We've been reiterating this point many times before, but for those of us with PSPs outside of Japan, we must prepare for an incredible software drought. While games like Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 and Secret Agent Clank will occupy our summer, there isn't much to look forward to from third party publishers on Sony's handheld. Ubisoft's UK managing director Rob Cooper told GI.biz: "I think that Sony is disappointed with sales and it's unsure as to which way to take it ... 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.""It's direction, a real strategic decision by Sony as to what it wants to do with that product. It's a great shame that sales are at the level they are, because you've got a hardware system that is absolutely beautiful ... we're not developing too many games on it until we get some direction." Ubisoft currently has zero PSP games in development, a trend not uncommon amongst non-Japanese publishers at the moment.
Ubisoft is responsible for a number of flawed PSP ports, such as Rainbow Six Vegas (Metascore 60) and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Metascore 61).
[Via NeoGAF]
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
6-06-2008 @ 12:09AM
Jacksons said...
I actually give the PSP's screen a lot of credit. The viewing angle is superb. My DS's colors invert if I tilt it even slightly. It's still a great system, but it's always bothered me.
6-05-2008 @ 5:41PM
Brian said...
COme on ubi has sony every set a direction for any of it's systems ..... Stop trying to blame Sony when your crappy games fail ....... you wanna know how to make a great shooter for the PSP just look at Sony's Syphon filter or Socom series on the PSP, you want action just look at God of war, Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Sony has been developing great game for the PSP.
Here's a tip .... develop games with the hardware in mind. Let you games do the talking and cut all the bull!
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6-05-2008 @ 6:45PM
Jeremy said...
While it's true most of Ubisoft's games have been bad, quality is no guarantee of sales, either. Look at Crush or Puzzlequest. Both got extremely high ratings and were well received by players, but flopped horribly sales wise.
The Syphon Filter series from Sony doesn't sell, that's about as high as production values get on the PSP.
People just don't buy PSP games, period. Even big name, high budget games like GoW and Crisis Core will probably be lucky to break half a million.
Conversely, something like Drawn to Life (sort of an analogy to Crush in it's cleverness and quirkiness) sold something like a million on the DS. And then crappy licensed shovelware (which Ubisoft does a lot of) also often sells a million it (Hannah Montana, High School Musical, etc)
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6-05-2008 @ 9:14PM
Daniel said...
Piracy is a huge issue here. Great games such as God of War, Crisis Core, Final Fantasy Tactics are selling like crap because people can download them for free. And by people, I meant the people Sony aimed to sell the PSP to, teenagers to adults in their 20s, maybe late 20 to early 30s. People who knows how to use a computer and read simple instructions can download the hack, install the hack, download the game, and play games for free! PSP fanboy had a stat on few months ago on some pirated games and God of Wars only came out for a couple of days and the download was already at 100k! 100k times 40 dollars a game is 4 million dollars developers could have made. God of War has been out for months now, who knows what the number is now?
DS is a making so much money because it is aiming at kids and casual gamers. Kids who says "look i am so cute, please buy me a game" to mommy and daddy, and mommy and daddy will buy the games for them. Sure there are hacks for the DS, but those kids wouldn't know what to do anyways. These people even buys videos on DS! And they look like crap! But, heck, people buy them and now they last longer than UMD movies.
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6-06-2008 @ 6:03AM
Zippon said...
Daniel, you hit the nail on the head! This is something I've been meaning to write up as a response to Pixelator's constant dismissal of piracy ("since every platform has it") and his belief that lack of advertising and good games is to blame. I've never seen him address FF:CC, GoW, or Patapon, even though I've asked him to. Great games, well-advertised....still pirated to hell and back.
Yeah, piracy exists on the DS, but it's all about demographics. The PSP is for older, more knowledgable gamers. It's not as easy to use as a DS. So a smaller percentage of DS users will have the skill or inclination to pirate. Whereas the PSP is attractive to the very element that LIKES to pirate and hack, by virtue of its power and versatility.
People know about PSP games. If they went to the trouble of spending $200+ on a unit (and sales of hardware have been great of late), then they know enough to walk into a Gamestop or check online for games. The primary problem is not advertising---it's LACK OF PEOPLE PAYING FOR THEIR GAMES. Period.
Developers have been burned by CFW and piracy. Even high-profile developers (FF:CC, GoW, etc). So why should anyone pour millions into new games for a customer base that so warmly embraces theft?
6-08-2008 @ 4:42AM
Kade Storm said...
