TotalRoundTable: The Portable Nature of Mobile PlayStations
Or: How Sony decisively lost the handheld wars.
Published: January 26, 2011
Sam Bishop, editor-in-chief:
Okay, a couple things need to be clarified here before we go on:
1. The PSPhone, whatever it might be called (and, thus far, the PlayStation brand isn't anywhere to be found on it), is being made by Sony Ericsson. That's an important distinction, as it's not at all connected to Sony Computer Entertainment, and very likely SCEA, SCEE, or SCEI will not be pushing the thing – it'll be up to SE. This isn't a PSP by any branding measure; it's a SE phone that happens to have PlayStation controls and a dedicated app that plays them. In every other respect, it's simply an Android 2.2 phone, maybe a 2.3 if SE stops being laggards about embracing Gingerbread.
2. It is a phone first, and not an offshoot of the PSP. I can only imagine this was a stipulation of the decision to allow SE to even use the thing. I could be dead wrong when they announce it (looks like mid-February), but there'll be PSP2 reveal at E3 just a few months later, and Sony desperately needs to send one clear message about the future of the platform. They won't let the phone get in the way of the PlayStation Portable name and announcement when the time comes.
That said, the PSP2 is definitely... interesting. The price, just as it was with the PSP, is going to be the key factor. Yes, Nintendo will likely release their most expensive handheld with the 3DS, but on portables, I don't think graphical prowess is held in nearly the same esteem as brand familiarity, as Herr Wheelmeier said. Nintendo has been able to round up unprecedented support for their platform and has the bankability of people buying their systems for their games regardless of whether anyone else is actually making games for it. Sony, on the other hand, has to deal with courting devs all over again after software sales on the PSP dwindled to nothing because of rampant piracy, and has to somehow try to spread the kind of love for portable gaming they found in Japan to the rest of the world.
Not exactly an enviable position.
That said, did you guys see how well the PSP – you know, that thing that came out, like, six years ago – sold in Japan on the back of Monster Hunter Portable 3? They damn near sold as much in a week as was sold here in months. That is crazy pills insane. I'm in awe of the power of one single brand. Also, Japan is truly an island unto itself these days. They just love their portables.
Ryan DeLaRosa, Game Over Nation co-host:
I think that, of the two systems, the PSPhone presents the better opportunity. The PSP2 would seemingly be trying to take on the roll of the original PSP – to deliver a home console experience on the go. I'm not sure this is what people are looking for. While the Nintendo DS certainly had a few of those experiences with their Zelda games, Metroids, and various RPGs, the real draw of the DS were things like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy, games that could be enjoyed in bite-sized doses. Even I fail to finish most long games on the DS because I have my phone with me already, and three current-gen consoles at home that offer a more robust experience than most anything on a DS or PSP. You could make an argument for the wild success of the Pokemon series, but I think that's more of the exception than the rule.
The PSP hasn't seen the success Sony hoped for, and the PSP go could be looked at as a total failure. So, what they hope to accomplish with a new PSP, I'm not entirely sure. They might get lucky, time it right, and strike some kind of hot spot, but I think they'd be better served to stick with the idea of the PSPhone. Recent trends have shown a stagnation in the PSP and DS markets, while the growth of the mobile phone gaming marking is on a rampage. I think Sony could really capitalize on this with the PSPhone, so long as they try to stay focused on what it should be and not try to do too much. A PSPhone, running on Android, would be launching with a huge library of games already. The addition of a d-pad and (face) buttons would broaden the types of games the PSPhone could handle versus other Android devices. A slick interface and the PlayStation name could really be all it takes to make the phone a wild success.
So, I guess what I'm getting at here is that I don't think we really need to see a PSP2. As a member of what some might call the "hardcore," I'm sure most of us would like to see something like a PSP2, because we're all tech lovers and would likely pick it up because it's new and shiny. However, from a financial standpoint for Sony, launching competing devices might not be the best idea – and, really, that's what they'd be doing. You could probably argue that, if launched at the same time, the wilder the success of the PSPhone, the more likely the PSP2 would be to fail.
