Reeves: PSP needs more games

By Robert Purchese Published 9 May, 2008

"Phenomenal" Japanese titles for Europe.

Sony Europe boss David Reeves has admitted that the PSP suffers from a lack of new games here, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The only titles mentioned for the handheld during its recent PlayStation Day keynote were echochrome and Buzz! Quiz Master.

"Hand on heart, would we like more PSP games? Yes, we would. We really would," Reeves told GamesIndustry.biz.

Publisher support for Sony's handheld appears to be dwindling in Europe. A recent Sierra showcase failed to unveil only one title for the PSP, despite several for the ageing PS2.

Schedules from others only show a handful of meaty licenses such as LEGO Indiana Jones and WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw 2009 for the system, with PSP exclusives all but absent. Publishers including Ubisoft and Activision don't appear to have any titles in the pipeline at all.

However, the story is quite different in Japan, where sales of the PSP have rocketed up to 1.6 million in just 2008.

This a combined effort of introducing fresh model colours as well as the beastly success of Monster Hunter 2nd G.

"It's phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal," said Reeves of the Japanese performance.

Its success has meant a renewed hunger among Japanese developers to work with the PSP, and this is something Reeves is confident will benefit Europe as well.

"We've seen in the last six months that because of the success of the PSP in Japan many Japanese developers have got some absolutely phenomenal games. They're not Monster Hunter 2G or things like that, but they are in development and we'll see them over here," added Reeves.

GamesIndustry.biz rarely suffers from a lack of fact, which upsets fiction terribly.

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 (30) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #1 4 years ago

    well with Patapon, God Of War and Final Fantasy Crisi Core( import ) my PSP has been getting a lot of use recently. But yeah more quality software is always welcome

  • Widge #2 4 years ago

    The future is looking kind of barren though.
    One gripe from me is the glut of Tactics RPGs that there have been, where on earth is a good old fashioned turn based jobbie!

  • locus2k1 #3 4 years ago

    please release 2nd G here then!

  • HermitArcader #4 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • Nova5lag #5 4 years ago

    you know what the PSP needs... classic game compilations...

  • agparrot #6 4 years ago

    Man from Sony tells Sony they need more games.

    Obviously what the PSP owners said about this didn't count.

  • mingster #7 4 years ago

    Suits me i like japanese style games..

  • Goffee #8 4 years ago

    How about the "No Sh!t Sherlock" game - one screen with a big button that moves when you press 'X' and it uses WiFi to electrocute/stimulate a Sony developer, just enough to nudge them into writing more games.

  • moggsy #9 4 years ago

    I use mine so little I've almost forgotten that I own one.

  • TriggerHippie #10 4 years ago

    "A recent Sierra showcase failed to unveil only one title for the PSP"

    Eh?

  • ruttyboy #11 4 years ago

    What the PSP needs is piracy to go away...

  • CallousB #12 4 years ago

    Well PSP has certainly enjoyed a massive boost in hardware sales in Japan...but it's got to be troubling that it only has 1 game in the top 20..when the lower selling Wii has 7 games charting this week. Either everyone only wants Monster Hunter..or it's just being sold as a media player/piracy machine.

  • Hughes. #13 4 years ago

    Indeed, torrent traffic suggests that pirate downloads outnumber retail sales by around 5 - 1.

    God of War: Chains of Olympus debuting at number 20 says it all.

    Looking forward to my Special Edition of Crisis Core arriving, but after GoW things look a little light on the PSP release schedule.

    Seems a bit greedy to ask for more when we've recently had WipEout Pulse, FF Tactics, Disga... fuck, mustn't do lists... LISTS ARE BAD!

  • Redeye #14 4 years ago

    Enjoying Patapon and GOW, looking forward to echochrome, but after that...what?

    Agree with Vertical Stand, maybe SCEE should have a good rifle through their old Psygnosis catalogue!

  • Feanor #15 4 years ago

    I need less PSP games. I had to stop playing Ridge Racer 2 to start on Wipout Pure, and then Crisis Core came out. All three are excellent titles, and I really like using the PSP while I watch TV.

  • zedzee #16 4 years ago

    That's the same Monster Hunter that Sony lost to Nintendo recently, as per Capcom's recent announcements on their Web site, right?

  • Ryze #17 4 years ago

    God of War finally made it and it's excellent.

    More of this quality please.

