14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has placed a big bet on the success of the PlayStation Portable Go, the new device, officially unveiled at E3, which is set to be released this fall. Designed in part as the firm's response to the success of the new Nintendo DSi, the PSP Go still has some problems, in the eyes of analysts, like the price tag of 250 dollars.
But Sony might make that up by offering lower priced videogames for the platform and quicker approval processes for the teams ready to develop videogames for it. Basically, Sony is trying to imitate the model that Apple promoted when it comes to the iPhone.
The news arrives via the Develop magazine from the United Kingdom and the report says that around 50 studios, amongst them Subatomic Studios, which has already done iPhone games, and CandyStand, which specializes in casual titles, have been signed on by Sony to videogames and “new initiatives for the PSP which take it beyond traditional gaming, but still include elements from gaming.”
Other rather exotic developers are Gameshastra from India and Creat Studios, which has offices in St. Petersburg. Judging by the huge amount of games downloadable via iTunes at low prices that can be played on the iPhone, Sony is keen on creating a similar success story of the PlayStation Portable Go.
The new device can only get games via download from a special section of the PlayStation Store and this means that players might expect to see the normal price point reduced quite a bit. If the PSP Go gets at least a few games priced at 20 dollars on launch and they sell well, then we might just see a seismic shift in handheld gaming, as the Nintendo DSi might also adopt lower prices across the board. We won't know for sure until the PSP Go is released this fall.