No 'PlayStation' phone for Sony Ericsson

By Robert Purchese Published 19 January, 2009

Mobile manufacturer denied use of brand.

Sony Ericsson has said that the current level of mobile phone technology could not do the "prestigious" PlayStation brand justice.

The comments follow reports of Sony refusing to share the license with partner Ericsson unless build quality was up to first-party standards, according to Mobile Today.

We're told the plan was to use the PlayStation brand in a similar way as with the Cyber-shot and Walkman handsets, and the lack of Sony support has now apparently prompted a fallout between the two companies.

"In the past, we have been keen that our product proposition lives up to brand promise, and we feel at the moment the technical specs are not high enough to put such a prestigious brand on a phone," said a Sony Ericsson spokesperson, refusing to directly comment on the Sony license refusal.

The news follows rocky recent months for Sony Ericsson, as costs are cut to counter the global economic pickle.

There was plenty of talk surrounding a PlayStation-branded phone in late 2007, after a Sony Computer Entertainment boss said a partnership with Ericsson on a mobile project was "definitely plausible". This, however, was later shot down as being misquoted by original reporter the Economic Times of India.

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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 (23) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Ignatius_Cheese #1 3 years ago

    Nice use of quotation marks! :o)

  • Aggesan #2 3 years ago

    SonyEricsons kvality is flawless. Could it be that SonyEricson and Sony are about to seperate?

  • The-Bodybuilder #3 3 years ago

    >"SonyEricsons kvality is flawless."

    You're kidding me? SE phones have THE MOST software issues compared to any other maker (Nseries nokia phones come close though).
    I can't blame sony for wanting to associate and damage their brand further by attatching it to buggy, software-issued phones too.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #4 3 years ago

    I would tend to agree with Sony on this one.

    The PSP is all the mobile games platform you need from them. A playstation branded mobile phone would have a weight of expectation placed upon it which it could never live up to.

    Mobile phones are not well suited for games playing. They are usually encumbered with a multitude of buttons which a phone needs but which a games machine doesn't need. Just take a look at Nokias NGage nonsense to see how bad phones that pretend to be games machines turn out.

    And before people scream iPhone, I have to say that it isn't a real gaming device. Without buttons, you are severaly limited in what you can achieve in games.

  • Mr_Brown #5 3 years ago

    I personally think the iphone is a great gaming device, especially for emulation. It takes a bit of getting used to, but its in a market of its own at the moment.

    I personally think SE phones are one of the best around. Out of all the phones I've had, I've had the least issues with SE phones and its the easiest to use also.

  • Widge #6 3 years ago

    Yeah I think Sony's phone OS is fine, as is Nokia's.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #7 3 years ago

    Sony and Nokia are the only phones I'd touch. Wouldn't mind an iPhone, mind.

    I wonder if Aggesan is on to something with the separation, tho. Aren't Sony meant to be divesting themselves of one of their "arms" this year?

  • presh #8 3 years ago

    I think some of this decision is also due to SonyEriccson's dropping market share - Sony is under a lot of pressure, so it would look bad to be extending the Playstation brand to a 'failing' product.

    This is a real kick in the teeth for the phone company though, as the use of the Playstation brand has been rumoured for the past 3 years and plenty of people thought it was a done deal.

    A Playstation branded handset that came pre-loaded with PS1 classics would have been great, but I guess the focus is on PSP and PS3 as long as Sony is struggling.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #9 3 years ago

    As far as I understand it, Sony Ericsson really want to jump on the playstation brand to kick-start their international sales. Apparently the UK is the only market where anybody buys their phones. Which puzzles me, since my last phone was a K800i, and I was perfectly happy with it. Its UI was actually rather better for gaming than the NSeries I've got now.

    The trouble is that SCE don't want a part-owned subsidiary company putting out a playstation-branded, otherwise conventional mid-range phone. If there is to be a Playstation phone, they want to go the iphone route of having it a sopued up, incredibly expensive 'aspirational' device like PSP (originally), PS3, iPhone and such. And they want full control of it, with game certification, PSN and all that.

  • The-Bodybuilder #10 3 years ago

    >"I personally think SE phones are one of the best around. Out of all the phones I've had, I've had the least issues with SE phones and its the easiest to use also."

    I (unfortunely, and not for long) work in the mobile industry with one of the major networks. The vast majority of phones thta are sent off for repair tend to be sonyericssons (w910i, w890 and c902s are the current common ones, with the k750i, w850, k800, & k810i being historically the most common ones. Even the latest xperia x1 & c905 are now having software faults).

  • JohnnyWashnGo #11 3 years ago

    I have had a K750i for around 3 or maybe 3 1/2 years now and it still works fine to this day.

    It was great for mobile development, and sony ericsson have a fanastic Java development site to help people out.

    I now have a Samsung Omnia and it causes no end of headaches on a daily basis :(

    For those reasons alone, I would recommended a SE phone to anybody. Just not to play games on.

  • penhalion #12 3 years ago

    How the heck would they have made a playstation phone anyway? It's not like it would work without a joystick and the 8 control buttons!

  • DrDamn #13 3 years ago

    Could this be an early indicator that this is the division Sony is rumoured to be closing?

