Third party PSP developers begin to jump ship

After a strong start and a few years of latent potential as a portable multimedia device, the PSP is being abandoned by third parties.

Third party PSP developers begin to jump ship

Beginning of the end?

After a strong start and a decent 2007, the PSP has lost its luster with third party developers, Edge Magazine has found, and is quietly being abandoned in favor of more lucrative projects.

The details of their findings were presented in a four-page analysis of the PSP's software and hardware sales for the past three years, beginning with the release of the first PSP iteration in 2005. The bad news is the drop off in software and hardware sales, title exclusivity and third party support have been dramatic. The good news? There's always Monster Hunter and Japan, where the handheld enjoyed modest success in 2008, and even edged out the market leading Nintendo DS for a few cycles earlier this year.

But beyond that it's pretty much doom and gloom for Sony's multi-faceted game playing, music pumping, video showing machine. Even Sony itself has shifted resources away from the portable, with first party PSP releases dropping significantly in 2007, before rising to modest 2005 levels in the first half of 2008.

Taken together with recent third party criticisms made by Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida, that last point is particularly troublesome. If you'll remember, Yoshida said third parties shunning the PSP were a "disappointment." In light of Edge's findings, perhaps Sony would be wise to take some of their own medicine.

"The PS3's birthing pains may have necessitated a larger decrease in SCE releases than was comfortable, but games like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Resistance: Retribution are still big deals. With games like these, Sony is trying to show third parties that big IP does work on the handheld PlayStation. But will the publishers agree? They haven't seemed to yet," wrote Edge columnist Joe Keiser.

Edge found that even blockbuster brands like Grand Theft Auto haven't been enough to sustain PSP third party development. In fact, the two major GTA releases for the PSP have actually mirrored the system's overall health. GTA: Liberty City Stories is the best-selling PSP title, with 1.7 million sales to the end of 2007, but the follow-up Vice City Stories floundered, managing only 700,000 in its first year.

"Taken individually, these numbers look pretty good. But taken together, they smack of disaster; how is it that the hottest franchise in gaming managed to shed nearly 60 percent of its sales from one iteration to the next?," wrote Keiser.

Indeed, these kinds of numbers are what may be scaring third parties off to other systems. If GTA can't sell on the PSP, Keiser opines, then what will?

Bottom line is that while PSP hardware sales remain moderately healthy, software sales languish. People often joke about other consoles gathering dust these days, but it very well may be the PSP, once a bright spot in the Sony lineup, that is being forgotten.

On that sour note, who out there still keeps the PSP at their side, and what are you playing?

Comments [38]

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bluer57

The psp is a excellent machine but has not managed to string together many great releases at a time. Also it competes with the ds. The ds has so many games available. This week the psp has only 3 new games. The ds has about 20 new games.

dantos

seems like sony is in a jam what should i do i wanted the new psp 3000 but know im not so sure heres to hoping eh

duffmanth

The problem with the PSP when it first launched was the combination of a high price and lack of good games. Sound familiar, PS3! While the price pf the PSP has come down and there are some really great games for it like MGS: Portable Ops, GTA: Liberty City Stories, and God of War, the great games come in short bursts. The PSP has had too many long periods of nothing good coming out for it, then we get a few really good games in a short amount of time, then nothing good for months on end. The other problem is the PSP is an expensive machine to own. $170 for the system, $30+ for a memory stick, $30+ for a carrying case, and most of all the games are too pricey, although they have come down in price, but most newer PSP games are only $10-20 cheaper than PS3 games. PSP games need to be $30 at the most.

ChosenFew

I wonder what role piracy is playing in this. It's much easier to get the homebrew software for PSP and download the games than it is to get the DS card or whatever it is they use to the pirate the DS.
PSP game downloads can be found through any torrent site basically.

193572
Sire

I'm getting the 3000 if they allow ds3 connection, bur it's like I have been saying for a while now and NOBODY is listening to me, . . . The economy is on the verge of something so horrifying that games will be the least of out worries.

It hasn't been a good week for Sony at all, has it? It goes in cycles if you take notice MS will have a bad couple weeks then Sony, the only one not touched by all of this is Nintendo, still with Wii shortages, . . jeeze.

The 3000 will probably be the last psp I am sorry to say, they really need that extra money for the PS3 if they don't want it to falter against a strong 360 and their new found popularity due to that price cut.........I'll sacrifice a psp for more PS3.

Kubrick

Well hopefully the next PSP will focus on games instead of trying to do everything.

CaptainSony

Poor controls, No focus and it pales in comparison to the DS. AS far as the piracy excuse goes, do you guys not know it is just as easy to steal DS games?

nintendoes

Kubrick wrote:

Well hopefully the next PSP will focus on games instead of trying to do everything.

Yep

Lightner

A Resistance Retribution PSP bundle could do very well. I know I would get one. Having an internal harddrive might actually help the system.

donkeykong57

I love my PSP. Its excellent hardware and allows me to play NES, SNES, Atari 2600, Genesis, GBA ...etc games anytime I want. The game library is a little weak but there are plenty of awesome PSP titles.

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