PSP "resurgence" in 2009/2010 - Koller
Has been telling publishers how to do it.
Sony's head PSP zealot John Koller has been explaining his plan to "ensure that 2009 and 2010 would see a tremendous resurgence" in PSP games.
According to an interview with MTV Multiplayer, this involved going round the publishing houses and showing them the money - or, at least, telling them how to make the money.
Koller's evidence was that almost all the first-party PSP games had a "positive gross margin". The platform holder also suggested marketing budgets, and offered advice on which existing games might work. "The number one request we had [for them] was: look at franchise games, and don't port them," he said. He also recommended cross-console functionality with PS3 versions in the same series.
So where had all the PSP games gone in the first place? Koller puts it down to flagging sales of the original portable slab prior to the launch of the PSP-2000 in September 2007. "The sales have been on a very strong trajectory ever since," he said.
What's more, he sounds like he's not too bothered about the nearly-100-million-selling elephant in every room, handbag, carry-on and coat pocket, the DS. "If you look at it just from a strict unit sales metric, PSP games outsell the DS counterpart," he said.
"But the DS games require much less development investment, because the graphics aren't as good, the gameplay isn't as deep. In general it's just not created for a more sophisticated, mature gamer, but usually [someone who is] under 12." (Have at it.)
Anyway, Koller believes the future is bright, although he hasn't said anything yet about whether it has a slide screen, no UMD drive, and offers shoulder-button-only control, which is the rumour.
And, to be fair to him, 2009's PSP releases will count LittleBigPlanet and Assassin's Creed among their number. We'll have to wait and see how much more Koller and company's efforts have paid off, but PSP owners can at least look forward to continued, serious support from Sony.