Third parties not required to release PSP games on PlayStation Store

What do Undead Knights, Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising, NBA 2K10, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes and Cars: Race O Rama have in common? All of these are PSP games released on UMD after the PSP Go's October 1 launch -- and all are currently without a digital equivalent. Owners of the Go system are unable to play these games because they simply aren't available on the PlayStation Store.

[Wakka_]

Failure Sony.

[randomwiz]

yeah, no 3rd party wants to go through the work of releasing the game on ps store to get their game available to a larger number of psp owners /sarcasm

[Isaac]

"Failure Sony. "

You can't even utter complete sentences now? Should I be surprised? lol

[darthv72]

I was thinking this might happen. You figure these 3rd parties released their games on UMD and to go back and digitize them should be easy but maybe not cost effective. I am sure it all has to do with sales.

We know sony will try and fill the store with back catalog and new stuff. Oh well. It just means some UMD games may be worth more seeing as there would be no digital version to purchase as an alternate.

[CimmerianDrake]

If this is going to be like trophies. Where Sony gives devs the choice at first, so that they can have the chance to get accustomed to it, and then later force them to include it. Or will this always be the case. If it is, Sony have really lost it when it comes to the PSP. I don't understand how they can be forward thinking with the PS3, and not the PSP. It's like the saying goes... "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing."

[RememberThe357]

They will soon have to require games to be released on both UMD and the PSN. Frankly, the PSP isn't exactly flying off the selves. Sony doesn't need another reason(other then price) for someone not to buy the System.

[CimmerianDrake]

I think Sony is all about easing everyone into everything. They don't want to go right into forcing anything because that's how you damage relationships with developers. If Sony forced this right away, and say a smaller developer couldn't take the financial risk involved, they'd just as soon not develop for the PSP and switch over to the DS. But once the Go has been around for a bit, I'm sure Sony will move to forcing it. Afterall, their business model for the Go is largely DL based it seems.

[Jamescagney]

LOL! Sorry but that is terrible. A great service for the psp go owners for sure.

[colonel179]

For me, the problem is Eric Lempel, this guy should be fired. I have never liked this guy, just looking at him makes me realize that the PSN is not up to XBL yet because of him. I know they have made huge improvements with the PSN since launch, but I know it could be miles better if this guy wasn't in charge. I mean, just look at update 3.00, who the hell asked for all those stupid "cosmetic" changes, while all the fans are screaming for features like Cross game invites, cross game chat, etc...?

I don't know if it's all Eric Lempel's fault, or the team's or both, but something I am sure, is that Sony really needs a new PSN team, cause they obviously suck...

(rant over)

[RememberThe357]

What do you think the fat gray areas around your friends are for? Most likely for future updates that will show your friends trophies or more details about what they are doing on their PS3.

If you think that 3.00 was a pointless update, you don't understand how Sony does things.

Honestly, cross game chat and invites are the only things missing from the PSN, and there are still a ton of people who don't give a rats ass about those features.

You have to understand that Sony Corp. is looking at the PSN as a serious platform for multi-media distribution. This is not going to stay only a gaming network. We will eventually see a music store, and even a social branch that will probably integrate Home and the PSN together.

When it comes to the PSN, Sony is positioning themselves at the moment. We already know that the next firmware update is supposed to have cross-game chat. They're just spoon feeding at the moment.

They don't want a platform that will compete with Xbox Live, they want one that will take on iTunes, and blow Xbox Live away. You can't just release something like that. It take an ass load of R&D, and a lot time.

Be patient, Sony is building the skeleton of will become the body of the PlayStation Network.

[colonel179]

While I agree to what you wrote, Sony should be doing things better. I know they have been doing great, but they take their time to do things, and giving us things we don't want instead of things we, as fans, ask for.

The grey boxes in the friends list is an example of how Sony (or the PSN team) is doing things the wrong way. They might be used in the future for something else as you stated, but why then, not release the grey boxes when all of the things that are supposed to be there, be there; the same goes for Dynamic Themes and avatars, why release the patch, if you don't have more than ONE dynamic theme ready, they should have just waited until they get at least 20 and THEN release the patch with that feauture.

Now, all the features that have been released, like the ability to take pictures, are great, but why the hell does Sony not encourages (and by that I mean, make them a requirement) developers to use them? I really have the feeling that this is PSN team call, and that is why I hate Eric Lempel, as I posted above.

On the topic on the PSP, how the hell they launch an all-digital console and not require developers to get the games on the PSN?.. agian, PSN team...

(second rant over)

[CimmerianDrake]

In answer to your question, it's simple...

An all DL gaming device carries a huge risk within the game industry it hasn't really been done yet. There's no way of knowing how having an all DL service will be received, or what kind of return can be expected. If it tanks, devs lose money and don't want to develop for the platform. It's the gamble involved. Sony is trying to ease everyone into it. At least it isn't like trophies or custom soundtracks or cross-game invites where it could be one dev preventing it from happening, or it just won't work with the games or something. I'm sure that in time it will be a requirement.

[Whitefox789]

They may not be required to but some of them do such as Arc System Works released Guilty Gear X2 #Reload on the PS Store for the PSP

Either way though all PSP Go is, just another option Sony isn't pointing a gun to the consumers or the developers to just buy PSP Go or develop games exclusively to the PSP Go

heres what Kaz Hirai has to say about wither or not physical media will be gone, "No. Perhaps we can sit down three years from now and have a beer, or two or ten, while we wait to download 40 gigabytes of data for a full ps3 game. That's still going to take a lot of time. We're in over 100 countries and there are areas where consumers still don't have access to the type of broadband that we have. The death of physical media is a very nice conclusion, that seems to be nice to say, but it’s not something we're going to see soon. We are committed to the PSP 3000 and the UMD business. A lot of people like to speculate that we're getting out of that business, but nothing could be further from the truth. We're not going to deprive consumers in all those other countries."

http://www.psxextreme.com/p...

[redsnake]

im thinking this is only temperary and sony will soon force them to put it on da network kinda like trophies. but this is really inconvenient for psp go owners

[tweet75]

sony told us all future psp games would be on umd and psn after the psp go launch. They betrayed their fanbase severely.

[Jamescagney]

A company lies to you and you're surprised? Welcome to the real world.

[Rifle-Man]

That's right. They did say that.

They also said that there'd be 700 games at at launch.

[Timesplitter14]

PSPGo never should've existed

[Mr Logic]

But they would be stupid not to.

[Jamescagney]

To not produce a flop?

[Mr Logic]

For those that didn't understand, this is what I meant. A developer that is making a PSP game would be stupid not to put it on UMD and the PS Store, because they would be losing potential customers.

[RoseSapphire]

Simple question - Required or not, why wouldn't third party developers release digitally?

I have to imagine that considering the games are developed in a digital fashion and then put onto a disc that the cost wouldn't be an issue, which means there is must be an issue with licensing to Sony.

With the number of developers complaining about used game sales, selling your games digitally would seem like a smart alternative.

[CimmerianDrake]

Off the top of my head.... availability. Countries without access to broadband can't use PSN and thus wouldn't be able to DL the games. Also, there's bandwidth speeds to take into account to. A third party dev/pub's responsibility is to make the game as readily available as possible to as many people as possible, and right now UMD's are the better choice when it comes to the PSP. . Physical media is a one time purchase anyone can get. Decent broadband has many variables attached to it.

But then, I could be giving the devs/pubs too much credit.