Prince McLeanThe article, published by PocketGamer, indicates that Sony plans to deliver a library of online PSPgo games for download through its PlayStation Network at prices of 1, 2 and 5 Euros, similar to Apple's iPhone apps, as a way to create interest in the new PSPgo hardware, which is expected to cost $250 or £230 (UK prices are not currency equivalent).
The original PSP, unveiled in 2004, was similarly priced at $250 in the US and attempted to sell both games and movies on Sony's proprietary UMD optical media for around $25-$40. Sony later enabled the purchase of online games for around $20 each.
The UMD format never really took off for movies, and sales of the PSP have languished behind the more popular Nintendo DS. Since 2004, Sony has sold around 50 million PSPs while Nintendo has created a DS installed base of over 107 million over a similar period.
Attack of the iPhones
More recently, the PSP has seen new competition from the iPhone and iPod touch, which offer gaming as a secondary feature to web browsing, email, media playback features, and on the iPhone, serving as a mobile phone. In just over two years, Apple has developed an installed base of 45 million devices, 100,000 registered developers, and 65,000 apps according to COO Tim Cook in the company's Q3 2009 conference call.
By matching the price of iPhone apps, Sony hopes to stay in the game. The company faces some real challenges in making that happen, including enticing developers away from the already proven iPhone market to sell to a new installed base of PSPgo users.
At the same time, Sony already faces resistance from its existing developers, with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick threatening to drop support for the PS3 and PSP if Sony didn't lower its hardware prices. Sony insists that it can't lower its prices and still remain profitable.
Developers, Developers, Developers
Sony must also convince its developers to target projects that can be profitable at such a low price. That will also require a smaller cut of software sales for Sony, which has historically levied a much higher cut from its game developers than the 30% share Apple charges in the App Store.
All of the game console makers expect to earn significant cut of software revenues, and Sony and Microsoft have historically relied on this income to cover losses when selling their hardware. Only Nintendo has consistently sold its hardware at a profit.
In contrast, Apple makes almost all of its revenues from hardware sales, enabling it to levy a smaller cut of software sales to support iTunes operations. The company has repeatedly stated that it aims to operate iTunes at a break-even point, investing its profits into expanding the store's features.
App Store Approval
"Sony isn't taking a leaf out of Apple's book when it comes to easing the process of publishing, however," the article noted. "[PSPgo] Games will continue to go through formal console-centric Technical Requirement Check (TRC) requirements, as well as a two week quality assurance testing period. Sony will also actively control the release schedule for games, although considering the current disquiet over Apple's laissez faire attitude to app approval and release, this might not be a bad thing."
The gaming industry's general perspective that Apple's App Store approval process is cheaper, simpler, and easier for developers in comparison to the status quo in console gaming might come as a shock to iPhone users, who are regularly bathed in reports of complaints from iPhone developers ranging from the length of app approval to the $99 cost of signing up in Apple's iPhone development program.
Sony currently requires developers to pay for a very expensive set of tools and hardware to create PSP games. Despite an 80% drop in the cost of its development tools made this summer, Sony's PSP software development kits still start out at $1000 to $1500.
After witnessing the success of the iPhone App Store and particularly its appeal to independent small developers, Sony hopes to woo iPhone indie developers into porting their apps to the PSPgo rather than focusing on a few large developers to create gaming titles.
However, Sony will also face competition for attention from Google's Android, Nokia's Symbian, Palm WebOS, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Zune platforms, all of which are actively courting iPhone developers' attention in similar hopes of replicating Apple's success in selling mobile apps online.
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29 Comments
Why does Sony even try?
Sony's PSPGo will bomb. Plain and simple. The hardware is overpriced for "last-gen" technology and its physical attributes did not address the one main complaint that most PSP users have - a second analog control stick/nub. For these reasons alone the adoption rate of the PSPGo will be abysmal.
What Sony needs to do is create a NEW, more powerful PSP2 system that utilizes the best idea put forth with the PSPGo and that is downloadable content. They also need to address the missing second analog control stick. Then they could begin to build on a new, next-gen and potentially successful platform.
Oh, and they need to go back to the drawing board with the design of the new device. Let's face it, the PSPGo is just plain ugly.
They should try to do something more along the design lines of this:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/07/p...original-xbo/2
A recap of those hoping to steal from Apple's developer pool:
Android
Verizon
Microsoft
Sony
Palm
Nokia
Motorola
RIMM
???
I realize that $1k isn't much in the case of developers, but if PSPGo is going to attract devs from the iPhone, shouldn't they try getting their dev kit to be priced a little closer to the iPhone Dev's subscription fee? Or maybe just waive the fee? Or is there fancy hardware involved here?
I suppose it depends on their objective. If they want to keep out the riffraff devs, then the higher entry fee will do that. Maybe that would have prevented the flashlight & fart apps, among other lame two-bit ideas from coming to fruition.
A recap of those hoping to steal from Apple's developer pool:
Android
Verizon
Microsoft
Sony
Palm
Nokia
Motorola
RIMM
???
You said it!
To sum up ... One word ... "Pathetic"
Does any other company have a single original idea?
It is staggering to try to imagine where we would be technologically if not for Apple! Someone should make a movie where we see life on Earth had Apple never existed.