EA have formally announced that they will fully support Sony's PSP handheld and claim that they will produce between 10 and 12 titles for the new console in fiscal 2005. During a conference call, detailing the company's business outlook for the coming year, EA CEO Larry Probst, directly vowed full support for Sony's PSP although details of the content to be provided were not revealed.
Mr. Probst, also did not comment on how many games, if any, EA will provide for the PSP on its launch, around December 2004. EA also suggested some good financial news for gamers since according to the publisher the PSP will retail at, between USD 200 and 250. If that US figure is converted into Japanese Yen (20,000 - 26,000) or GBP (125 - 150) it produces prices much lower than those which had initially been suggested for PSP. EA's good news did not stop there however, since they also seem to suggest that games for the new console will retail at around USD 20 - 25, a figure well below the 39.99 price tag that many suspected such titles would carry.
So EA would seem to suggest that PSP's future is lined with rose petals and that gamers won't have to dish out the same amount of money as they would with a next-gen console in order to enjoy Sony's new baby-wonder. We all hope those estimates are as accurate as the name of the company who made them suggests.
During the same conference call EA also claimed that one of the big-three would make some definite announcement about their next console within the following 6 months. EA still stick to their 2006 date for all next-next-gen console releases but they seem to have warmed to the possibility of a manufacturer breaking away and announcing their product earlier.
When the top publisher in the world forecasts we all listen, let's hope that their predictions will be accurate enough to make us all enjoy the next installment of the Console War.