Da PSP blev lanceret i Japan i december, gik der hurtigt rygter om maskiner med fejl, spil der hoppede ud af sig selv og knapper der ikke kunne trykkes i bund. Desuden forlød det fra en håndfuld gamere at de havde nogle døde pixels på deres LCD-skærm.
Til dato har det betydet at ca. 4.800 af de snart en million udsendte maskiner har måtte returneres til Sony - altså omkring 0,6-7% af den samlede masse. Det har fået en lille gruppe gamere til at kaste sig over maskinens design og kritiserer det, men det vil Ken Kutaragi, Sonys japanske chef ikke høre tale om.
Han sagde bl.a. til Nikkei Business magasinet:
"This is the design that we came up with. There may be people that complain about its usability, but that's something which users and game software developers will have to adapt to. I didn't want the PSP's LCD screen to become any smaller than this, nor did I want its machine body to become any larger.
Og han fortsatte:
"The button's location is architectured on purpose. It's according to specifications. This is something that we've created, and this is our specification. There was a clear purpose to it, and it wasn't a mistake. I believe we made the most beautiful thing in the world. Nobody would criticize a renowned architect's blueprint that the position of a gate is wrong. It's the same as that."