Ready at Dawn CEO talks up PSP, says online distribution is key
by Jason Dobson 
{ Mar 3rd 2009 at 8:30AM } 
The exec admits that he doesn't have the inside track on what Sony is up to with the PSP, though he told Edge in a recent interview that he'd "love to see anything that can help distribution move quicker toward a 100 percent online model." Like Bungie's Marty O'Donnell before him, Malenfant has been feeling the financial crunch put on the industry by the used game market, and confessed that "it's not piracy but used games that are killing us."
Ready at Dawn may have a more personal stake in a possible PSP redesign as well, with rumors of a PSP sequel to God of War: Chains of Olympus in the pipeline at the Irvine, CA studio. Unfortunately, Edge wasn't ably to pry any details out of the company co-founder, with Malenfant saying only that "the PSP was a great platform to work on and it's certainly been really good to us, so we have no complaint there." However, if Ready at Dawn is back to working with the PSP, we suggest maybe holding onto a few of those dev kits after the project is out the door instead of spending all of the company profits on stamps.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
D-Train1183 @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:40AM
Anyone else but me rather have a physical disc as opposed to all digital downloads? I don't mind some, but I would still rather have the physical game.
Ready at Dawn basically made me finally buy a PSP with God of War so I'm not gonna talk trash, but it seems like there would be issues with save space. It would definitely extend the battery life.
So is this the guarantee that the PSP2 will NOT play PSP games?
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Mar 3rd 2009 9:43AM
he said he doesn't have any inside info from Sony regarding the PSP. he's just expressing how he feels Sony should move forward with it. so no, we're still waiting on that confirmation.
Roddy @ Mar 3rd 2009 3:06PM
You're not alone. For some reason I feel more security from having a physical copy of a game rather than a digital copy.
I for one have never had a problem with games on UMD. I have 14 of them, none of which take very long to load and I've never had a broken or faulty one. I personally don't understand all the negativity about games on UMD.
That said, I will support the PSP in whatever direction it goes simply because it is a great system and I have had countless hours of enjoyment from it.
However, I would just like to be guaranteed that my UMD investments will not become worthless in the very near future.
The Baron @ Mar 3rd 2009 4:02PM
It's somewhere in between for me. I love physical discs for games, because it feels like I can dust them off in ten years and enjoy my games once again. Having it tied to some account and some server that probably won't even exist in five years is a little more worrying.
Of course, EA and all the other DRM-happy bastards have to go ruin my utopia by giving you a disc but tying it to an account and activation servers anyway.
Siegvar @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:39PM
I suppose there could always be a peripheral add on UMD drive for psp backward compatibility? lol.
Imagine that. I think that will annoy the shit out of some people.
ThekonamiMan @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:48AM
I also prefer having a physical copy of a game than a digital one.
Also to the whole thing about used games are what are killing companies, that wouldn't be happening if games didn't cost so much, at least the ones on home consoles. Some people can't afford to drop $60 every time for a game some of us have to wait to find a copy used since it's so much cheaper since it takes a long time for some games to get marked down, I picked up Street Fighter IV new and that is going to be the only game I can afford to get new for this first half of the year.
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Mar 3rd 2009 9:41AM
that's the same way i feel. im in college, so im often plagued by a lack of funds. i can afford to buy a couple big release games for $60 at launch (like LBP, Resistance 2, and Killzone 2) but if alot of good games come out i just have to put it on my list and find it on eBay latter in the year. i agree that digital distribution is a positive in terms of helping to curb piracy but if they cut out that used game component, it will just make me play less games since i can't afford them all. i think the used games market is probably responsible for alot of the recent market growth anyway so cutting them out might not get the results they desire.
3dpenguin @ Mar 3rd 2009 2:50PM
Not to pick apart you comment but...
First off used games are a major problem for the game industry, and are partially responsible for the high price of new games, I'm not saying they are a significant contributor to the price though, there is so much that goes into pricing that its just insane to brake down the factors, but I can tell you this an article I read a while back showed profitability wise for the 3 major consuls Nintendo was first and PS3 was last when it came to games, and it all comes down to licensing fees there.
Second, you do realize that when you buy a used game you're being raked across the coals twice right? A used game is not significantly cheaper than a new game, usually its only $5-$10 less than the new version, and the game stores want you to buy used... Why? Because on new games they make $5-$10 profit on used games they give $10-$20 for them and charge the $5-$10 less than the new so for those $60 games you're looking at the stores making a minimum of $30 on the game, which is far lower than the average of used games, when all you need to do is look around, pay $5-$10 more and get a brand new game where the profits go to companies across the board and not just the retailer. Only go with used on HTF games otherwise its usually smarter to go with new.
