Sony Admits the PSP Was "Overrun With Ports"

[The Wooster]

Sony Admits the PSP Was "Overrun With Ports"

The PSP was supposed to focus on "console-like" games, not ports of actual console games.

Sony has pulled no punches when it comes to flaunting the hardware superiority of its handhelds. Both the Vita and the PSP were marketed as more "console-like" than their competitors, and with the Vita's inclusion of a second analogue stick, that description is as apt as ever. However, developers may have taken the "console-like" description too literally, according to Sony's marketing VP for handhelds and consoles, John Koller.

"The issue that happened with PSP is we got overrun with ports," he told Gamasutra. "It became very difficult for us to define what made PSP unique. The content development became a bit unstructured or decentralized, in that we got a lot of content that was on PlayStation 2 and got thrown over to the handheld."

While the Vita has seen a number of ports thus far, presumably to bolster the handheld's anemic library, Sony is trying to guide publishers away from straight ports. Instead, Sony is pushing for more titles like Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, Call of Duty: Declassified and Uncharted: Golden Abyss big-hitter, console-like experiences that are only available on the handheld. System sellers, in other words. As brilliant as it may be, Gravity Rush just doesn't have the franchise clout to sell the hardware.

Much like the Cross Play and Cross Buy programs, which allow users to swap games between their PS3 and Vita, this seems like another attempt from Sony to stop the PS3 from cannibalizing the Vita's already flagging sales. Sony has sold 2.2 million of the handhelds to date, a far cry from the 3DS' 19 million. The PSP sold around 71 million units total.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/177331/Sony_avoids_PSPs_mistake_by_encouraging_fewer_home_console_ports.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29#.UFAD3FElp8H]



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[Lunar Templar]

edit: ignore me, selective blindness syndrome x.x i see it now

 

[Atmos Duality]

Didn't matter.
"Console-like" games usually implied that there was a 3D camera involved.
One thumbstick and only two shoulder buttons.

"Problematic" didn't begin to describe it. Either the Gameplay had to be gimped, or the player gimped their fingers on such poor controls.

 

[Covarr]

Gamers on the go don't want a console-like experience OR a console port. They want a game they can pick up and play for half an hour during their lunch break, and not have to worry about losing their progress in a long level, or being unable to pause in a long cutscene. The console experience and the handheld experience are different for a reason.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Evil Smurf]

*Looks at sales figures for Vita*
*Looks at sales figure for PSP*

Are we so sure all those ports were a bad thing?

I think he was saying that it needed exclusive titles, a la Pokemon

 

[Rainboq]

*Looks at sales figures for Vita*
*Looks at sales figure for PSP*

Are we so sure all those ports were a bad thing?

I think he was saying that it needed exclusive titles, a la Pokemon

The PSP had some great exlusives, like Patapon, LocoRoco, SW Battlefront Rebellion, SOCOM fireteam bravo 2 (I still play that from time to time, so well made). What it really needed was more third party support.

 

[RvLeshrac]

The problem wasn't ports. The problem, as always, was that THERE WERE NO GODDAMNED GAMES FOR THE SYSTEM.

While Japan was getting four titles a week for several years, we had to put up with *maybe* four or five games a month.

It isn't even that developers didn't want to release them over here - much like the PSX and PS2, SCEA and SCEE *refuse* to grant licenses to the vast majority of titles for release outside of Japan.

 

[Evil Smurf]

*Looks at sales figures for Vita*
*Looks at sales figure for PSP*

Are we so sure all those ports were a bad thing?

I think he was saying that it needed exclusive titles, a la Pokemon

The PSP had some great exlusives, like Patapon, LocoRoco, SW Battlefront Rebellion, SOCOM fireteam bravo 2 (I still play that from time to time, so well made). What it really needed was more third party support.

and better marketing has never hurt anyone

 

[Rainboq]

*Looks at sales figures for Vita*
*Looks at sales figure for PSP*

Are we so sure all those ports were a bad thing?

I think he was saying that it needed exclusive titles, a la Pokemon

The PSP had some great exlusives, like Patapon, LocoRoco, SW Battlefront Rebellion, SOCOM fireteam bravo 2 (I still play that from time to time, so well made). What it really needed was more third party support.

and better marketing has never hurt anyone

Yeah, Sony seems to need a new marketing department.

