Digital distribution can ‘ignite’ developer interest in PSP, says Sony

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s vice president of publisher and developer relations Zeno Colaço has said the PSP’s shift towards digital distribution encourages developers to create different kinds of content for the handheld.

"I have to be careful what I say but publishers are definitely exploring more opportunities in terms of the types of games they can release on PSP, even in terms of more female-oriented games, puzzlers and less hardcore games," Colaço told PocketGamer. "The opportunity we’re providing with digital distribution will ignite those thoughts."

Although playing second-fiddle into the handheld space to the Nintendo DS, the PSP has nevertheless carved a respectable space for itself in the games market, with over 40 million of the devices shipped.

At the same time, Sony has continued to update the format’s firmware and online shopping functions, most recently launching a dedicated store for the PSP and announcing at all future first-part games for the device will be released day and date online and at traditional retail.

Colaço added: "It gives publishers and developers much more scope in relation to the types of games they can release. If they want to make a massive game, then they can do that, as before, as a boxed product on UMD. But if they want to do a smaller game just released online, or add downloadable content such as new characters to a UMD game, they can do that too. Customisation is a big part of what consumers want these days, so we want to empower developers to be able to add such features and deliver them however they want to."