Kodros @ Mar 3rd 2009 1:24PM
"that wouldn't be happening if games didn't cost so much"
Yes it would.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:57AM
with some things I'd much rather have a physical copy. but I also like the fact that I can start Warhawk directly from my PS3 instead of having to put a disc in it. I think with games I can go either or, unlike Movies where I have over 800 DVDs & Blu-rays. I mean as long as I have the option to re-download and UNLIMITED amount of times to said system I'm good. and with the PSP I can see the games being bigger than 1GB and on my Connection I can download 1GB in under 30-45 minutes, of course thats wired if I go wireless via the PSP and try to download it I imagine it would take a while longer. So yea with something as portable as the PSP I'd love to go digital only especially if they get 40GB or larger Memory sticks out for a good price
McManus @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:28PM
Thats really the only way I would pick up a UMDless PSP, if they had insane amounts of mem. on a stick
glitched @ Mar 3rd 2009 9:20AM
a new psp that is digital only needs to have blue tooth and be able to sync with your ps3. new PSP games can come as digital downloads, or for those who want physical copies and have a PS3, actual CDs. But you'll have to use your ps3 to transfer the game from CD to PSP. You can also use the PS3's larger harddrive as a repository of digital games that you cant fit on your psp for easy transfers.
That's the theory anyway.
lobotomies4free @ Mar 3rd 2009 9:34AM
you couldn't tell Sony wants to by looking at their online store. All the biggest/best games are all still disk only except Loco Roco (maybe syphon filter but still). Even the PS1 games don't have much selection (especially in NA)
F TANK @ Mar 3rd 2009 10:35AM
Online distribution is the key for PSP as so many of us already proved by stealing all out PSP games on with torrent sites
adolson @ Mar 3rd 2009 10:52AM
My general feeling, looking around various places on the web, is that the majority of people are in favor if PSP dropping the UMD drive, but violently opposed to the PS3 dropping the Blu-ray drive. Why is that? Aside from "movies are on Blu-ray" the number of PSP games you can store on an 8GB Memory Stick Pro Duo vs the number of PS3 games you can store on a 160GB hard drive are about equal, give or take. PS3 game/HD movie downloads will be larger, and the North American ISPs are going to hate the digital distribution model, but those factors aside, why are gamers themselves so oppositely polarized on these two rumors?
Popfrogs @ Mar 3rd 2009 11:35AM
Well, it's very simple.
1. PS3 doesn't need another sku, particularly one that's crippled. All the games out there now would not work in it if it was missing the BR drive.
2. I couldn't imagine how long I'd have to wait for all 25GB of Killzone2 to download. Then I'd look at the hard drive and curse the size of it. With KZ2 and MGS4 downloaded to the same drive, all of a sudden it's time to worry about HD space. Also, hard drive backups become non-trivial at some point also.
3. The PSP has little tiny games. The biggest are around 2GB or so right? Most people can stomach a 2GB download especially since it's usually the AAA titles that are large. The math also works out a little better if you include a 60GB hard drive in it. That's 30 AAA titles. I'm not sure if 30 AAA titles exist yet.
It was a bad idea the last 10 times some high-falutin' analyst dreamed it up, and it's still a bad idea.
adolson @ Mar 3rd 2009 11:52AM
1 - totally agree with you, but I didn't start the rumor. ;)
2 - right, but that's an issue that is going to be present in the future as well, when the next round of consoles come out. And multiplatform games, generally, won't take advantage of the extra Blu-ray drive space, so it's the same sort of situation as the PSP with its AAA titles, as you mentioned - only certain games will be large. Capcom and Bethesda games, for example, already install most if not all of the game to the drive.
3 - 60GB hard drive in the PSP? A hard drive = moving parts = not much different than UMD, WRT battery life = bad sectors = and so on. If anything, I would see them putting in maybe 8-16GB of solid state memory, so there's no moving parts, more battery life, etc. But you won't see much more than that without a substantial price increase. I think an actual hard drive would be a mistake.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want new SKUs of PSP or PS3. I don't want 100% digital distribution. I won't even buy PSN games that cost more than $14.99. I value physical media. I like to be able to sell or trade games to or with my friends, and occasionally to a retailer... All of that goes away when we accept the transition. It's bad enough that I can't even make a backup copy of my Killzone 2 saved game, in case my Blu-ray drive dies again..... If it does, I have to start over from the beginning, and the same for any other game that locks down my saved data, such as Rock Band... I just don't like the whole digital download and DRM thing. I can't stop the future, though. Or can I?
JusticeCourtland @ Mar 3rd 2009 11:30AM
So much for being able to rent future PSP games from Gamefly.
Disappointed. :(
Suichimo @ Mar 3rd 2009 12:46PM
We aren't ready for total digital distribution yet. There are still plenty of places with no access to the internet past dial-up, satellite is crappy as hell. I can say for a fact that I live only a few miles outside of town but I have absolutely no way of getting anything past dial-up except for satellite, and I have a 17 GB rolling download limit on that.
Wait until broadband internet has penetrated more areas and then go with digital distribution, hell go ahead and start in Japan if you want where high quality connections are cheap and affordable because they have a large amount of competition over there.
Nobledevil @ Mar 3rd 2009 4:35PM
What I want to see is some sort of offline game sales (on a memory stick, probably, to be rid of UMD) and then an online store with ALL those same games for like 20% less. It would make people consider buying it online instead of even getting it used at GameStop, so everyone wins (except GameStop's used sales, but f*ck that mess, and I say that even though I work there).
Fakeplasticball @ Mar 3rd 2009 6:07PM
Here is a spook thought to think of before you pull your PSP out of the couch cushions.
If Sony is rebooting PSP and at the same time releasing God of War, Do you think that maybe they might release God of War as a download only and possibly an exclusive for thier new Sony PSP?