Sony teases 'very robust' 2010 for PSP, which still struggles with piracy

After completing 2009 with redesigned hardware and several high-profile games (including Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, MotorStorm: Arctic Edge and LittleBigPlanet), the PSP platform is looking for another strong lineup to carry it until the end of another year. Sony's senior vice president of publisher relations, Rob Dyer, told Industry Gamers that third parties will provide a "very robust lineup" in 2010 -- albeit one that has to face a very old problem.

"I think we had a great lineup last year. The biggest problem that plagued PSP was piracy; we have not been able to slow that down," Dyer said. "We think we have some answers going forward, but we're not ready to talk about that publicly at this point. So we're working on fixing that, because that's been a big problem. Publishers, when they put out good games, are not getting the same sales results that they got a few years back. So piracy's been a big issue and we're working on that very diligently to bring about some solutions."

Some solutions include the PSP Go, which focuses on digitally acquired games (through the PlayStation Store, of course!) and -- as recently demonstrated by third-person shooter SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3 -- a form of potentially consumer-unfriendly online activation. And while Sony appears pleased with the platform's longevity, six years is a long time to still be tinkering with anti-piracy experiments.

"We're into the sixth year now on the platform, and that's a long time for a handheld," Dyer noted. "I think given where we're at right now, we're doing very, very well. But yes, the business has had problems and I think it all stems, candidly, from the piracy."

WTF are they talking about , there are far more people pirating on the DS than the psp (although percentage wise it is opposite) and the DS is doing just fine.

Piracy is an issue your going to have to deal with in this industry and it is no excuse to use when 2 of the most successful consoles of all time in the ps2 and DS are plauged with it.

Make better games for the damned machine....not gimped hd ports.....simple...

The PSPGo is their "solution"?????

Are there really a lot of pirates for DS games? I'm kinda confused as to how that would work, since most games utilize the DS's unique features like the dual screen and/or the touch controls. So even if you could pirate DS games most of them wouldn't work the way they were designed to.

I guess anything is possible in the world of piracy though...

Your talking about emulation on a pc I presume?....The piracy im talking about is the R4(A micro sd converter) and such , all you have to do is put the game rom into the micro sd card then put the R4 with the micro sd into the ds.......its the most simple way to do piracy ive ever seen.

Piracy on DS is older than dust, the DS featurees aren't a problem; you can check a lot here

@ Jesus Kung Fu Magic

I agree with you. I picked up a PSP for Crisis Core (which was awesome) and besides that I haven't seen another game that was a must play for the system that wasn't either a PS2 game or a stripped down version of a current gen console game. More games need be developed specifically for the handheld. It has a ton of horsepower and a beautiful screen, but there is just nothing I feel like playing on it. Such a shame.

Gimme mah Agito and KH:BBS ....like NOW~! :P seriously tho, need a new game to play cuz nothing appealed to me since Tekken 6 psp...but looking at the last year I guess it's safe to assume that this will be another good year for the psp

Agito, BBS, Parasite Eve, Calamity Trigger etc has gotten my hopes up

I think PSP fans refuse to believe people don't want PSP games. "If they aren't buying them, they must be stealing them!"

The DS is the easiest console to pirate games for ever. Especially considering how easy ROMs can be found. Yet it still sells games in droves. Go figure!

It is ,imo , one of the most disappointing things to come out of this gen is Sony's inability to capitalize on what was a promising handheld.....Sony needs to learn that you cant treat the home and handheld markets the same and I believe nintendo's ass whooping in critically acclaimed games , software sales and most importantly hardware sales is teaching sony this very lesson.

The PSP2 will hopefully be what the PSP was not.

BTW:I also picked up a psp for crisis core and chains of olympus but ever since then ive resorted to using the machine as a N64 , SNES and GBA emulator to give the psp some worth as a handheld , as sony's own lineup wasnt doing that.