Sony Wants Rock Band, Guitar Hero on PSP

Kris Erickson • Nov 20, 2008 • Comments (0)

The worldwide music rhythm sensations Rock Band and Guitar Hero have touched down on just about every console imaginable, but inexplicably have passed over the PSP. In a recent interview with MTV (a place that should know about these things) Sony marketing exec John Koller said he would very much like to see iterations of both games appear on the handheld. Considering Sony's targeted older teen demographic and the hip, urban style of much PSP marketing, we are genuinely surprised that these franchises have so far evaded the handheld. In his statement, however, Koller did not specify exactly when or how this lack of music titles would be remedied:

"It’s of huge interest to us. That’s something you’d really have to talk to the developers on that side [if] it’s going to happen or not. For us, we look at the music area as being critical for PSP and the social area of interest as well. PSP is a lot different than your traditional handheld product and music is the number two use on the PSP, behind gaming. So, the marrying of those two concepts is of huge interest to us, and if there’s that opportunity to launch a title like that or even a new title that utilizes music in some way, then obviously we’re very interested.”

The sudden and glaring absence of Rock Band and Guitar hero on the PSP makes us wonder, "Why have these developers held back from releasing their games on the PSP?" The handheld seems like the perfect platform to target with games like this. There are probably a number of reasons for the reluctance of publishers. Most importantly is likely the slower sales of the PSP in North America behind the cheaper and less powerful Nintendo DS. Marketing wizards at Harmonix and Neversoft have probably looked very closely at the installed base on both systems and decided that the PSP is not in enough American hands (yet) to warrant porting the game over specifically for the handheld. Secondly, ongoing piracy and a weakness in software sales has convinced some North American developers to stay away from the system altogether. Sony needs to attack this perception head on if they want to convince developers like Harmonix to bring their creations to the PSP.