Straight PSP Ports can work, says Sony

John Koller, head of hardware marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America, mentioned that they’re rethinking the current belief that straight console ports to the PSP don’t work. People familiar with Sony’s business history will note that, although the PSP was originally designed with ported console games in mind, this idea initially failed and has taken a back seat since.

The idea of porting games from the console into a handheld like the PSP is not really a very popular one. Sony itself admits that this notion was a failed one when they first started trying it with early PSPs.

However, given the relative successes of the ported version of games like “Transformers (DS, PC, PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) and Iron Man (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, DS, and PSP),” John Koller, the head of hardware marketing at SCEA, says that conventional wisdom on direct ports doesn’t seem to hold if the franchise is big enough.

The NPD Group reported that the PSP version of Transformers and Iron Man sold 442,000 and 242,000 copies respectively. Sony felt this counts as a success given the games’ failed console counterparts.

So what does this all mean? According to Koller, we should expect a lot more big franchise games for the PSP coming in 2009. The announcements will be coming soon.

• Sony: Home is imminent, more PSP games next year, hybrid Blu-ray discs
• PSP piracy slowdown: good triumphs over evil
  

Via MTV Multiplayer