Let's face it, Sony's PSP has been a failed venture. The first iteration of the PSP didn't do very well financially, so to compensate... Sony releases another version - the PSP Go - that has no UMD drive and pretty much caused as many problems as it solved. What are they doing now to "compensate"? There are rumors of a PSP 2 which we'll no doubt see sometime next year.
In the end, the system is still doing terribly in America. In Japan the system seems to do fine from what I've seen. But in America, Sony has only dug themselves a hole they've yet to climb out of. Their PR plan with Marcus hasn't helped at all and Sony in general isn't supporting the PSP properly at all. What they need is a drastic reshaping of how they present the system. Here is my plan:
1. Discontinue the Sale of Both the PSP and the PSP Go
Now hear me out. With the upcoming PSP 2 there will be three different versions of the PSP out on the market. Whether or not the PSP 2 has a UMD drive will prove which of the remaining two will still be popular. None of that should matter though. Sony needs one SKU out there that they can focus on. Right now they're spread thin and developers aren't properly supporting both either. Look at Square Enix's "Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep". The game was only released as a UMD, segmenting the audience they could sell the game to. If Sony were to only have one system out on the market, this wouldn't be a problem.
2. Don't Try to Innovate
Again, here me out. What I mean by this is that Sony keeps trying to be so different from everyone else that people dislike their device. Give the people what they want. They want dual analog sticks, they want trophies, they want support. There's no need for them to try and be new and fresh, because that obviously isn't working out for them.
3. Launch Games... Make Them Good!
If I'm remembering correctly, most of the good PSP games didn't come to the system until nearly a year after it launched. Until then all we had were poorly made games that didn't utilize the systems potential properly. What Sony needs to do is give developers enough time with the tech that they know how to build a great game out of it, and release it with the system when it launches.
4. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing
Next up on the list is how they advertise the system. What they're doing now just isn't working. Marcus... Really? He was only funny in his originating commercial with Kevin Butler... And Kevin was the reason to watch. They needs to get yet another adult - who knows how to act - to market the system. Marcus makes the system seem childish and "gangsta". Somehow, I doubt that's the image Sony wants to give their system.
My hope is Sony will take a good hard look at what went wrong with their previous PSP systems and try to fix the problems for the inevitable launch of the PSP 2. If they don't at the point, why even bother?
