Sony yabbers about PSP reinvention

In a recent pow-wow with MCV, two of Sony’s top UK bods outlined the company's plans for rejuvenating the PSP.

Whilst Sony’s handheld console continues to sell like the proverbial hot cake in Japan, unit sales in Europe and North America appear less than impressive.

“I think in handheld over all the industry is at a bit of a tipping point,” the UK sales director, Mark Howsen, explained.

“We’re seeing a trend whereby consumers are relatively accepting of the fact that they have to buy high-price hardware but at the same time they expect to pay very little, or sometimes even nothing at all, for software.”

Alongside piracy, Sony has, of course, to contend with Apple’s ever-growing presence in the handheld marketplace or as Mr Howsen puts it, “the advent of new business models coming into this space.”

One of the Japanese giant’s recent answers to the twin problems of piracy and the App Store was the introduction of PSP Essentials, a range of affordable classics.

The second response came in the nicely-wrapped form of ten free downloads for recent PSPgo adopters.

“To reinvent the whole PSP model we need to look at handheld in a very different way, in the context in which consumers are now viewing it,” Howsen added. “We’re trying to reengage consumers with PSP, though that’s not just a challenge for us – it's a challenge for the whole handheld sector.

“We are at the point of a major shift in the way that consumers are engaging with the current players in that market.”

Genuinely original titles like ModNation Racers and highly-anticipated franchise adaptations such as Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will, of course, help to drive interest to the platform.

The oft-rumoured PSP 2, though, may well be the biggest attention grabber of them all. Keep your eyes peeled at E3 for more.