The decline of PSP software, in graph form
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Sep 24th 2008 at 2:30PM }
Well, thanks a lot jerks. When you put it in graph form like this, obviously it's going to hurt. (sobs)
But in all seriousness, the piece does an excellent job in articulating the finer details of PSP's slow loss of support. In spite of the smaller games library this year, the percentage of exclusives is also steadily dropping. While this piece could be yet another mantra against piracy and the likes, we want to direct you to an excellent piece by PSP World, which offers an alternative: it's all Xbox's fault. Kris Erickson postulates that a number of excellent XBLA games would be perfect for play on PSP. We'd agree. Developers may be moving resources to XBLA, away from PSP, when thinking up short, accessible games that would play well on handhelds. An interesting theory, yes. However, we're confident that upcoming PSN ports of Super Stardust and Everyday Shooter are just the beginning of a slew of downloadable PSP games.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ed @ Sep 24th 2008 2:59PM
>> we're confident that upcoming PSN ports ... are just the beginning of a slew of downloadable PSP games.
Really? You are? I've lost all confidence in Sony. The system has been out for almost 4 years and the PS Store (which is lackluster at best) is still inaccessible from the PSP console. I'm afraid their efforts are going to be too little, too late. All these efforts should have come years ago. Such wasted potential for an amazing machine.
HAAS599 @ Sep 24th 2008 3:11PM
I agree that it is too little, too late for the psp. But with a turn to more and more downloadable psp games and a store accessible through the psp, Sony is creating a strong foundation for the psp2.
Don @ Sep 24th 2008 6:55PM
Reluctantly, I agree. I have no confidence in Sony.
pixelator @ Sep 25th 2008 1:53AM
Exactly. Why must it be ANYthing but Sony's fault? Piracy, XBOX (give me a break - console vs. handheld), price of tea in China...
The loss of support is due to SONY. Poor software sales are due to SONY not supporting publishers, not advertising or marketing properly, refusing to bring more colors, accessories, JP localized games, etc.
Stop blaming everything but the people responsible!
TinyTim121 @ Sep 24th 2008 3:00PM
RIPPSP ??
They do say the candle that shines twice as bright lasts half as long...
aj @ Sep 24th 2008 11:33PM
You're not supposed to light the PSP on fire!!!
TinyTim121 @ Sep 25th 2008 5:14PM
LMFAO!!!
Star that shines twice as bright lasts half as long then!
erico316 @ Sep 24th 2008 3:19PM
third part in America may had lost support for the psp but Japanese 3rd party is what the psp is gaining.
Wazzim @ Sep 24th 2008 3:24PM
Yeah, the PSP is recovering. First Japan and then America and Europe.
Gurbinder @ Sep 24th 2008 3:26PM
I dont see many psp games on the shelfs anymore either, rather than the big main ones like wipEout pulse, god of war, and crisis core.
And i agree with you erico, third party has died here but its still pretty live injapan.
In addition, You cant blame piracy for everything, even though piracy is a big part but remember how easy it is to pirate ds games as well. Including a ds emulator, there is no psp emulator as of yet however I blame Sony's advertising of the psp. If they advertised it enough and pushed it , it would have gone further.
Another thing, The umd video thing was just fail, it would have never worked out.
So in my opinion, even if there are quite a number of psps out there, psp only lives because of japan.
Gurbinder @ Sep 24th 2008 3:33PM
I also really got to blame piracy in a way too. If Dark_Alex was never born someone would have probably found out that the psp is hackable eventually but if he says hes against piracy then why did he promote a port connection to the UMD slot that lets you copy umd files ( or something like that)
Christopher @ Sep 24th 2008 4:15PM
@Gurbinder
Sorry, but I have to laugh at your last post. Piracy has nothing to do with it. Why?
1. It's 10x easier to pirate software on the DS, something that is plugging along fine thank you very much.
2. Piracy is happening right under Sony's nose in Akhibara and not only are they doing nothing about it, they're gaining sales for games such as Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star.
