SCEE president Andrew House admits that development and consistency of title releases for the PSP could have been better, but it is high time that development focus turns towards a younger audience, one that enjoys immersive mobile gaming experiences. Of course, Nintendo has had a monopoly on handheld gaming for many years by focusing largely on a younger demographic.
“I think the overall consistency and flow of titles could have been better over the years. Whether that's an issue of perceived developer support or portfolio management, said House. “Having said that, last year we had arguably the best line-up of PSP titles that we've seen. Five years in, we're entering a fairly mature point in its lifecycle – and a portable lifecycle is clearly a different dynamic to the one in the home.”
The key, therefore, is to dedicate time to an audience that plays mobile games. “What is now a key emphasis for us is focusing on a younger audience who are the prime audience for a dedicated gaming device with deeper, more immersive content: they may have less disposable income, but they've got more time to play,” said House.
“We're looking to mine that content library which we've assembled over the last few years and restructure the value-proposition. [The budget Essentials range] in its first couple of months since launch has been a phenomenal success on two fronts - not just in actual sales, but the uptake there has been on overall PSP software which has seen a knock-on effect.”
“I would argue that we're starting to see what we originally intended – that it's helping to breathe life into sales of the hardware as well.”
[Thanks Edge]
2 Comments
August 23, 2010
Headline should have read "Sony Bows Under Pressure-- Young Market is where the money is"
August 23, 2010
I agree Mr. Shue.
It's clear they want that DS market (Is it me or does the Industry have a lot of Jealousy & Envy issues?). So they're gonna do their touch screen gaming (I died a little inside calling that gaming) and get all the kiddies and casual folk who just buy whatever. So yeah expect more casual games than psp already gets.. Thing is hardcore gamers aren't really buying a bunch of psp games anyways so the story goes. So I guess their change makes sense. Of course there's the graphics thing but games like gow: coo and the last jak and daxter look nice enough.
It's had to really compete with consoles games taking most of your dollars. Though sony could actually try doing something everyone with a psp has been asking for? Release PSP 2 already (and not more yearly, century subtitled psp upgrades) with two analog sticks. Throw in touch screen for whatever reason. Actually keep selling peripherals like the camera, screen protectors, CHEAP high storage sized memory sticks. You know things your consumer might actually need; before giving up on them.