Patapon Pata-Price: $19.99

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I’m fortunate enough to see a lot of PlayStation games at various stages of development. From back-of-the-napkin to playable code, one of the things my team and I are tasked with is to provide feedback to the development teams making the games. We look at the core gameplay (is it fun??!), the competitive landscape (will it sell), and target audience (tweens vs adults, male vs female, hardcore vs casual, etc) to evaluate if we should ultimately publish a title for our market. It is a challenging process, but very rewarding when that title comes to life and the forums light up.

We are always looking for something “unique” and “innovative,” since that makes our jobs as marketers that much easier, and ideally, fans happier when they are playing something new. However, “innovation” is a double-edged sword; the gaming landscape is littered with cult-favorites that buck the trends and try a completely different approach, but have trouble finding a broad audience. A perfect example is our quirky, tilt-a-world PSP game, LocoRoco.

So the reason for my post. Hopefully you have heard that we will be releasing a great new PSP title called Patapon here to the US in February. It’s a completely original PSP game on several levels, offering a fusion of action and rhythm gaming with an eye-catching 2D art style. It’s becoming a hit in Japan – and by looking at the early previews from the press, I know you all will dig it too.

SO1627_PATN_CVRS_DJ08

As you can see, Patapon is really different and highly creative, a new kind of PSP experience we don’t want anyone to miss. So to make it more accessible to everyone, we are happy to officially announce that we are releasing it at $19.99, lower than other new PSP games. It’s a game that shouldn’t get lost with some other big titles launching on the platform. It deserves your attention because it’s very cool.

Normally, this price had been reserved for our Greatest Hits line, a collection of well established titles. But we felt that the unique nature of Patapon fit nicely into this pricepoint, and would work to attract the masses (casual, younger) who may otherwise miss it. So we’ll see if it works!

So please show your support for innovation and quirkiness by giving Patapon a try when we release it on February 26th – you’ll see what a great game it is and I’ll bet you won’t be able to get their song out of your head!

Thanks for reading!

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72 Comments

  • Not bad for a new title. Can we use custom music from our memory sticks??

  • Ive heard alot of good about this game and 20 bucks is an awsome price…this should be on the psn

  • Sold. I can’t wait, my PSP needs some fun titles and I’m sure my wife will love this game too…just like your Locoroco’s.

  • Put in my pre-order yesterday. Speaking of which will there be any pre-order bonus?

  • Day one purchase for me, looks great!

  • Day one purchase as well for me!

    Hell, i would buy more copies if I can figure out who has a psp in my area ;o

    This game definitely needs to be purchased!

  • Count me in! I was intrigued at $39.99 but at $19.99 (and with the recommendation of EGM’s Shane) I will buy this day one! Can’t wait.

  • I bet you guys quadruple your sales due to the price cut!

    I think it’s a great pricing strategy!

    And also if you guys put it on the PSN for PS3 owners…who knows? maybe you’ll reach even more people!

    thanks!

  • I was planning on getting this game day 1 without the price cut, but now there is just one more incentive.

    12

  • Wow! Now you have to put it on the PSN for $9.99 and you’ll have even more sales. It’s good to see in this day and age of $60 games that some companies understand that not all games deserve that price. I hope the success of this game warrants placement on the PSN.

  • I’ll buy it on the PSN if that’s available. Price point wouldn’t be a huge deal to me given its no more expensive than the PSP disc.

  • I might just get it now…

  • Perfect.

  • At 20 bucks I don’t see how anyone can pass this one up. Thanks!

  • Good price! Why not check it out since its so cheap.

  • I’m going to have to buy a PSP now, nice one Sony.

  • Sale +1
    I think the psp developers need to take a difference direction in designing games for the psp.

  • Just one last thing, I’m sick to death of watching Kiren Perkins and some other chump promote the Wii down here in Australia, every freaking day I see those adds, come on Sony bite back with some other annoying crap, pleaseeeee

  • Day one purchase for me. This is my most anticipated PSP game this year next to god of war.

  • Put it up on PSN!