There are other legitimate reasons to hack/make UMD copyable such AS legal back up of games. I have about 10 PSP games, all of which I keep roms of on a card because I don't want to carry a stack of UMD with me.
Extinction @ Sep 24th 2008 5:36PM
"1. It's 10x easier to pirate software on the DS, "
No it's not. On PSP with minor hacking you can do it for free. DS actually requires you to go out and purchase hardware, and tweak settings. PSP is the easiest system EVER to pirate games. The built in menu in custom firmware even lets you copy UMD to PC yourself
Christopher @ Sep 24th 2008 9:57PM
@ Extinction
Yes, NOW it is. Until earlier this year however it took a bit of research and reading in forums. NOW there are all in ones like PSP grader and Pandora Deluxe. Until recently you needed another Pandora battery or decent soldering skills.
The DS, you could get mod cards for as little as $35 and literally all you had to do was drag and drop the files necessary and they provided step by step directions with most of them. Until recently, DS was CLEARLY easier to hack. Which do you think is easier? A "do-it yourself" cobbled together or a retail purchased kit?
richard @ Sep 25th 2008 4:30AM
the psp (2000) is great, I havent watched a dvd since I got the thing... Do I play games on it??? Not really, i use it for everything else but I'm to preoccupied w/ the world of being an adult to spend hours playing a hand held.. I got a ps3 for games.. Now that I can play games on my tv I'm more likely to buy a game for it, but I lose interest in them quickly so I wait til they're dirt cheap (10$ bin at the nearest 'mart).. I couldn't live w/ out it though, I use it in my car for music, I have wedding pics on it, I use the internet, the shout cast, the rss channels, podcast, sometimes I use skype, and I load it up w/ movies before bed, hook it up to the t.v. and fall asleep to it...
They need to market it as more than a hand held game system for adults...
On the other hand I have nieces and nephews and neither one of my sisters will buy them psps. They've told me that the games are too mature, too expensive, and to advanced (more the system than the games) for my 7-15 year old nieces and nephews. So they all have DSs and for every gift giving holiday they get ds games from everyone.
They need to release more kid friendly games to market it for parents, and families. Quit porting lengthy ps2 and ps3 titles to it and focus on everything else...
Educate ppl on the features, don't just say hey you can do this... Explain them in a little more detail, and explain that it's free to use the features... ppl will show interest...
pixelator @ Sep 25th 2008 4:42PM
The PSP isn't easier to hack if you have 3.50 or later, which requires a Pandora battery. The DS is easier because no, you really don't have to tweak anything. You run one app off the flash and that's it... And the flash carts are dirt cheap. The PSP hacking by comparison is FAR more complex.
Regardless, the DS is just as pirateable and PSP piracy is at least as rampant in Japan where retail shops sell pirated games, as was noted (and in other Asian countries, forget about it - piracy reigns supreme at the retail shop level). And the DS and Asian PSP market is strong. Did you notice the PSP outselling the DS for most of this year in Japan?
Sony has abandoned the USA market and the developers followed suit. Period. The PSP2 needs to be download focused and UMD needs to lose the stupid casing. End of story.
I'll believe Koller's jargon about 2009 when I see it.
Wazzim @ Sep 24th 2008 3:24PM
Sony is going to end the PSP succesfully (WITH Gran Turismo etc.) so people know what a PSP is. I think in 2004 the PSP was to(!) advanced, people wanted GBA like games not console games, now people are changing in favor of the Sony consoles of this gen that stand for technology. The PSP2 will have 50% of the market, slowly beating Nintendo.
HairyBalls @ Sep 24th 2008 5:15PM
"I think in 2004 the PSP was to(!) advanced, people wanted GBA like games not console games"
Most GBA games were ports of SNES games, so GBA games were ported console games.
will @ Sep 24th 2008 6:31PM
i had a DS and stopped playing it because there was nothing worth playing. i'm a 25 year old male, i don't want to raise a puppy or a pony, or battle with cute creature cards, or do any of 100 other bullshit kiddy activities on the system. to be honest, i didn't even think DS zelda was any good. didn't bother finishing it.