  • sneetch #14 3 years ago

    @The Bodybuilder
    "I personally think SE phones are one of the best around. Out of all the phones I've had, I've had the least issues with SE phones and its the easiest to use also."

    I (unfortunely, and not for long) work in the mobile industry with one of the major networks. The vast majority of phones thta are sent off for repair tend to be sonyericssons (w910i, w890 and c902s are the current common ones, with the k750i, w850, k800, & k810i being historically the most common ones. Even the latest xperia x1 & c905 are now having software faults).

    Odd, I've used them since 1996 (well, it was just plain ol' Ericsson back then :) ) without a single problem. Guess I've been lucky.

    @penhalion
    "How the heck would they have made a playstation phone anyway? It's not like it would work without a joystick and the 8 control buttons!"

    I guess (and this is only a guess) they'd add a joystick and 8 control buttons. ;)

    I imagine they're talking about something that is basically a PSP 3000 with a phone welded to it.

    But moving parts (i.e. optical disc drive) eat the batteries so a cartridge system like the DS or a SS storage system like the iPhone would work much better, IMO.
    Edited by 2 at 19/01/09 @ 12:04

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #15 3 years ago

    Sony Ericsson aren't a division of Sony, they're a seperate company that is joint-owned by Sony and Ericsson. Sony can't close them on their own, but they could sell out their stake.

    That certainly has been rumoured.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #16 3 years ago

    I imagine they're talking about something that is basically a PSP 3000 with a phone welded to it.

    No, they're talking about something like a c905 but with a proper joypad and buttons added, probably playing 3D Java games. Which is why SCE don't want it, because what you describe is what they'd prefer.

  • sneetch #17 3 years ago

    @Mentalist(air)
    "I imagine they're talking about something that is basically a PSP 3000 with a phone welded to it.

    No, they're talking about something like a c905 but with a proper joypad and buttons added, probably playing 3D Java games. Which is why SCE don't want it, because what you describe is what they'd prefer."

    Ah, my next phone (as soon as I get a utility bill that is, damn my bill-shredding efficiency over Christmas). :)

    As for the SE idea: ugh, no thanks. Don't get me wrong, it could be great but I can understand why Sony wouldn't be into it, they'd want to 'leverage' their existing technology rather than simply tack on a few more buttons onto relatively underpowered handsets.

  • monkeylite #18 3 years ago

    S-E and Nokia S40 OS are fine. I will stick to S60 though as I can't live without my E71.

    I agree that the experience of mobile phone gaming will never come close to dedicated portable gaming consoles.

  • Gharnish #19 3 years ago

    I have a S/E C905 - had it for about a week - lovely little phone and I selected it largely on the back of a positive experience with their K810i that I used for about 18 months. I have no issue with the software or hardware - its about as reliable as any previous phone I've had, it is easy to use, the applications I've installed seem to work fine enough (except Gmail App - but that appears to be a network specific issue - T-Mobile may have blocked the port in the last two months - as the app still works via the wi-fi route).

    That being said, I don't think I'd play games on it or the k810i. It would need a bit of work before I would consider that - say specifically designed special keys, akin to the way they make special keys for the camera or audio features.
    Edited by 2 at 19/01/09 @ 12:42

  • layleeloo #20 3 years ago

    Who gives a crap. ALL mobiles are wank for gaming. Tried the iphone and other units - even had an Ngage. Theyre all pants. Just stick to phoning, texting and pictures and leave all the other gimicky shit out like music and games. Pah!

  • skybluesam86 #21 3 years ago

    My last 4 phones have been SE. It's only on the latest one, the C902, where I've had any issues with it. It's OS just seems a little slow and unresponsive sometimes.
    I still wouldn't touch any other manufacturer's phones with a barge-pole, except Nokia. They're the only 2 brands I get on with.

  • jellyhead #22 3 years ago

    As for putting a joypad on it. Aren't DS3s bluetooth?
    Gaming on a mobile is made worse by the fact that so few seem to be able to register more than one input at a time regardless of how well the buttons are laid out.

    There was an Nvidia chipset announced a while ago that was capable of proper 3D, i'd assume Sony are waiting for the hardware to be able to play 3D decently. The screensize on a mobile would be an issue also and as for battery life. Ouch.
    A phone device that can play games decenlty will arrive, i think the iPhone will spur that market but will they replace the DS/PSPs of the world? hmmmmmm.

  • 3william56 #23 3 years ago

    Had two SE phones (Z800i and Z610i) and have both been great. The processors seem surprisingly powerful (there's a 3d tennis game on my Z800 which had, on a small screen mind you, at least PS1 quality, if not PS2 fly around the court). The controller issue is it. For some games, like Lumines, Peggle etc. they're fine - puzzle games and the like work well. For an action game - sucky. Until someone sorts a proper joystick, it's a dead end.

    The iPhone has done one thing - broken the size barrier for mobiles. Pre iPhone, the thought of carrying something that big would have been a joke - the PSP was criticised for not being really pocket sized. But now, it doesn't look that big. A small diet to shrink it, lose the UMD, add a touch screen and 3G sim card slot and you wouldn't be far off a PSphone.Ditto the DS.

    More to the point, maybe, is that competing with Apple's trendy behemoth in these economic times would be suicide.