Sony’s Holiday Lineup Won’t Be Enough to Save Vita

Published on October 15, 2012, by 44Posted in Features, Hardware, Opinion, Software, Sony, Vita

ps-allstars-vita-tgs2012

Sony’s banking a lot on the holiday season as a big effort to boost PS Vita’s alarmingly slow sales performance. They pretty much spelled it out themselves when they asked people not to write it off before it went through its first Christmas.

Naturally, we feel that if Sony’s telling us not to judge them before the holidays, then they’re inviting us to judge them after the holidays – so if they’re hoping to turn Vita into a high-selling gamer magnet, they’d better do it soon. As for the holidays themselves – you can read on to find out what we think about Sony’s prospects.

Fortunately for Sony, they’ve got an awful lot of nice-looking software headed for the LittleBigHandheld, including Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and a handheld version of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Each of these games looks legitimately awesome, and all of them deliver on the Vita’s promise of a handheld PS3-like experience. That’s good stuff.

Unfortunately, given the depressed sales of Vita entries for such successful series as LittleBigPlanet and Uncharted, I get the feeling that releasing even more “PS3 in my pocket” games isn’t going to be enough to get people on board with Vita. These games are all sure to be hits with existing Vita owners, but I’ll eat my head if they become mainstream success stories.

It wouldn’t be the first time consumers rejected the “PlayStation in my pocket” strategy. This approach sure didn’t do Vita’s predecessor any favors – some handheld versions of popular franchises like Grand Theft Auto or Final Fantasy performed well, but PSP didn’t truly take off until it got a redesign and became the new home for the Monster Hunter games in 2007, which did wonders for the system in the West and in Japan, respectively.

This rule isn’t just limited to Sony, either. It wasn’t until DS and 3DS moved beyond N64 ports and started pumping out unique software that they started to pick up steam.

You may look at the cases of Grand Theft Auto and Final Fantasy‘s PSP success stories as the exceptions that refute the rule, but consider that each of the best-selling PSP iterations of both series released in years that were otherwise dry for their respective franchises: Liberty City Stories in 2005 and Vice City Stories in 2006; Crisis Core in 2007 and Dissidia in 2008.

That’s not the case here – each of the Big 3 Vita games is getting a Big Brother console release at the same time, and if pre-orders and even general buzz are any indication, the handheld editions are all getting effectively overlooked in favor of the PS3 versions.

This is an especially big problem for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. If you already have a Vita, being able to take the game on the go is nice… but if you don’t have a Vita, is it really going to be worth $250 (or more) to get the exact same experience you can already get on PS3? I love Cross-Buy on principle, but I’m seriously concerned that it’ll actually hurt Vita rather than help it.

Sony has already admitted that most Vita owners are also PS3 owners, so basically all sales of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale on Vita are in reality going to be PS3 sales. They’d need gamers who own Vita and not PS3 for the game to gain any real software sales momentum for the system.

Don’t get me wrong: I actually want Vita to succeed. I think it’s a sexy piece of hardware. More importantly, I don’t think it’s healthy for the industry if Nintendo has a clean slate with no major competitors in the dedicated portable game-player market. But I can’t honestly look at what’s coming this holiday season and say that Vita is in the process of paving the path to success.

I think Sony needs to take a long, hard look about how they approach their games hardware business if they’re going to keep making new systems – and that goes not only for Vita, but for the hypothetical PlayStation 4 as well.

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  • PLAYSTATIONG

    LoL. Good news for $ony nazis. Hope they’re getting mad because we don’t hail $ony like Hitler the fuhrer.

    • Sanquine

      How can you compare Sony fans with nazi’s? You are really sick…

      • PLAYSTATIONG

        Because they’re both close minded and/or don’t like any competition. Simple.

        • Sanquine

          Which company does like competition? Every company would love to have a monopoly:) And close minded ;) Apple is close minded my friend. A safe is less closed system than IOS;)

          TBH you are short minded.. The nazi’s destroyed the jews and any free will. Hitler was an evil man. In one thing you are right. They both had perfect systems to achieve the best product that cost a lot of resources ( Ps3 or vita — Tigre tank). I know what i am talking about because i had relatives who where bad ones,,

          • PLAYSTATIONG

            IF Playstationg was short minded, then Sanquine is a $ony tool. Whatever Sony/Hitler says, would be an absolute truth that no one can’t say otherwise or criticize. The “advanced” Ps3/vita/tiger/v2 is just another tool for Sony/Hitler to do evil greedy goals (or achieve “the best product” as you’re trying to spin :) .

          • the_mags

            While the barriers to entry are far lower on android than iOS, but both are still easier than publishing on Xbox 360 / PS3 / Wii / 3DS / Vita. Consoles are very closed systems, and hopefully the OUYA will help shift that trend towards a more open environment.

            • Zach

              If we ever some answers for it.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

          have you not met a PC fag, xbox fanboy or nintenfanboy?

      • tarbis

        He’s not sick, just stupid like those anonymous idiots.

  • PLAYSTATIONG

    LoL. Good news for $ony nazis. Hope they’re getting mad because we don’t hail $ony like Hitler the fuhrer. Avoid it at all cost.

  • Erimgard

    I think these games have more pull than any of the other big titles they have out so far, but a big sales jump won’t happen till there’s a price cut.

  • http://twitter.com/snakeeyes211 sergio sanchez

    You call that a lineup :-) seriously though I just don’t think there’s enough games coming out and I am a proud Vita older

  • Sanquine

    Ps when is coming an article sony quits the hardware industry? Hopefully this site quits:D Than i am going to have a party:D

    • Sanq

      Sorry for this reaction. Overreacting here, my honest excuse for the website

    • tarbis

      Another one who did not read the article and only the title. I suggest going back to elementary so you can learn some reading.

