Recent announcements for PS Plus Premium underscore how Sony is approaching the PSP differently than other platforms, although it may not be to blame.
The idea of a classic games catalog consisting of PS1, PS2, PSP and PS3 titles excited the fans PS Plus Premium long before it was fully announced, but as reality unfolds, things are clearly looking a little different. PS Plus Extra and Premium are excellent additions to Sony’s service, but it doesn’t (and perhaps can’t) treat all platforms equally. The PS3, for example, is notoriously difficult to handle on the developer side, although it doesn’t come off badly here at PS Plus. It’s the PSP.
Sony recently announced five new PS Plus premium games coming this month ratchet and clamp PS3 titles in honor of the anniversary. In addition to Ratchet and Clank 2016 In the PS Plus Collection and the five games already on the service, only a handful aren’t accessible through PS Plus once they’re added. Ratchet and Clank: Rift AparIt doesn’t make sense because it’s still practically new and the mobile games obviously won’t be coming to a PlayStation console. The two games are strangely not currently on PS Plus Premium ratchet and clamp PSP Title: Size matters and Secret Agent Clank.
Why PS Plus Premium doesn’t add as many PSP games as other platforms
Both games are integral parts of the ratchet and clamp series and have solid evaluation scores. It’s not that they’re the bad guys of the franchise because they’re bad games; They are black sheep because they are PSP games. It’s been clear from day one that Sony hasn’t invested as much in bringing PSP games to the service, and is adding far fewer of these titles than others. One could argue that this is because the PSP has a smaller library than the other systems and therefore additions would naturally be slower. That may be, but the opposite is that they would actually come faster if it was just as easy as other platforms.
What is likely happening here is inevitably Sony’s “fault”. The PS3 is perhaps the most difficult console to work with on the developer side, but it’s still a traditional console. The PSP is handheld, and the translation of its games and controls is more of a full port than a game’s backwards compatibility. The amount of work likely to go into bringing PSP games to the PS Plus service should be applauded, if somehow it also means Sony is prioritizing other platforms. It’s the “Tack the main boss before adds” method.
There are probably other factors, but it stands to reason that the PSP will be the black sheep as long as PS Plus Premium is around. The fact that it’s included at all shows Sony’s commitment to the PS Plus subscription service.
PSPlus Subscribers get a handful of games each month.