Sony Does Not Deny PSP2 Rumor

A developer’s been spouting off about a PSP2 of sorts, and apparently Sony hasn’t come out to deny it. Hmm...

Acclaim’s chief creative officer David Perry (formerly of Shiny fame with MDK and Earthworm Jim) wrote on his twitter account, “I hear Sony FINALLY has the PSP 2. And thank goodness, they've removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive. I'm excited!”

Elaborating to Kotaku on his post, Perry said that he spoke to a developer already working on this supposed machine, which leads him to believe there to be a prototype that’ll be finalized by fall.

"I've been pounding on Sony for a long time to make the Playstation Portable relevant and not to let Apple stroll away with the portable game market," he said. "Look at what Apple is doing now. Why are so many investors investing in Apple game development? Trying to pitch a PSP game to investors right now is brutal."

With Sony’s increasing the PSP download-to-memory-stick items on the PlayStation Network, it does appear that digital downloads are the future for portables. The only sticking point is that this upsets retailers like GameStop, who would be suddenly cut out from the supply chain.

Perry figures that a UMD-less PSP could still keep retailers happy if games were sold on a Memory Stick Pro Duo, rather than on the old disc format.

SCEA marketing head John Koller responded in an interview to Perry’s claims, saying, “I will say, though, because I did read his piece earlier that Sony’s making a big push to digital distribution. That part’s true. And we’ve been making a concerted effort to really over-emphasize the ability for publishers to publish on the PSN. Fits our view of the world. Eventually the digital distribution arm will have some leverage. I think consumers right now are choosing some tangible benefits of the disc.”

When confronted directly by MTV regarding the rumor of a UMD-less PSP, Koller said, “Can’t comment either way, but I will reiterate that the digital component is very important to us. That’s all we can say at this point.”