  • This is great. This game looks really fun. Plus I hope future games will also be able to launch at this price. Because if they can then I will be able to buy a lot more games for my PSP.

  • I was getting it anyway when I thought it was $40 but now at $19.99 I just might buy two to share the love.

  • Oh yeah, you guys better advertise the hell out of this, don’t pull another Folklore on us.

  • So no download? I would rather buy this on the PS Store than go to Gamestop…

  • Holy crap, buying it on day one.

  • Upload this to PSN, Sony!

  • Why does this game remind me of Samurai Jack?

  • Please release this on the PlayStation Store for PC as well!

  • wow.
    Now I’m TOTALLY looking forward to getting my Patapon on!

    First Twisted Metal, now this!

    Thanks Sony for considering us cheap gamers! hah…

  • When will it be out in Australia? I can just import it if I want to but still I would like to know.

  • I really wish Sony would just let PS3 owners play the same game on our PS3s. If they did that, I would buy a PSP so I could take it anywhere, and still play the game at home. Like, it would sync your latest saved games to your system when you got home, then you can continue to play on the big screen. Between this and GOW: Chains of Olympus, I’m starting to want to play PSP games. Just not ready to plunk down for the hardware. Being able to play a game in both places would put the PSP over the top into the “must buy” category. Just like how BD movies will be able to have PSP versions downloaded from it to be played anywhere.

  • My guess is Sony will finally come around and put PSP games on the PSN for PS3 owners as well but it will be much too late and interest will have already begun to drop on such features. I know I’d be all over Patapon if it was a launch or near launch on the PSN as well as PSP. 3 months down the road I don’t know.

  • I was already sold on this game but this is icing on the cake.

    What’s the official release date?

  • Sorry – missed the 26th the first time I read it.

    I’ll be in line!

  • Must buy at this price!

  • That’s an amazing price for the best game on the PSP.

    I’ve been playing the Japanese version and have loved every minute of it, it ticks all the right boxes with the mixture of a quirky and charming artistic style and the rhythm mechanics in the strategic game play.

    So good. Please buy it people.

  • Do you like games at small prices?
    I loooooooove games at small prices. Picking this up ASAP.

  • is there a demo out for this game?

  • @#38 gregero
    I think it was a umd only japanese demo of it. But I dont think you are after that one. Sorry, no demo.

    Can someone who is better then me in engrish fill out the wiki for patapon? Its a bit empty.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patapon

  • this is amazing news! i was already planning on picking this game up but with this amazing price i’m even more stoked!

    thank you sony! you guys rock and i’m proud to support your great innovative releases!

  • Sony = Innovation

    Games like this proves me undeniably correct!

  • What will the price be in Canada?

  • What more could we ask for? This is a perfect price. I know a few of my friends didn’t buy LocoRoco because it was $40 or so dollars at it’s launch even though I said it was the best PSP game at the time, and still comes in at a close second.

    Patapon is going to be great.Thanks for answering our questions on the price, I know I saw a few comments asking about that in the last Pata-post.

  • An excellent game at a bargain price, though I do fear for us here in Europe, Play.com are already listing it as £24.99 that’s 150% inflation over the price in the USA! At that price difference, I doubt i’ll buy it just for the morality of the price difference. Certainly not till I can get it for £10 which equals $19.99

  • A excelent game for a excelent price. Day one purchase!

  • Awesome! Gonna get it for sure!

  • Already paid off my preorder at Gamestop. I’m looking forward to this.

  • Twenty bucks?! SOLD!

  • US$20 is about £12 Sterling. So will UK users get it for that or will we be subsidising the US gamer as usual? Play.com has it for £25 – or to put it another way, DOUBLE the US price!!!!

    And Sony, three words: AD. VER. TISE. Show the full trailer found at the US official website in cinemas. Show a shorter version on TV. Actually let people who don’t research games online know it EXISTS for once. You know, like Nintendo do with their games. Just a thought……because if you’re not careful this will bomb like it did in Japan. And that would be tragic.

    PS To be honest I’d pay 40 squids for this. Even though I’ve watched all the vids and still haven’t got a clue what’s going on. :0)

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