While Ready at Dawn has established itself as the premiere PSP development team, it recently sent back all of its devkits back to Sony so that it can move to new projects on other systems.
Joystiq spoke with Ready at Dawn's president, Didier Malenfant, to see why they left Sony's handheld. According to Malenfant, piracy was not a reason. "We sold over 2.3 millions copies of
Daxter and are on track to beat that with
Chains of Olympus so we're pretty happy with our sales," he responded. "Could we sell more games if piracy was non-existent? Maybe. But we don't target the market that could be, we target the market that is."
He adds, "Good games sell. Who would have thought?"
It seems the team is simply looking to do more on another platform, and try something new. They've seemingly pushed the PSP to its limit, and they can work their magic on other platforms. "We feel like we've done everything we wanted to do with the PSP," admitted the exec. "We have new projects on other platforms and we like to focus on one thing at a time."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
6-11-2008 @ 9:31AM
Duff_B said...
I can completely understand them wanting to move on, but all the same, it's such a shame for the PSP...
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6-11-2008 @ 9:58AM
matt said...
I don't understand why companies are treating the PSP as a "this gen" system. It falls somewhere between a PS1 and PS2. As such, it should be a joke to program for at this point. It bothers me when someone says that "we have pushed the PSP to its limit now we give up". ITS A HANDHELD NOT THE PS3!!!
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6-11-2008 @ 10:27AM
flux252 said...
@matt
wth are you talking abt?...psp is a latest gen handheld "console"...get ur facts right...sure its not a PS3 but it exceeds the performance (hardware wise especially) of all its rival handhelds...
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6-11-2008 @ 10:52AM
matt said...
Try reading what I wrote. Show me were I said the PSP was inferior to any handheld. I said that the hardware/software package is equivalent to a PS1/PS2 and it shouldn't be treated as a this gen system (read here PS3/XBOX360) as something who's limits need to be tested. Its limits were already tested and defined back in the PS1/PS2 days.
6-11-2008 @ 11:15AM
Otakon said...
jejeje, so you never will have a latest gen handheld then. LOL
6-11-2008 @ 11:51AM
Kylock said...
But Matt, hand held systems are always behind the current full blown consoles because of the constraints of size. It isn't like the simply shrunk a PS1/PS2 and make it into a psp, if that were the case it would use the same proprietary technology which it certainly doesn't. Testing the limits of a hand held makes perfect sense because while the PS2's limits may have been defined they PSP's have not because they are not the same system.
Your analogy is false because the comparison is that they have similar graphics therefore they are the same system, by that logic we should stop pushing the PS3 because the 360 has already been pushed so hard even though they have completely different internals.
Thank you for failing at logic.
6-11-2008 @ 11:10AM
Neuromancer said...
I agree with what this guy says but people who pirate games are still dicks.
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6-11-2008 @ 11:30AM
emirabal said...
This guy makes the most valid point, GOOD GAMES SELL, thats it point blank. Piracy was not the factor and they sold to an existing market, now tell me, why handheld games are priced so high, thats not a reason for games not selling, hmmm, i know there are deal breakers out there but come on, 40-50 bucks for games, 20 -30 is the deal breaker here and its been proven. look at patapon, great game, worth teh 20, see where im going with this, and the psp is an excellent system yet to be untapped fully by developers, ready at dawn saw teh potential.
Now sell your code for GOWCOO to the guys who disgracefully made 300 and remake that game.
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6-11-2008 @ 7:24PM
andwhyisit said...
They are not getting rid of their code, just their devkits.
6-11-2008 @ 11:52AM
Neuromancer said...
Classic line in regards to piracy causing games to sell less:
"We don't target the market that could be, we target the market that is."
That being said game pirates are dicks.
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6-11-2008 @ 11:53AM
Brodie-san said...
Studies have shown that the vast majority of piracy does not adversely affect bottom line sales. With the advent of torrents and the current culture of "content overkill" the people who are downloading these games never play them and would never have bought them. It's hording for the sake of hording. A "Gotta Catch Em All" attitude.
Most people who want to play these games actually bought these games.
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6-11-2008 @ 1:17PM
Seba501 said...
The piracy is killing the PSP
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6-11-2008 @ 1:47PM
Virtuous said...
