Sony’s Next-Generation Portable (NGP) will be “dead on arrival,” according to ngmoco big cheese Neil Young.
Chatting with IndustryGamers, Young suggested that Sony’s new device simply won’t be able to hold its own in a market that’s becoming increasingly dominated by Smartphones. As for PSP, Young reckons the handheld’s already thrown in the towel.
“I think PSP is done and the new [NGP] is dead on arrival,” he commented.
“It’s really difficult to compete with an app store that has hundreds of thousands of applications and a wide range of options where the average price paid is around $1.20 and there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of free applications that are really high quality.
“So I just don’t think Sony’s going to be able to compete with that.”
Young also offered his two pence on Nintendo’s 3DS, and, despite labelling the device as “gimmicky,” reckons the Japanese giant’s core first-party franchise will facilitate the handheld’s success at market.
“I think Nintendo will likely be competitive. My personal opinion is that the 3D piece of the puzzle is kind of gimmicky,” Young said.
“But Nintendo has great franchises and there are tens of millions of people who want to participate in those franchises, so that always helps… But the real question is the degree to which there’s a third-party community.”
NGP is due for release in Japan in late 2011.