Captcha: Genghis Khan. So what, the PS2?

 

[Shinsei-J]

They really need a flagship game for the console, an experience like no other the can be played by people of all ages.
Gravity Rush is an almost perfect game (imo) but it doesn't appeal to alot of people, mainly children and their parents,
Sony need their own Pokemon.

 

[lapan]

The PSP had tons of great games, the problem was that it had even more great games and exclusives that never got localized outside japan.

The handheld that is really overrun with ports is the PS Vita. Almost every single insteresting game on there so far is a port. Gravity rush alone isnt enough of a reason to buy one.

 

[vxicepickxv]

It's a gross collection of marketing failure and porting not happening. The PSP got destroyed because the marketing was an absolute failure.

It started out with a lack of games for a portable gaming console, instead of a pretty awesome multimedia device. If they had done it right, it basically would have almost been a pre-smartphone.

 

[gigastar]

I can agree with that.

Among the PSP's best titles most of them were just either updated rereleases of PS2 games (Persona 3 Portable. all of the Monster Hunter titles for the system) where good original games were hard to come by. (MGS: Peace Walker)

 

[snekadid]

Gamers on the go don't want a console-like experience OR a console port. They want a game they can pick up and play for half an hour during their lunch break, and not have to worry about losing their progress in a long level, or being unable to pause in a long cutscene. The console experience and the handheld experience are different for a reason.

P.S. Thanks

Um... the PSP saved state when you turned it off and started right back up from the exact spot you left off. You obviously just want to jump on the hate train and while i say more power to you, you might want to do some research before talking about things you don't know anything about.

The thing i liked most about the PSP was that all the psx and PS2 games i loved were now portable and no longer forced me to sit tethered in my living room to play them when theres more advanced games calling to me that i cant take on the road. looking back over my PSP library I only have 4 PSP games that aren't ports and i didn't really enjoy patapon even though i really wanted to. that leaves me with 13 PSP ports of games I either loved from the last few generations <persona 1, star ocean 2> or never got to play because they never made it here from japan<star ocean 1, persona 2art 1> and loved the system for that.

When the price drops for the VITA<LIKE A STONE! 300 bucks noway> I'll get it too, mainly for games like xenogears, parasite eve and all those other games I loved. Maybe they will get some decent games but they wont be why ill buy it.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I actually liked the games on the PSP; both the original ones (like LocoRoco & Patapon) and the less original ones (I enjoyed GTA & Burnout {that first one they made at least} more on the PSP than the PS3). The problem with the PSP was the same with the PS3, a lot of potential that was ignored and after a while the frequent updates were just futile hacker bane that only annoyed legitimate users.
The cross play/buy thing is a good idea but I get the feeling we're only going to see it on one or two titles a year until it's abolished because hackers are found to be exploiting it.

Mostly it seems that the Vita only inherited the promises the PSP didn't keep and it doesn't look like Sony has learned any lessons either.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Gamers on the go don't want a console-like experience OR a console port. They want a game they can pick up and play for half an hour during their lunch break, and not have to worry about losing their progress in a long level, or being unable to pause in a long cutscene. The console experience and the handheld experience are different for a reason.

P.S. Thanks

Someone's never played or met anyone with a PSP... And what's this about losing their progress in a long level? Doesn't matter, just flick the sleep button.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

The PSP had no 3rd party support and not enough mainstay exclusives. Whenever an exclusive didn't sell, they'd make another IP. Great that there was always new IPs but they needed more established PSP franchises.


The PS Vita is suffering from the same thing PLUS a lack of games. I mean seriously, people keep talking up Gravity Rush. Yes that's ONE game. It's not worth spending $250-300 US/CAN for one good game. A lot of people who bought the PSVita are either trying really hard to justify their purchase or really regretting it.

 

[Nami nom noms]

wow... Sony may be slow but at least they understand what the problem was, so credit where credit is due, I guess.

 

[Hyperone]

I'd rather get a port of a fantastic game, than a terrible bastardized version of that same IP.