These guys are losers for abandoning the PSP.
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6-11-2008 @ 1:55PM
Daniel said...
http://www.pspfanboy.com/2008/03/09/ridiculous-psp-piracy-numbers/
That was March 9th 2008. With 90k+ pirated downloads for God of Wars. Based on what Brodie-san said about most people just want them, but maybe lets say 50% of the people do play them and want games for free. So 45k people who downloaded 2 weeks after this game came out could have bought the game, but instead pirated, that is close to 2 million dollars they could have made since the game was priced at 39.99. The game has been out for more than 3 months now, how much more money Ready at Dawn 'could ' have made? Yes, pirates are dicks, but you will never see a company like Ready at Dawn say that in an interview!
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6-11-2008 @ 3:39PM
Saigon said...
I agree. Even if piracy was the sole reason that RaD abandoned psp, they would never say it. Look at pc developers like Epic Games and Crytek, who have said that piracy has hurt their sales. Afterwards, pc gamers got pissed, and basically said FU to them.
For all we know, the few extra mill that RaD lost, could have been the deciding factor for them not to start work on another psp game.
6-11-2008 @ 7:17PM
andwhyisit said...
RaD made the decision to leave partway through the development of GoW:CoO. They just want to have a shot at the big consoles, let them.
6-11-2008 @ 2:11PM
bryansurvive said...
i no longer agree that piracy is killing the psp
like i said before ps2 is really easy to get around just by having a dvd or cd burner. its obviously that developers arent taking a chance or even looking at psp. ready at dawn only made 2 games outta idk how many tons though and they give up? for what if youv pushed psp to the limit and you know how a system is made to make that perfect psp game why let go. why not make others happy.
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6-11-2008 @ 2:39PM
resistancia said...
im pretty sure piracy isnt killing the psp (in mexico where i live you can find almost in every corner ps2 wii and xbox 360 games, but its hard to fin psp piracy games, my point its that piracy its for every consoles even ds has piracy), the psp its being by sony (wich its only worry about ps3) and the lack of games that we have, it seems that after the awesome god of war game, we could expect more great games that really could show us what the psp can do i agree with kylock, because god of war show us really great graphics, something you never seen on the psp, for example compare god of war , graphics with wwe smackdown vs raw, or any other game, this its pushing the psp limits.
the psp its not a ps3 (thank god) but raedy at dawn studios show us that it can be a close look to the ps2, i agree that habdheld devices are behind the other consoles, but heres and example take the nhl 07 for the xbox360, yes it has some great graphics and the sound its great, but if you compare it with the psp, version, the psp version its much better, just take a look at the create mode where you can create player and teams and customize them, in the xbox360 version, you cant do that, you only pick some of the players that the sistem gives you, and you cant create players.
i just want to say that ready at dawn was sucha a great psp develover yes it only made 2 games but they were really fun and god of war its a master piece, i cant help but feek sad, we wont have more games from this studio, i love my psp its mu favorite game console ever, i had the ps1 the ps2 and i have the 360 (and ill never buy a ps3 because i think its ps3 fault that psp its dying), im pretty sure psp days are numbered, because if this this lack of games continues, and studios giving up on psp, nobody its going to buy the device and its a shame, because its a great device.
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6-11-2008 @ 3:34PM
nomad said...
so it sounds like sony has lyed to everyone saying that the pirate dicks have runed the psp sales. well it sounds like and always sounded like bull to me. sony has just been dissing the usa and useing excuses like the pirate crap to do it. sony can just kiss my ass. typical corprate bull. sony eat my poop,lol.
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6-11-2008 @ 6:03PM
Zippon said...
Yeah, Ready at Dawn is ditching their date and running for the door, while at the same time yelling over their shoulder, "It's not because you're butt-ugly! I just want to see what else is out there! I love youuuuuuu........."
I don't believe much of anything that I read anymore. Nobody tells the truth because the dumb internet mob will overreact.
I'm happy to hear that GoW sold over 2mil. But it obviously wasn't enough, was it?
True, pirates are gluttons and hoarders that don't play every game they buy. But if their supply was cut off tomorrow, you can bet your life they would be out buying at least SOME games to get their fix.
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