Sony pushing for more Grand Theft Auto on PSP @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on February 28, 2009

News: You might say they're trying to make Rockstar an offer they can't refuse.

With the impending release of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the DS, Sony executives are wistfully looking back on the days when a handheld GTA game meant a PSP release like Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. While rumors of a "San Andreas Stories" game have circulated for a while now, Rockstar hasn't made an announcement about more GTA on the PSP.

Sony wants to change that.

In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, Sony's head of PSP hardware marketing, John Koller, discussed the possibility of more Grand Theft Auto on the PSP:

"No one should sleep on that franchise," John Koller, Sony's head of PSP hardware marketing in North America, told me in a phone interview yesterday. "That's a tremendous franchise for PlayStation in general. We've had two that are the top two sellers on PSP right now. So, there's definitely continued conversations with ['GTA' development studio] Rockstar on all their brands. That's nothing that's left the PlayStation family."

"[GTA: Chinatown Wars is] an interesting launch on DS," Koller said. "It raises some eyebrows in a lot of areas. It'll be interesting to see how that sells."

So while there hasn't been any official announcement concerning Grand Theft Auto's future on the PSP, Sony is definitely interested in hosting another entry of one of gaming's best selling franchises.

Of course, if San Andreas Stories was in development, it probably would have been revealed at Sony's recent PSP showcase.