Though often overshadowed by the mainline consoles, the PSP was a trailblazer in many ways. It wasn’t just a cendanabet portable system—it was a proof of concept that high-quality PlayStation games could exist beyond the living room. Many design philosophies and innovations from PSP games would go on to shape PlayStation’s future approach to both gameplay and player expectations.

Take Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, for example. It introduced mechanics like base-building and co-op multiplayer that would later appear in The Phantom Pain, one of the best games in the franchise. Its success demonstrated that portable entries could drive core innovation for their parent franchises, rather than just serving as side stories.

Another critical contribution from the PSP era was its emphasis on pick-up-and-play game design. Games like Killzone: Liberation and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror proved that deep, tactical gameplay could still be streamlined for shorter sessions. This principle now informs many design decisions for modern PlayStation games that are optimized for quick-resume and remote play on devices like the PS5 and mobile companions.

Even visually, the PSP’s attempt to emulate console-style graphics on a smaller screen encouraged Sony developers to start thinking more modularly about their assets. With the PlayStation Portal and remote play functionality today, those principles have come full circle—delivering high-fidelity experiences wherever the player is, something PSP pioneered before it was technically mainstream.