  • Schiraman #18 4 years ago

    Sod Monster Hunter, it'd be nice to get Jeanne D'Arc released over here though.

  • Triggerhappytel #19 4 years ago

    I wholly agree with Vertical Stand - Sony needs to stop sitting on their hands and get more companies developing for the PSP. There's a shit load of classic PS franchises (and older Psygnosis games) which would do really well to be updated for the PSP, like Legend of Dragoon, Alundra (I would buy one if a proper new Alundra came out), Tenka, Disruptor (maybe; the original was pretty shit), Fade to Black, Jak X (new version and less shit), Tourist Trophy, Dark Cloud, etc.

    What's more, they should market the fucking thing a bit better. I mean, aside from the occassional dustball price ad, do you ever see any advertising for it?! If they put up some adverts for GoW: CoO or CC: FFVII I'm sure the damn thing would shift a lot more consoles.
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 19:15

  • YourMessageHere #20 4 years ago

    How many of those things on that recent roundup of PS1 games on PSN work on a PSP? I bet it's none. Why? No reason a PS1 game won't work on a PSP, in fact just the other day a friend was talking about some program he got that rips any PS game directly to the memory stick as an eboot, and demonstrating using Bushido Blade. Once again, it looks like it's a far better and easier user experience to just ignore right and wrong, compared to doing stuff legitimately.

  • VMerken #21 4 years ago

    So how about some Crisis Core and Jeanne d'Arc love over here, Reeves?

  • Sevens #22 4 years ago

    The Star Ocean remakes are rumored to be released in NA.

  • OldB0y #23 4 years ago

    @YourMessageHere

    Eh?? All the PS1 games released on PSN work on the PSP. The PSP has an official PS1 emulator, which works very well. Also, the PSP PSN content is now available via PC, so you no longer need a PS3 to access it.

    I'd like to see some old Amiga/ST, or even C64 classics released on the PSP. SCEE has the old Psygnosis back catalogue, and I'm sure Sony could afford to license some classics made by other publishers etc.
    Edited by 1 at 10/05/08 @ 07:20

  • Widge #24 4 years ago

    Still find it baffling that they haven't put out the major titles from the PS1 out. Metal Gear Solid comes out in Japan this year I believe, but they have to sort out proper analogue control for the emulator, mapping the dpad to the nub won't cut it for MGS aiming.

    Good call on putting out Bishi Bashi Special though! Must transfer that across from the PS3 at some point!

  • Hughes. #25 4 years ago

    Actually, I ripped MGS myself, last year, and it played absolutely fine without analogue control, even the Nikita missiles were easy to steer.

    I've heard rumblings that some more Konami titles will be coming PSN-wards soon-ish (Sony soon, so probably November), releasing the original MGS to coincide with MGS4 is a total no-brainer. If it doesn't happen, some heads need to roll in the PSN-o-sphere.

  • dacicus #26 4 years ago

    There are so many good JRPG's and not only that are just not brought on the western market. The dating games, titles like InitialD and Wangan Midnight, a lot of nice arcades. But the fear that the japanese releases won't appeal to the US and european market it's too big.
    I'd like to see titles like Air, Kanon or Clannad released in US or UK. I'd also like the japenese companies to stop localizing their games in english. A subtitle it's enough. most of the time the english voice-acting it's horendous.
    And I hope that we'll see the Tales series and Star Ocean on the western market.

  • CaoSlayer #27 4 years ago

    PSP needs less boring games.

  • 7creature #28 4 years ago

    Europe NEEDS Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida!!! And of course Crisis Core with japanese audio and english subtitles.

  • YourMessageHere #29 4 years ago

    @ oldboy

    Really? That's pretty cool, but it'd be nice if someone somewhere had said so at some point. Like on this site for example. In that PSN roundup they go on as if they only worked on a PS3. Stupidity, EG. Thanks for the heads up, though, I hear good things about G-Police.

  • Beano #30 4 years ago

    I belive PS3 and PSP use the same software emeulator for PS1 games. Not all PS1 games currently work on the PSP, but a lot more than the ones that have been released on PSN. My PSP is fixed and I have ripped many of my old PS1 games to play them on my PSP. FF7, GT2, Wipeout 2097, Rollcage, Einhander, Tempest X, etc. work and spill plays great.

    No need to re-buy the old PS1 games if you still have the original game and a fixed PSP - perfectly legal (in my country anyway) and far cheaper :)