TM @ Sep 24th 2008 3:40PM
if psp is really dying then sony needs to finish with an over-the-top spectactular game.. like Resistence? start working HARD sony
drdre74 @ Sep 24th 2008 3:55PM
I would have to say its PSN and XBL. I could see Bionic commando easily as a PSP UMD game. Calling all cars also. The file sizes on those games aren't that big at all either.
WhiteShield @ Sep 24th 2008 4:33PM
well, this graph sort of ruined my day. but here is something i have noticed which i think works well on the PSP: fighting games (e.x. Street Fighter Alpha from PSN), rythem games (Beats and Patapon), plain weird games (Locoroco), 3rd person shooters (Socom and hopefully Res.: Retrib.), racing games, and strategy/rpg games. i'm glad they stopped fps titles like MoH:H and CoD ports. the controls are pretty bad and it doesnt immerse the player enough. in terms of the PSN, with cards now at blockbuster (THANK GOD I FINALLY PICKED ONE UP!) it will hopefully boost sales. i mean, with games like beats for 5 dollars, echochrome for 10 i believe, and street fighter for 6, how can you go wrong? the even have jet moto, which i havent played in years and twisted metal 2 (even though the psp game head on is essentially a revamped version of it). in conclusion, when you look at 2008 and 07 game releases, don't we all have fond memories of GoW, Crisis Core, FFT, Patapon, Echochrome, and so on?
lorddshadow @ Sep 24th 2008 5:17PM
we do but after we're finished, the only remaining option is to replay them. over, and over, and over again. hopefully 2009 will bring back psp support. if not, we're finished. :(
epobirs @ Sep 24th 2008 6:31PM
The blame is entirely Sony's. If anything, XBLA is a potential source of ports for PSP. If a game is successful in that venue the developer can seek the capital to produce a PSP version with all of the costs that involves. Sony could easily step and provide the capital investment and score a win for themselves.
Provided, of course, that people who play the game paid for it. It looks mighty easy to download the whole PSP library after a casual glance at a few torrent sites.
Sony could also make the platform more atractive by pushing harder to make it a download purchase venue in the style of XBLA. They've done a little here but not nearly enough. One of the huge enticements XBLA offers a small developer is the reduction of investment before reaching consumers. In a conventional disc sale, the dev/publisher has to pay in advance for a large number of discs to be produced, as well as a royalty fee for each unit. The money is swallowed up by the console maker before any revenue comes back and regardless of how well or fast the game sells.
An XBLA game maker doesn't have those concerns. Microsoft only gets a piece of the action when a sale is made. There are no manufacturing or royalty costs before that sale. No manufacturing costs at all, unless the venue charges for the download bandwidth, although that would be more of a distribution expense.
If Sony wants the PSP to have XBLA games, it needs to provide an XBLA-like business model on the PSP.
ajnauron @ Sep 24th 2008 5:01PM
Thanks, Mr. obvious.
Rudedog3 @ Sep 24th 2008 5:51PM
I dont think the psp is dying its just going slow and from what i have seen the Japanese are making games and the games they make will came over here well not all of them
Darlaten @ Sep 24th 2008 6:35PM
Maybe it's just me - but assuming those numbers are the actual physical number of games that are being released, I'd be somewhat suprised if there are people who actually buy all 76 games for 2008 let alone 153 games for 2006.
Let's put that into perspective, even if the game only costs $40.00. At 76 games, that's $3040.00! I doubt it very much, even for the hardcore PSPfanboy, that they drop that much money each year on the PSP.
Most people that I know that have a PSP or that post on discussion boards (US official boards), have maybe between 20-30 different games. And that's over the past four years that the PSP has been released.
