Sony: PSP software sales hurt by quality, piracy
Why do we rarely see PSP games raking up huge sales numbers, despite the fact that the hardware itself is selling so well? SCEA CEO Jack Tretton has three answers.
Answer one is the most praising of the handheld. "Multimedia functionality," Tretton says. "There are more things to do with it, so you're not just turning it on to play games, which isn't the case with the DS."
The next one caught us off guard. "Quality of games," Tretton confides. "People will go out and buy a God of War or a SOCOM," he remarks, "but they're not necessarily as interested in buying a PS2 port." So ... people like good games that are original for PSP. Luckily there are some on the way.
Tretton says the "third and almost biggest reason as of late" is piracy. "We have been able to track with releases like God of War that hundreds of thousands of units in potential sales are walking out the door through piracy on day one," he reveals. PSP Fanboy reported on this back in March.
So, is there a solution is in the cards? Tretton says that Sony "has remedies moving forward," but that they won't help with systems already on the market, adding: "That machine is already out there." That machine? Is there a new pirate-proofed PSP revision on the way? Is that even possible? Doesn't Sony realize how popular pirates are these days?
