Tag Archives: claire backhouse

SCEE has told CVG that God of War III “is a must have” title.

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So a few European retailers have refused to stock PSPgo; walk in the park to Sony. The company expected a more vociferous backlash against the discless machine.

“We were very aware of concerns when we went into it and I actually expected a lot more negative responses than we actually got,” PSP UK product manager Claire Backhouse told GI.

“They were really quite fine with it. They see it as a way of getting people into the store because it’s new interest, a new product. And they’ve had such strong sales as well of PSP 3000 almost off the back of it.”

Some stores weren’t happy about the machine as it eschews discs in favour of a digital-only model – hence scuppering retail-based games sales.

The handheld revision goes on sales tomorrow, priced £225.

Sony’s told MCV it plans to “reinvigorate” PSP this year with a string of new releases and a focus on software development.

“Granted, perhaps there hasn’t been the volume of high profile PSP titles we would have liked to have seen on the platform,” said UK product manager Claire Backhouse.

“But, that said, we continue to focus heavily on software development.

“The fruits of this you’ll see later this year, with the release of a number of currently unannounced, yet significant franchises that will re-invigorate the current user base, as well as attracting a whole new audience.”

Both games and peripherals will help reignite interest in the platform, said Backhouse.

“This year we are also launching a host of significant PlayStation IPs on the PSP platform, the first being Resistance Retribution, which will help drive sales,” she said.

“It’s these core IPs that we believe will help broaden the appeal of PSP in the UK, and when coupled with the existing functionality such as Go!View and Go!Cam, will make PSP a very attractive proposition.”

More through there.