Narrowing it down to one aspect is one of the most ignorant thing the two of you can promote. F*** the DS. Okay? Look at the other consoles. PS2 has had its own share of notorious piracy. They need demos to quell this mess, but would you be willing to bet your mortgage that if piracy were eliminated that new games and 'direction' would magically become apparant? I'm going to say 'no'. People like you lot will say 'yes', but it'll be a lie.
6-08-2008 @ 6:53PM
Kade Storm said...
And with regard to Pixelator's comment:
The truth has been spoken, and I couldn't agree with him more. As he put it so aptly in another comment, PSP has been Sony's 'bread-winner' in recent times. Unfortunately, they can't seem to nurture, let alone realise this asset.
Ubisoft's latest examples of mediocrity are no prize-winners, which should've pushed the PSP's hardware to its limits. However, their observation about direction, implying lack of dedication on Sony's part is right on the money.
Learn to identify a wider range of issues rather than selective nonsense.
6-08-2008 @ 6:53PM
Daniel said...
Kade,
I never put the entire blame to piracy, all I said its a huge issue! There will still be great games coming from great developers and great minds, no matter how bad the piracy it is. Innovations change people's opinion. This is why DS and Wii does so well because people love to interact and play with others. Wii is hard to find nowadays, but granted, most people only cares about Wii sports and Wii play and unlikely to buy another because those games are all they play. Sure there are piracy for the Wii as well as I seen my friend playings games that have not even come out yet. This is a problem will probably never go away. Wii' demographics is everyone, and the hack to play pirated games you need to solder and bypass the signal to another piece of harware. How many people is going to open up their Wii to do that? Can anyone here say they never downloaded pirated mp3s? If people know how to get something for free, they are gonna think twice before buying, and most likely go for it for the easy and free way. When companies look at their sales chart and see the sales are low due to whatever reason, they are gonna look for someone to blame. They are not gonna say 'oh yeah, we make bad games'. They are not gonna blame the customers, so they are gonna blame Sony. I personally don't think Sony is confusing people with their 'direction'. They always said its multi-media median. Just like PC and PS3, you can do a lot. That is just me though, since I am a gamer and I know these things. I am agree there are other issues, but I am saying piracy is a big problem for low sales.
6-06-2008 @ 9:50AM
Oi Chez! What do you want Fizz? said...
I agree with Ubisoft. The PSP just never had the same impact or consistency the DS has. I only have time for the better, highly rated games. I've got about 15 DS titles and 7 PSP (including a couple low rated ones). I don't know if its a quality control issue with Sony letting devs get away with pumping out rubbish games, or if its just an untapped medium.
Big shame really. Is the PSP trying to be a handheld or a console? It's awkwardly sat inbetween with both the positive and negative aspects of each type of system. No I'm not going to get scared by a handheld game, no I'm not going to get immersed. Yes I do want a few mindless action games (preferably 2D since ghosting is more apparent in 3D) that have been designed for handhelds. Yes I do want more online games with servers that don't get shut down willy nilly.
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6-06-2008 @ 3:00PM
koehler83 said...
They put Assassin's Creed on DS and Mobile Phones and not PSP.
What more do I need to say?
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6-06-2008 @ 7:18PM
Partner said...
The PSP seems to have a number of *good* games. Metacritic shows 60 games for the PSP rated 80 or above (I'm not including Advent Children, which is on their list but is actually a movie) and 51 for the DS.
http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/
http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/scores/
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6-07-2008 @ 12:36AM
Virtuous said...
The PSP doesn't need any more of Ubisoft's crappy games. If Ubisoft doesn't watch out they're going to to out of business if they continue to spew out crap.
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6-07-2008 @ 10:42AM
Tatsukishi said...
Games can be direction-less, consoles have a direction they play games. If you can't make a decent on then STFU and try harder. Don't blame Sony for making an awesome hand-held that has plenty of great games that Ubi can't match with their terrible fps games.
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6-08-2008 @ 6:54PM
Lord Bowser said...
My point may have already been made; Ubisoft make garbage games. If you look at the DS and Wii you'll see a flood of mediocrity and staidness. They truly are the new EA. Ubisoft may have a point about the PSP being 'directionless', but they certainly haven't contributed to giving the handheld a unique voice. Once they start making better games then maybe people will take them more seriously, but as of now: nul points.
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6-08-2008 @ 6:55PM
Dio said...
Wow, have you guys seen the news regarding Ubisoft on Wii games? I can't believe a company has turned out to be so shitty.
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