Ubisoft: Sony ‘Directionless’ About PSP
The PSP, when it launched, was a highly desirable piece of technology that wowed both consumers and developers into buying and making games for it. Unfortunately, Sony has not been able to maintain the platform as a viable format, with many developers dropping support on the console. Ubisoft thinks so, too, with UK managing director Rob Cooper saying that the format lacks direction, believing that Sony made the platform “over-priced and too technical for the mainstream consumer.”
Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, Cooper said: “Sony needs to show us a bit more about what its plans are to convince the publisher to invest lots more money into it, especially when you’ve got the DS selling at such a tremendous pace.
“I suppose it’s almost too technical for the casual person, those that are buying the DS at the moment, who want a few buttons and not a lot more. It’s so simple what [Nintendo] has done. That’s where I think Sony has gone a little bit too complicated, they’ve over-specced it, the price is too high and they need to go back to the drawing board and start again.”
It is worth pointing out that Ubisoft has no games in development for the PSP, though Cooper insists that the format still has potential, as long as Sony can figure out the direction.
“At the moment they are in no man’s land, they’re not sure quite how to tackle the DS competition and who is the PSP consumer. They’ve got to sort that out first,” he said.