Ready at Dawn finished with PSP

By Robert Purchese Published 10 June, 2008

End of era for God of War, Daxter team.

God of War: Chains of Olympus creator Ready at Dawn has officially finished working with the PSP.

The developer, also responsible for Daxter on the handheld, has already packed up its tools and sent them back to Sony.

"With Chains of Olympus going gold in Japan, we're now officially done with PSP development," said Ready at Dawn on its blog, much like a choir talking in a homogenised voice.

"Today we sent all out devkits back and seeing all these boxes ready to be picked up definitely marks the end of an era here at Ready at Dawn."

Ready at Dawn first mentioned it wouldn't be making any more games for PSP back in March. And it's a shame, as God of War is the highest-rated game for the format on Metacritic, and Daxter has gone on to sell over two million copies.

The developer was also the driving force behind the Wii conversion of Okami, which fetched a 10/10 on Eurogamer just as its PS2 predecessor had a year before.

Ready at Dawn is yet to talk about what lies ahead, but optimistically reveals it, "Can't wait to show you guys what we have in store..."

It marks another blow for the PSP, after Ubisoft UK boss Rob Cooper said the handheld lacked direction, and Sony Europe boss David Reeves admitted it needed more games.

GamesIndustry.biz finished with Fiction a long time ago, but keeps getting phonecalls it has to tell Fact are the wrong number.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • FeralUK #1 4 years ago

    YAY!

    Paving the way for PSP 2.0... or whatever it will be called.

  • Rirekon #2 4 years ago

    More time for games like Okami then? Thank you.

  • Zaelsius #3 4 years ago

    @FeralUK: It's called the iPhone

  • peterfll #4 4 years ago

    It's rather sad to see this. RaD's God Of War game was proof that the PSP still has so much potential. It was the first PSP game I'd completed in ages.

    \is sad and frowning

  • sickpuppysoftware #5 4 years ago

    /o\

  • OnlyMe #6 4 years ago

    But... WHY?

  • Triggerhappytel #7 4 years ago

    Given what they achieved with the PSP, it seems to me Sony should have bought this studio, or at least secured exclusivity with them...

    Still, they're obviously hugely talented; I just hope that is put to good use on the Wii. I don't expect something else like Okami, though. That was all Clover.

  • Les #8 4 years ago

    "Given what they achieved with the PSP, it seems to me Sony should have bought this studio, or at least secured exclusivity with them..."

    I don't think that would have mattered. Based on the comments made by the team they clearly see the development of handheld games as inferior to developing for home consoles. Had Sony bought them, they would have a bunch of unhappy employees. The bigger problem is that handheld games in general are held in less esteem than home console games.

  • kincaide #9 4 years ago

    PSP RIP

  • Mr-Brett #10 4 years ago

    Odd how the PSP seems to completly fail in the west but has been selling like hot cakes in the east for quite a while.

  • Goffee #11 4 years ago

    @OnlyME - you have to dig to find GoW sales figures, that's why they aren't doing any more games and why other devs are leaving PSP behind in droves.

    Fix that Mr. Sony, go on! You've been a bad parent.

  • Triggerhappytel #12 4 years ago

    Well, Les, Sony need to do something. The PSP is dying on its arse outside of Japan (even if the Far East success is just a temporary glitch), and they're letting the handheld's best developers get away... I feel they probably shouldn't bother with a PSP 2, and just concentrate on the PS3.
    Edited by 1 at 10/06/08 @ 17:27

  • jonsaan #13 4 years ago

    God of War is so far away from being the best game on psp.

  • Triggerhappytel #14 4 years ago

    How far, roughly?

  • light&shadow #15 4 years ago

    They stated a while ago they had their next gen console tech ready (360 & PS3) and that GoW would be their last PSP title. Nothing to do with the PSP in itself, just that their plan was to build up a team on the PSP and then move on to home console when they felt they were ready.

  • FladgeMangle #16 4 years ago

    This is unhappy news. They were a good PSP team. I hope their optimism about their next project is more than mere hubris.

    Ironic though that western devs seem to be abandoning the PSP just as it becomes the number one seller in Japan.

  • FeralUK #17 4 years ago

    @Triggerhappytel

    Further than Final Fantasy Tactics!

  • AOFanboi #18 4 years ago

    <em>Odd how the PSP seems to completly fail in the west but has been selling like hot cakes in the east for quite a while.</em>

    Monster Hunter Freedom + Monster Hunter Freedom 2 explains the latter.

  • dirigiblebill #19 4 years ago

    The PSP hardware sells like hot cakes in Japan and fairly warm cakes elsewhere. It's only six months behind the adoption curve of the DS in the States, doncherknow.

    PSP games, on the other hand, are selling like partly-thawed hotdogs dug out of somebody's toilet. In the West, anyway. And I think we all know where the blame lies for that.

    /scans mast tops for skull-and-crossbones

  • Les #20 4 years ago

    "Ironic though that western devs seem to be abandoning the PSP just as it becomes the number one seller in Japan."

    Not necessarily a bad thing if the Japanese publishers released their games in the West as well...

  • Dark_Era #21 4 years ago

    bad to see that they're abandining the format cos they sure could handle it and make good games for it, but then again don't balme them, i wouldn't always been know as the company who is always good at making already established franchiseson the psp, i bet come a few months down the line they gonna say they're making a new gaming franchise.

  • Ryze #22 4 years ago

    @dirigiblebill

    Most have unlocked their PSP in frustration at Sony's lack of direction with the handheld.

    I still take a look at the list of things that should have happened on the PSP, and laugh at Sony.

    Typical of them.