Peter Dille, from SCEA, thinks the piracy on the PSP is "sickening" and is not afraid to say that it is a huge problem on the portable platform and that 18 months ago many developers "just about ready to jump off the cliff and pull support for the platform."In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Dille went on to say "I'm convinced and we're convinced that piracy has taken out a big chunk of our software sales on PSP." It's been a problem that the industry has to address together; it's one that I think the industry takes very seriously, but we need to do something to address this because it's criminal what's going on, quite frankly."
"It's not good for us, but it's not good for the development community. We can look at data from BitTorrent sites from the day Resistance: Retribution goes on sale and see how many copies are being downloaded illegally, and it's frankly sickening. We are spending a lot of time talking about how we can deal with that problem."
The PSP has gone through 3 major iterations during it's life cycle and a fourth is rumored to be coming soon. Many believe that other then the aesthetics that change, the loopholes that open up the portable console to piracy close as well, though Sony has never admitted to that. While it is "relatively" easy to break open the PSP-1000 (known as the fat) and the PSP-2000 (known as the slim) the PSP-3000 (known as the brite) has yet to be cracked.
Dille believes that education and legal actions are the key and that people "understood [that piracy] meant that a platform would go away."
"I'm not naive, but I do think that most people are inherently honest," he says. "We learned a lot from the music business, and it became so easy and so common to download illegal music -- everyone was doing it. It's almost like people lost sight with the fact that, well, "If everyone's doing it, then it can't be that bad."
"But, it actually is bad; it's bad for the platform. Again, I'm not saying that that's a magic wand; I think that we have to make sure from a technological perspective that it's not as easy as it is to do that."
Hopefully in 2009 we see a turnaround in game sales, as the PSP has a lot of promise in terms of AAA titles that are soon to be released.
If you want more quality games, then pay for the one's that are already out!
The UMD is a failing format. It was from the get go.
Notice anything in common?
That's right. UMD's are re-formatted, repackaged mini-discs.
"The PSP has a lot of promise in terms of AAA titles that are soon to be released"
They've been saying this since it's release...
I was told by a Sony rep that they are repackaged Minidiscs.
Yeah! That's why we should all buy DSes with those carts that can also be used for...for......
Here's a neat trick. Paint those UMD discs solid black and call it a cart from now on. Suddenly you won't be as angry at Sony anymore.
nintendo makes there portables backwards compatable, sony plan on using bulking disks in the future?
who wants to buy there games twice?
nintendo makes there portables backwards compatable,
Their newest version of the DS (the DSi), is no longer backwards compatible. There goes your argument.
nintendo makes there portables backwards compatable, sony plan on using bulking disks in the future?
who wants to buy there games twice?
That's a bad angle to take. Sony has a much better track record for backward-compatibility than Nintendo. Keep in mind that the PSP is Sony's FIRST handheld, so you can't even begin to make judgments on that front. Also, as roadwarrior pointed out, the new DSi lost its compatibility, and no Nintendo handheld has more than one generation's worth of back-compat (I believe).
Meanwhile, in console land, Sony was so well-known for supporting old consoles (PS2 played PS1 games, PS3 initially played PS1+2 games...) that people freaked out when newer PS3 models started dropping the capabilities. Nintendo, however, freaked everyone out when it was revealed that the Wii, their 5th generation (right?) console, FINALLY offered support for an old one.
And who are we kidding, future handhelds will probably all store games on expandable memory cards anyway...
It has less surface area than a DS when playing (you have to OPEN that DS up, so size comparisons of it folded shut never made any sense to me...), better speakers, dramatically better graphics, had better WiFi support from the get-go, and expandable to the point where Japan got a GPS addon. It really only lacks the touchscreen of the DS, which is used creatively sometimes, but often less intuitive than the 'optional' secondary button controls.
Mind you, I LOVE my DS, and use it more often than my PSP, but I won't for a second kid myself into thinking DS hardware is somehow superior.
/with the way human eyesight works, a single large widescreen will always be more comfortable than two 4:3 screens stacked vertically
//once again, will kill anyone who tries to take my DS away, but hushayoface about PSP quality already
Uh, I'd rather have the bigger area when playing, and the smaller area when carrying.
The DSi, when closed, is about 32mm (less than an inch and a half) shorter than the PSP but is actually wider and about the same thickness.
Seriously, I am pretty sure that these developers can see which games have generated the most revenue. It was definitely $9.99 games like Virtual Tennis, Spider man...
I think the only true salvation will come when all the games are offered as downloads together with a "PSP slim" price tag instead of the "PSP fat" one attached to it.
I think the only true salvation will come when all the games are offered as downloads together with a "PSP slim" price tag instead of the "PSP fat" one attached to it.
Err. What?
"the PSP-3000 (known as the brite) has yet to be cracked." .... so why is this guy even whining?
And no, I don't even own a PSP or any console for the very reason they steal from everyone else with their inflated overpricing.
Haha, good luck with that.
+1!
yea like the iphone has never had any pirated apps ....
Would you PLEASE learn to use some punctuation?? Reading your replies is painful!
****ty games are what's the major cause of that.
If the games are ****, why to people bother pirating them then?
dont get me wrong i love my psp for emulation but for games theres not that many worth getting
is that a touch of sarcasm i hear
All you pirates who say that the games are crappy will not have any games to pirate pretty soon since it is getting really hard to make money off them.
but yes i agree that the last few years games for consoles and pc are simply TRASH, even the ones i pirate i uninstall and delete after maximum 1 hour, those freking corporations deserve to go under and make room for some better companies eventually... there will be no games ? i say at this point that don't even mater, at least i wont waste my time downloading gigs of trash just to look at the "game" and uninstall it right again
but yes i agree that the last few years games for consoles and pc are simply TRASH, even the ones i pirate i uninstall and delete after maximum 1 hour, those freking corporations deserve to go under and make room for some better companies eventually... there will be no games ? i say at this point that don't even mater, at least i wont waste my time downloading gigs of trash just to look at the "game" and uninstall it right again
You can't seriously be a gamer if you think everything from the last few years has been trash.
This.
"i steal becuz evrything sux, maek bettr gamez!1"
People steal when they want something badly enough, not just because. Thieves do not steal cash, furniture, vehicles, or even food just because they can...
If these games you're pirating aren't something you want, then you're most likely a pig. You can't get enough food, games, software, etc, so you take everything, and then bitch about it as if you're some sort of superior being. Seriously, grow up.
what about kleptomania?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptomania
you shouldnt make assumptions about people
If you fail just blame piracy instead of poor management or uninteresting product. I think the DS is surely more to blame for PSP lackluster sales than piracy.
But of course it looks better in front of investors to blame piracy than a competitor.
I own a hacked PSP slim but I use it for the homebrew and emulated classics. I purchase big titles like Resistance: Retribution but I still download them so I can enjoy the speed improvements and longer battery life from using a memory stick vs a UMD. Assuming that everyone who is downloading games is pirating is wrong. I think I'm violating copyright laws but to call me a thief? That's inaccurate. If Sony listened to its customers they would be in a win-win situation. Instead they stick with their proprietary ways in an attempt to be the most profitable. The "hacked" PSP community has an overwhelming number of custom themes, homebrew games, apps, etc. Wow, sounds a lot like the Apple iPhone? Except in this case their business model "works" whereas Sony's doesn't.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.