PSP to shrink

Friday 1 December 2006
The CEO of gaming giant Electronic Arts, Larry Probst, believes that Sony's PSP handheld would be more successful if it was smaller and cheaper.

Probst told US magazine Newsweek that sales would be improved with the introduction of "a new form factor that's smaller than the existing unit, at a lower price - and hopefully that price is $100 or lower".

He then suggested that this could actually happen: "I think the price point needs to be lower and I think you're going to see that next year, along with a different form factor."

While PSP has been relatively successful for Sony, Nintendo claims that it is continuing to sell over twice as many of its DS handheld. If Sony continues to be confronted by this situation it will no doubt be looking to change things around. And as Nintendo proved with GBA SP and DS Lite, a redesign can have a significant effect on sales.