Analyst questions PSP Phone strategy

Games Investor analyst Nick Gibson has warned that PlayStation’s expected foray into the world of mobile telephony via a new handset coming from Sony Ericsson could damage cherished gaming brand.

With PSP2 SDKs currently being deployed to developers and PSP still selling at surprisingly robust levels (given the miniscule size of ongoing PSP software sales), the PlayStation Phone concept is something of an enigma,” Gibson told TechRadar.

Where and how will it fit into the PlayStation family of products? While a PlayStation-branded game phone might make commercial sense to Sony Ericsson, Sony Computer Entertainment’s approach to hardware is radically different, and there are numerous scenarios where such a product could do more harm than good.”

However, others are more optimistic about the project. Analyst Maxwell Scott-Slade countered: People who know and love the PlayStation brand are more likely to be drawn to the PlayStation Phone for gaming, rather than a phone that also does gaming.

A lot of gamers still don’t take the iPhone seriously as a gaming platform, and the introduction of a behemoth brand like PlayStation could help change those minds.”

Last week the mobile firm gave its strongest hint yet that the persistent rumours of such as device are true, saying that there’s a lot of smoke, and I tell you there must be a fire somewhere”.