A vice president in Sony's UK division admitted that the Playstation Portable was somewhat neglected in Europe over the last 12 to 18 months as the company focused on the console wars.
"It was slightly under-supported, mainly because a lot of the energy was going into stuff we're doing for PlayStation 3," Ray Maguire, Sony Computer Entertainment UK's senior vice president, said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. "There was an added complication in that the UMD model wasn't brilliant for third parties, either."
Later in the interview, Maguire said content for the PSP was "where we were weak last year, but it's where we're strong this year, and the services around it are getting better as well."
I don't pay as much attention to portable gaming compared to consoles, but even I noticed that the PSP has been somewhat dormant. With the exception of the recent LocoRoco 2, there haven't been any games that made me crave the PSP over the Nintendo DS.
But those two portables aren't necessarily competing, Maguire said. "Yes, clearly they're completely different devices, and different markets," he said, "which is great because it's just expanding that whole handheld market."
It's actually refreshing to hear someone take a friendlier stance, instead of the usual bitterness that comes up when talking about rival gaming devices. It's probably because the DS is stomping the PSP in sales, but you've got to appreciate Maguire's optimism. With a global install base of 50 million, Maguire has a better feeling about this year than last. "This year is the year that PSP puts its head up proudly," he said.
