The solitary analog nub on the PlayStation Portable has been a much criticized feature. When rumors first surfaced about the PSP Go, many fans of the multipurpose handheld felt the addition of an analog nub was a foregone conclusion.

During Sony’s E3 Press Conference, Kaz Hirai, President of Sony Computer Entertainment noted that the PSP Go was a result of feedback from developers and gamers alike. With so many fans clamoring for an additional analog nub, how could the feature be omitted?

According to Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, it was considered. In the latest issue of Game Informer Yoshida explains exactly why it was left out:

“We also felt – like many users – that we wish we had a second analog on the PSP. But we are talking about the mid-life cycle of this platform, and the PSPgo is designed to be perfectly compatible with the PSP-3000 and all the games that released before that. So we had a very serious discussion about this particular subject, but we decided not to add a second analog, and some of the developers are doing quite a nice job translating the second analog functionality to different buttons. We didn’t want to divert their efforts either.”

– Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios

For developer’s sake, you can’t create two different control form factors in the middle of a handheld’s life cycle.