Sony Dismisses Immediate PSP2 Launch

Following reports today that Sony UK's managing director, Ray Maguire, has confirmed the PlayStation 2 portable while answering questions from the floor at the PSP In Education national launch yesterday, SPOnG spoke with the company's David Wilson seeking clarification.

Various media sources are reporting that Maguire's announced that a "smaller, lighter" system will be introduced in the future" - although the screen would remain the same size (and singular). Although the Sony MD did make such comments - as well as pointing out that the current PSP was simply the "first iteration" - the comments were made in response to a Q&A to teachers and were not meant as a formal statement.

Let’s face it, if Sony was going to announce a brand new piece of hardware in the immediate future, it would be unlikely to do so at the end of a presentation to UK educationalists; nor would it queer its own pitch by leaking a new handheld with a week to go for the launch of the PlayStation 3 in Europe and Australia.

Commenting on the use of "first iteration", Wilson pointed out, "What many people fail to remember is that there have been 30 iterations of the PlayStation 2; it took four years for PS2 to go from big to small.

“Ray was responding to the Q&A with a basic, common sense statement based on the fact that Sony innovates.”

So, we asked, is there going to be a new PSP2? "There's not going to be one in the short term", came Wilson's response.

And in the medium term? David was slightly more equivocal, giving a good old non-denial/denial, "Look, it's just not on my radar."

What does he make of the masses of attention - which indicates demand - for a new PSP and the fact that Maguire's off-the-cuff answer has been taken by so many to mean a brand new Sony portable?

"It reminds me of when The Times got hold of the fact that we'd trademarked PS4 and PS5. It's just common business sense. We don't want to find out four years down the line that some kid in Bognor Regis own the rights", he replied.

So, what about the developers we've spoken to who have indicated that a PSP2 is on the horizon? Wilson repeated the fact that the machine was not on his radar.

The speed at which Maguire's statement rattled around the internet (and the number of eyes devouring PSP2-related reporting) does show, however, that far from having been destroyed by Nintendo's rampant DS, the interest in the PSP is still alive.