Okay, so it’s an open secret that except for Japan, the PSP has struggled everywhere. It’s been marked with unusually low third party support and very poor software and hardware sales. In Japan, though, the story has been entirely different, as the handheld as gone on to post amazing sales figures year after year. The reason for the PSP’s resurgence? Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, which has become such a sensation that its latest installment (debuting exclusively for the PSP) sold 3 million upon its launch, numbers that can perhaps only be rivalled by another franchise involving monsters.
Monster Hunter, then, has been the PSP’s only killer app. As Nintendo has secured all the other big handheld exclusives in Japan- Pokemon, Dragon Quest, Professor Layton, Mario- Monster Hunter is what has helped the PSP stay afloat.
Now, it seems that, in the best case scenario, the PSP may be losing that exclusivity, and in the worst case, Monster Hunter may be making the switch to another platform entirely.
In a recent interview, Capcom CEO Haruhiro Tsujimoto was talking about the 3DS, and then began talking about Monster Hunter. A seemingly nonchalant statement- “3DS is releasing, too, so (it seems like) the time to switch to a new platform is coming-” suggests that not only is Capcom looking at bringing over its Monster Hunter series to the 3DS, but it may be looking at keeping it exclusive to the 3DS too.
If that is indeed true, the PSP may find itself in deep, deep trouble. If Nintendo can indeed secure Monster Hunter as a 3DS exclusive, then it most likely has already won the next round of the handheld wars- the PSP won’t stand a chance.
What do you guys think? Is Capcom really looking into making the switch? Considering that Monster Hunter has already appeared on a Nintendo platform- Monster Hunter Tri, which was exclusive to the Wii- and that Capcom seems to be going out of its way to support Nintendo’s latest system, this rumor doesn’t sound that far fetched.
Is the PSP2 in deep trouble? Sound off in your comments below.