So before everyone screams the sky is falling - ask yourself, realistically, how many new PSP games do you actually buy. Certainly, you dont buy everything that get's released. And certainly, even if its only 76 games being released in 2008; there will be at least five or six that you will enjoy playing.
Lastly, just my two cents worth to Sony - if you're really concerned that the PSP is dieing - perhaps you could acutally release some of the games that are being released, seemingly on a daily basis, in Japan in North America. I have a massive list of games that I want to be able to play but none are available in North America. Send some this way please.
Mikhail @ Sep 25th 2008 1:27AM
Same here, I would like to see Atlus release Princess Crown since that game was released for the PSP in 2005 and is considered a spiritual sequel to Odin Sphere.
KinjiroSSD @ Sep 24th 2008 6:41PM
It maybe slowing but to me, its better than the p.o.s DS. Also, quantity quality. Most stores have twice the space devoted to the DS than PSP but I have a hard time finding more the 2 games worth owning.
btw, Under the Knife 2 for the DS is ownage.
Jeremy @ Sep 24th 2008 7:10PM
Just look at torrent sites - people are downloading PSP games, not DS stuff. I'm not saying it's not possible to pirate on a DS, but you need extra hardware, then you have to use special software (I think) to transfer it to the DS, I think sometimes patching it. And you lose about half the DS's battery life.
PSP, you don't really need anything to hack it.
andwhyisit @ Sep 24th 2008 7:50PM
You require hardware to hack a psp in most cases (unpatched GTA:LCS, unpatched lumines, or an extra battery, memory stick and a psp that already has CFW). And hacking a PSP is easy? You have no fucking clue do you? It is not a simple case of chucking some updater in and instant CFW. You need to downgrade (gets harder the higher your firmware is) with the above hardware and the downgrader specific to your firmware (if there isn't one for your firmware then you have to upgrade to the firmware it is specific to) to reach OFW 1.50. Then upgrade till you hit the latest CFW with the constant risk of bricking your PSP (rendering it unusable) from simple human error. Buying an R4 would be 10x easier if someone wanted to pirate games. It would cost the same but it wouldn't be as complicated, nor as risky to your system.
bryansurvive @ Sep 24th 2008 8:51PM
are you blind. Piracy has been around since before PlayStation 1 arrived. Sony has made mad money till this day. piracy has nothing to do with it. yes it could help if people stopped but you don't see Sony losing any cash. they just don't care about psp. they don't need money when the ps2 is still selling like crazy and the ps3 is getting more and more involved.
andwhyisit @ Sep 24th 2008 8:08PM
@Jeremy and Extinction:
You require hardware to hack a psp in most cases (unpatched GTA:LCS, unpatched lumines, or an extra battery, memory stick and a psp that already has CFW). And hacking a PSP is easy? You have no fucking clue do you? It is not a simple case of chucking some updater in and instant CFW. You need to downgrade (gets harder the higher your firmware is) with the above hardware and the downgrader specific to your firmware (if there isn't one for your firmware then you have to upgrade to the firmware it is specific to) to reach OFW 1.50. Then upgrade till you hit the latest CFW with the constant risk of bricking your PSP (rendering it unusable) from simple human error. Buying an R4 would be 10x easier if someone wanted to pirate games. It would cost the same but it wouldn't be as complicated, nor as risky to your system.
@Gurbinder:
UMD titles have no loading times when running off of a memory stick.
WhiteShield @ Sep 24th 2008 8:19PM
I just thought of something else, are we comparing these game releases to say... a full fledged console? I don't know, i mean there are some solid games out, and like people have said, who really does buy all of the games? That and a lot of the games that are in the list are good. Granted it's been slow recently and the future is a little slow as well, but we are still for the most part fine
TM @ Sep 24th 2008 10:10PM
Sony needs to get the Playstation Store working directly on the psp and then start posting more games on that. That might boost sales a bit.
pregunta @ Sep 24th 2008 11:06PM
The thing that really keeps me from playing games on my PSP is the lack of a second analog stick. I use my PSP daily for all of the other functions they've upgraded to, but the games. If they'd make the dualshock3 plug into it, I might buy games, but as it stands my PSP is a media portal--an awesome inexpensive one--not a game console.
