PSP World

Sony Likely Planning PSP-4000 to Fight Piracy

A rumor is circulating that Sony has plans to release an updated version of the long and slim PSP-3000. This new hardware revision, dubbed the PSP-4000 would keep the UMD drive of its predecessors. But it could add some small improvements like an OLED screen (less power consumption, no more interlacing), an on-board camera, and perhaps even 16GB of storage. This would be the ultimate iteration of the original PSP design. Even better, it would be priced to slide right in and replace the PSP-3000 at the $169 price point. Another big advantage of the new design for Sony is the opportunity to lock out hackers once again, who have finally managed to crack security on the PSP-3000.

This new hardware remains a rumor for now, since Sony is unlikely to announce any plans that could scuttle the success of the PSP Go when it launches in October. But Is a PSP-4000 likely? We think so, yes. Not because Sony is particularly keen on "fixing" any deficiencies with the current model, but rather because piracy is the number one threat to the success of the PSP. Sony envisions the portable brand split into two segments - a high-end digital download machine similar to the iPhone, and a lower-end games machine for the masses at a lower price point. If one of Sony's pillars is compromised by piracy, it will utterly kill their business model, because games released for the PSP Go are also able to run on a (hackable) older model PSP. They had probably hoped that the PSP-3000 would continue to withstand the onslaught of determined homebrew hackers until after the launch of the PSP Go, but alas, it was not to be. We suspect that they won't delay in getting a new, hardware locked PSP-4000 out the door to replace old models.