Sony seemed to be targeting iPhone marketshare with its PSP Minis program, but what's up with Minis now? SCEA's Rob Dyer says "the jury's still out" on whether the audience is there, but says "we've got to continue."
When Sony announced its PSP Minis program late last year, it seemed like the company was angling for some of the iPhone's bite-sized app marketshare with its PSP Go, which was about to launch at the time. But since then, there's been little word on the Minis front. Has the program been successful for Sony? "I think it's gone okay," SCEA SVP of publisher relations Rob Dyer tells Gamasutra in a recent feature interview. "My concern with Minis always has been if you have a PSP or a PS3, do you want to play small bite-sized games like that? I think the jury's still out," he concedes. "I think in some instances they do, and some instances they don't." But according to Dyer, while part of the issue hinges on whether the audience is really there for small games like Tetris and Fieldrunners on the platform, another is, in his view, a failure to capitalize on the format. "My other concern with a lot of the Minis is they've been rehashed, recalibrated iPhone games that when you look at and review it, you're like, 'Really? What are you doing differently here? Not much.'" "There have been a couple that have been really cool, but for the most part, a lot of it has been up-resed, recalibrated iPhone stuff," he adds. So the program's not yet where it needs to be, but Dyer stresses that "we've got to continue." The program is making more headway in Europe, he says, where Sony has been offering strong developer support, resources and education. "It's not like you have to spend a lot more money in order to get something that has a lot more impact for the platform," Dyer adds.
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