Sony CFO Says PSP Needs Better Games to Succeed

When sales numbers drop as they have recently for the Sony PSP, people tend to want to know why. According to Rober Wiesenthal, CFO of Sony Corp., the reason for flagging sales is a lack of killer games. “Clearly on the software side, any real killer title will galvanize the sales…there have been a number of titles that have been terrific, but not the one title that defines the product,” said Wiesenthal.

Looking at the sales numbers, one can see where this claim originates. Titles like Metal Gear, GTA, and Final Fantasy have all been huge sellers for the Playstation consoles. However, they’ve never been defining titles for the PSP.

That looks especially bad for the PSP in light of the continued surge in DS and DS game sales.
Hiroshi Kamide, director of research at KBC Securities Japan, said on that subject, “If you look at the availability of software, there are a lot of games for the PSP but are not particularly successful…You don’t see any million-seller games for the PSP but you do hear about them for the Nintendo DS. The big problem is that while it’s a wonderful-looking machine with a great display, the games are not so different from those you play at home on the PlayStation 2. Most of the software is knock-offs of PlayStation 2 titles and that won’t do Sony any favors.”

Honestly, I like my PSP. There is, however, a distinct lack of decent games to play on it. While the DS has platform-defining titles like Brain Age, the PSP basically has games that were made for the PS2, and ported over for the handheld. More quality titles exclusive to PSP would definitely help pick up a few sales.