Tokyo, Japan – Still reeling from the outrage over a porn-infested PSP, Sony is reportedly scrambling to rescue what had been a major push for the platform in the coming year. With sales lagging far behind the competition, speculation had been rampant that a new version of the system was imminent. Talk of a revamped software line-up in order to compete with the dominant Nintendo DS had fans rejoicing but a recently leaked document reveals that the company had a totally different plan all along.When the PSP was first released in 2005 the upstart stole a lot of the glory from hand-held giant Nintendo who only months earlier had released the DS. After a revamp of that system, and the ever increasing quality software, Nintendo quickly left the Sony system in the dust. Now with the release of the newest version of the system, the DSi, and ever declining sales for the PSP many had hoped that Sony would make a bold move to compete. Now, with the porn card tipped and the reaction being less than stellar, Sony is reconsidering what had been “No company likes being forced into revealing their marketing tactics in this manner.
Sony has a brilliant marketing team and there is little doubt that they had a major plan in place to display this porn-included PSP in the fore front of people’s minds but now they are being left to scramble and come up with either a new plan, or a new way to spin it,” said Scrape TV Gaming analyst Graeme Hawthorne. “The reaction of course has been controversial but controversy is exactly what Sony is looking to create. Simply put there is very little talk about the PSP in any way and creating and a move like this would no doubt get tongues wagging about the machine.”
Codenamed Project White Shield, the porn embedded PSPs were due to arrive in stores during the week after E3 in June. Though specifics on the amount and nature
of the pornography that would be available on the system hasn’t been revealed, the document does indicate that it would be a mixture of still images and short video clips focused primarily at the heterosexual males that are the target audience
“This was a part of a much larger plan as I understand it. Sony had also planned on releasing the coveted white version of the PSP as a part of the new initiative. In fact all of their marketing had been designed around that release and it’s tie-in to the pornography but all that is up in the air now,” continued Hawthorne. “They may still push ahead with the plan but it will likely be in a much modified form. I think it’s unlikely that they will
adapt their plans to adjust to the outrage that has been brewing but more towards having had their hand shown. Marketing is all about control, and control is exactly what they lost in this case
So far the company has not revealed how a new version of the system made it into the retail supply chain but according to insiders the company believes it may have been the result of a disgruntled employee at a software facility. The same insider also stated the company had no plans on offering downloads to compensate existing owners of the system
“Whether or not it would have helped the system in the long term is still an issue for debate. The reality is downloading pornography is not particularly difficult so it may not be as much of a selling point as the company would like, though tying it into the white system could be a brilliant move,” continued Hawthorne. “It will be interesting to see if they actually go ahead with the project after this. One thing I will say is that the complaints of a single analog stick will pretty much evaporate overnight.”
According to the report the company also plans on making downloadable porn available on the online PSP store and will offer a section for user created content.
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