Quoted: IGN
US, January 8, 2010 - The more
casual portion of the games industry has an interesting habit of
latching onto a brand name during a console generation, where repeated
and subtle use of the product name amongst friends and the general
media helps build hype, trust and, in turn, sales for said product.
Think of it as the current household name for a gaming generation.
Back in the '80s, it was Nintendo. If you mentioned games in an
off-hand way, you probably also included the word Nintendo in your
dialog. In the days of the Genesis, Sega seemed to (arguably) be the
product name of choice. With the previous two console generations, the
word PlayStation was practically synonymous with gaming.
This time around, the PlayStation name doesn't hold nearly as much
weight with the non-core audience (the casual market). Though it's
getting a little more even in terms of name-dropping, the more
casual-friendly term associated with the HD consoles in recent years
has been Xbox. This may seem like a small thing, but it's a fairly
telling sign of how this generation is, and has been, shaping up.
Despite the fact that the big war these days is between the Xbox
360, PlayStation 3 and (especially in terms of the casual crowd) the
Wii, the PSP is arguably playing a part in the console battle, and
perhaps not a good one.
The
title of this article says it all. Should Sony abandon the PSP and
focus its efforts solely on the PlayStation 3 (and in the future, the
PS4)? In the long run, this might actually be the best move.
Now, keep in mind that I think the PSP is a fine portable gaming
system. There are a ton of great titles available for it, stuff that
you won't find anywhere else (see our
Top 25 PSP Gameslist for the best examples). But, that doesn't mean those games
couldn't have been created for the PS3 (perhaps as smaller PSN titles)
or even PS2. I also understand that the ability to take these titles on
the go is a big benefit, though if you didn't have a PSP you could
easily turn to the DS, iPhone or what have you. Not having the PSP
around wouldn't mark the end of portable gaming.
The hardware has sold well, but it doesn't seem like the software
is really keeping up. In the NPD numbers for October of this year, a
PSP title didn't show up until #82. For November, one didn't show up
until #107. Granted, things aren't crystal-clear now on the software
sales front as the PSPgo requires titles to be bought from the
PlayStation Store and downloaded directly (which don't show up in NPD
numbers), but that's still pretty abysmal.
Is the PS3 suffering because of the PSP?
But
those sales problems are just PSP issues and don't directly relate to
the PS3. However, there are a couple potential aspects where the PSP is
dissolving resources that could have been better spent on the
PlayStation 3.
The first is obviously development resources, where the teams could
have made PS3 titles rather than PSP games and bolstered the console's
library for the better. Imagine if Patapon had been a PlayStation
Network game, or even a full retail release. Hammerin' Hero. Pursuit
Force. LocoRoco. All of the WipEout titles. Syphon Filter. Chains of
Olympus. Dissidia Final Fantasy. The list goes on and on. I know that
some of these pre-dated the PlayStation 3, and thusly the PlayStation
Network, but you get the idea. The point is that the PS3's library
could be bigger and stronger, and you'd still be able to play these
great games. They'd probably have also sold much better in many cases.
The second issue, perhaps the most important one and the point that
I was alluding to at the beginning of this article, is name brand
strength. Early on, the PlayStation 3 was marketed as being the most
powerful system of the three this generation. Sony was telling everyone
that the PS3 was the system to get as its games could (and would)
eventually look (and play) better than titles on the competing systems.
