PSP Minis Get Over One Million Downloads

Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced that more than 1 million video games have been downloaded using the PlayStation Minis service, which was launched less than one years ago. The program was announced in August 2009 and the first titles were introduced in October of the same year, with the PlayStation Portable initially the only platform that could download them. In December Sony announced that a firmware upgrade for the PlayStation 3 home console would introduce the ability to download Mini titles.

On a post on the official PlayStation blog, Susan Panico, who is the senior director of the PlayStation Network, has said, “Many more minis are on the way, including Pacman CE from Namco Bandai Networks, so keep your eye on the PlayStation Store. Congratulations to all of our minis developers (over 50 in all), here’s to another million downloads!”

The Minis were initially seen as a way to boost the appeal of the PlayStation Portable Go, the version of the handheld that gets all its content through the PSN. Critics of the program said that it was just an attempt by Sony to copy the success of the iTunes service from Apple and initially a lot of games were ported from the phone. Recently Rob Dyer, who is a senior vice president of publisher relations at SCEA, has said that it's not clear whether the Mini program would be viable in the long term.

Here are the top ten most downloaded games launched through the PSP Mini service:

1. Age of Zombies - Halfbrick
2. Monopoly - Electronic Arts
3, Fieldrunners - Subatomic
4. Zombie Tycoon - Frima
5. Bloons - Bloober Team
6. Spot The Differences! - Sanuk
7. Pinball Fantasies - Cowboy Rodeo
8. Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 - G5 Entertainment
9. Yetisports Pengu Throw – Xendex
10. Breakquest – Beatshapers and Nurium Games