. I don't think Sony likes to lose money.