Jeremy @ Sep 24th 2008 11:24PM
Considering Lumines and LCS were two of the PSP's best selling games, it was hardly difficult getting ahold of one. (I went the Lumines route myself, easy as cake, just put the files on the memory stick and pop the game in). I also think early ones (1.5 and below) were simply hackable out of the box (or maybe not)
Anyway, the XBLA theory is also bunk, because most XBLA games are well, junk. Almost all the arcade stuff is shovelware, either roms or slightly updated stuff. There are a few complete remakes (like Pac CE) but those wouldn't really sell for $30 or $40 on a UMD, they are too simple.
aj @ Sep 24th 2008 11:39PM
I turned my PSP into a portable SNES.
And you know what? It helps me feel better about there being no PSP games, because the SNES has hundreds of games. I'm set for life.
TM @ Sep 25th 2008 1:22AM
too bad there is no ps2 or xbox emulator for psp..... god of war 2, halo and others on psp...
FailedEXE @ Sep 25th 2008 9:58AM
Like I really care people are starting to give up hope for Sonys PSP. What is this news going to make me do? Sell it? Hell to the fucking no! Not after I get my 2 Star Ocean games, Kingdom Hearts BBS, Final Fantasy D and the game I've been waiting for over 8 years, Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday.
Dr Haisook @ Sep 25th 2008 11:10AM
You at PSPfanboy are weird. Last posts talked about how many new titles are coming out and how you're impressed, and now the PSP is doing poorly (!). Just give the PSP some time; it's not a GBA.
h0mi @ Sep 25th 2008 6:26PM
Piracy on the PSP was possible primarily through downgrading to 1.5, or having access to custom firmware (CFW). Until the tiff exploit was found, it was difficult to downgrade your PSP without access to another PSP that already had 1.5 installed. The tiff exploit though was patched in some later version of the firmware- I think it was 3.0 and on the PSP-2000, all of these PSPs had firmware versions that were patched. When that happened, it'd become impossible to install CFW on a PSP without access to another PSP. (at the least to create the "pandora battery" and the memory stick).
So I don't buy this "piracy is easy on the PSP" nonsense.
andwhyisit @ Sep 25th 2008 8:06PM
Hell, after 2.80 it was impossible to downgrade without some hard to find UMD or a psp that already has cfw along with the extra memory stick and psp battery.
Steven @ Sep 25th 2008 11:21PM
ppl sony is just trying to focus on japan and the asian countries and come on be realistic japan is a fucking hardcore gaming country they buy games their not cheap like us even tho ppl do buy games but only like 20% of the games in NA. Sony just want to have a solid base in asia mostly in japan why import games that might be popular but will not sell much just will be downloaded a lot they just want to import games that will sell and everyone will buy like everyday shooter and resistance because ppl buy games that will be memorable and will be played over and over. Also how many gamers in US will spend hours playing RPG game eve tho i love it more than half the ppl wouldn't so no point in selling to a small group that might just download the game in the first place thats why they keep most of the games in japan because their game freaks there everyone play RPG and HOW MANY OTAKUS THERE ARE IN JAPAN LIKE !!!!! 50% OR MORE OF THE YOUNG PPL THERE
Kristian @ Sep 29th 2008 9:13PM
i guess its mostly because of piracy and the lack of good games for psp
plus a LOT of kids buy portable gaming devices so i think theyd rather see mario then kratos
sony needs to start working hard on psp, come on guys i have faith in you, make some good games and good uprgrades!
TM @ Sep 30th 2008 12:34AM
kratos is way better than mario. ds is mainly for damn stupid kiddie games. psp is mainly for an older audience