Okay, a couple things need to be clarified here before we go on:
1. The PSPhone, whatever it might be called (and, thus far, the PlayStation brand isn't anywhere to be found on it), is being made by Sony Ericsson. That's an important distinction, as it's not at all connected to Sony Computer Entertainment, and very likely SCEA, SCEE, or SCEI will not be pushing the thing – it'll be up to SE. This isn't a PSP by any branding measure; it's a SE phone that happens to have PlayStation controls and a dedicated app that plays them. In every other respect, it's simply an Android 2.2 phone, maybe a 2.3 if SE stops being laggards about embracing Gingerbread.
2. It is a phone first, and not an offshoot of the PSP. I can only imagine this was a stipulation of the decision to allow SE to even use the thing. I could be dead wrong when they announce it (looks like mid-February), but there'll be PSP2 reveal at E3 just a few months later, and Sony desperately needs to send one clear message about the future of the platform. They won't let the phone get in the way of the PlayStation Portable name and announcement when the time comes.
That said, the PSP2 is definitely... interesting. The price, just as it was with the PSP, is going to be the key factor. Yes, Nintendo will likely release their most expensive handheld with the 3DS, but on portables, I don't think graphical prowess is held in nearly the same esteem as brand familiarity, as Herr Wheelmeier said. Nintendo has been able to round up unprecedented support for their platform and has the bankability of people buying their systems for their games regardless of whether anyone else is actually making games for it. Sony, on the other hand, has to deal with courting devs all over again after software sales on the PSP dwindled to nothing because of rampant piracy, and has to somehow try to spread the kind of love for portable gaming they found in Japan to the rest of the world.
Not exactly an enviable position.
That said, did you guys see how well the PSP – you know, that thing that came out, like, six years ago – sold in Japan on the back of Monster Hunter Portable 3? They damn near sold as much in a week as was sold here in months. That is crazy pills insane. I'm in awe of the power of one single brand. Also, Japan is truly an island unto itself these days. They just love their portables.
Ryan DeLaRosa, Game Over Nation co-host:
I think that, of the two systems, the PSPhone presents the better opportunity. The PSP2 would seemingly be trying to take on the roll of the original PSP – to deliver a home console experience on the go. I'm not sure this is what people are looking for. While the Nintendo DS certainly had a few of those experiences with their Zelda games, Metroids, and various RPGs, the real draw of the DS were things like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy, games that could be enjoyed in bite-sized doses. Even I fail to finish most long games on the DS because I have my phone with me already, and three current-gen consoles at home that offer a more robust experience than most anything on a DS or PSP. You could make an argument for the wild success of the Pokemon series, but I think that's more of the exception than the rule.
The PSP hasn't seen the success Sony hoped for, and the PSP go could be looked at as a total failure. So, what they hope to accomplish with a new PSP, I'm not entirely sure. They might get lucky, time it right, and strike some kind of hot spot, but I think they'd be better served to stick with the idea of the PSPhone. Recent trends have shown a stagnation in the PSP and DS markets, while the growth of the mobile phone gaming marking is on a rampage. I think Sony could really capitalize on this with the PSPhone, so long as they try to stay focused on what it should be and not try to do too much. A PSPhone, running on Android, would be launching with a huge library of games already. The addition of a d-pad and (face) buttons would broaden the types of games the PSPhone could handle versus other Android devices. A slick interface and the PlayStation name could really be all it takes to make the phone a wild success.
So, I guess what I'm getting at here is that I don't think we really need to see a PSP2. As a member of what some might call the "hardcore," I'm sure most of us would like to see something like a PSP2, because we're all tech lovers and would likely pick it up because it's new and shiny. However, from a financial standpoint for Sony, launching competing devices might not be the best idea – and, really, that's what they'd be doing. You could probably argue that, if launched at the same time, the wilder the success of the PSPhone, the more likely the PSP2 would be to fail.