  • Bevin Kutler

    It’s funny why in the world sony needs all “bright and shiny” news in the first place? is it a mandatory law to treat sony like a diety or something? C’mon get a better hobby and don’t be a totalitarian blind tool for a greedy company. So sad, a fool will always be a tool.

    • Sanquine

      Sony is always in the Negative spotlight. Evil company dude.. What are you a communist?

    • Erimgard

      First off, love the user name.
      Secondly, it’s not about treating anyone like a deity. It’s about how the system is fairing in the current market, and if their plan is working or not.

      And honestly, to think that only one company is “greedy” is a little naive. I’m not even sure how the word “totalitarian” can be associated with a video game company.

      Every company has its highs and lows. During the PS2 era, Sony was unquestionably dominating the competition. The question is, can they get that moment back going into the next generation?

  • DarthDiggler

    You know this is all deja vu. Everyone always shits on Sony’s gaming platforms in their first few years. PSP was going to be a failure sold 50 million.

    • Jonathan

      75 million+

    • http://www.gengame.net/ Alex Plant

      I think Vita could become a very successful platform.

      But I don’t think it’ll happen this year.

      Incidentally, that’s pretty much the tl;dr for this article.

      • the_mags

        Things the Vita has going for it
        + OLED Screen
        + solid performance
        + AAA title support from the likes of Uncharted
        Things the Vita doesn’t have going for it
        - Price
        - Enslaved to YET ANOTHER PROPRIETARY MEMORY CARD
        - 3G model that really has no use.

        To better the vita’s standing, I would bundle an 8 gig memory card in the base $250 model, to help consumers get started with the vita. What they need to stop doing is creating endless “special edition” bundles that do not sell. I would strongly consider removing the 3G model from store shelves, as the only functionality (according to a Playstation product representative) that works well enough is leader boards.

        • http://www.gengame.net/ Alex Plant

          Add to “things the Vita doesn’t have going for it”
          - No mainstream success stories

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandt-Johnson/514566783 Brandt Johnson

      since when was the PSP gonna be a failure?? Sure every system has its doubters but the PSP had a tremendous amount of hype and Sony at its highest point in gaming history. A huge portion of the gaming world though the PSP would beat the DS.

  • KyleKulyk

    So out of curiosity, what should the Vita be selling? What’s the benchmark? We know from Sony that the from the ww launch at the end of Feb and the end of June the Vita roughly moved 2 million units. During that same period the 3DS moved about 2.5 million. Now, we can’t realistically expect the Vita to sell the same as the $80 cheaper 3ds, so where’s the line between “Doomed” and “Ok”. An extra 50k a month? 60k? What should it be selling and what’s that based on? Last I saw, analysts were saying it’d be great to see 12 million in FY13, but that would only happen with a price cut. Sony cut their target to 10 million with no price cut in sight and they’ve repeatedly stated their satisfied with the way it’s selling. Some sort of benchmark would seem like it would be a large, logical part of this discussion, but no one seems to be talking about it.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandt-Johnson/514566783 Brandt Johnson

      i dunno, selling better than the dreamcast in Japan? Selling better than the gamecube in the west? Oh that’s expecting too much i guess.

      • KyleKulyk

        That’s interesting. Care to explain why you think it would be useful to benchmark the Vita’s first 6 months on the market against home console sales from a decade ago? How do you see these sales figures as related? What are the similarities? How did those console fair during the same months their first year?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

      more then the PSP would be a decent benchmark….

      • KyleKulyk

        You think so? Given the PSP didn’t have to compete against a world full of smartphones and tablets I think it’s a pretty safe assumption that the Vita wouldn’t do PSP type numbers. Certainly industry analysts weren’t predicting numbers as high as PSP numbers when forecasting the Vita pre-launch. The PSP hit 15 million in it’s first year. Neither the DS nor the GBA came even close to those numbers in their first year and I don’t recall articles predicting their doom.

    • tarbis

      Problem with people who made biased doom and gloom articles (this one is not, it’s well written). They don’t know what they want with the ps vita. They want facebook, Sony gave, they want Youtube, Sony gave, They want rpgs, Sony gave, they want fighting games, Sony gave and a lot more. They’re like toddlers who kept craving but are never satisfied. And then they compare to the competition who cannot give them any of those. How’s that for logic?

    • trurl

      The launch sales of the Vita was okay. But the sales went downward from that fast. Since than the Vita sales are roughly 1/10 of the 3DS sales.

      • KyleKulyk

        1/10? During the same period? According to Nintendo, they sold 1.1 million 3ds systems from Jan – Mar and 1.8 million between Apr and Jun, so based on those figures since the Vita has been available worldwide at the end of Feb, the 3ds has moved probably a little over 2 million. We only have guesses as to what the Vita moved in Japan in Dec/Jan, but we do know that there’s been 2.2 million sold as of Jun of this year. Head to head, there really doesn’t appear to be that much difference between 3ds and Vita sales during that period. In fact, if you start looking at the amount of money consumers spent during that period, they’ve shelled out more money on the Vita than they did on the 3ds even though the 3ds may have moved more units.

  • Zach

    Honestly, another “Sony is doomed article”, well, along the lines of it. The Vita will do fine this christmas, and even if it doesn’t, it will recover. The Vita WILL do fine, people need to stop whining and writing these kinds of articles, please. Sony’s going to recover, I don’t care how many times people say they’re doomed, or that “all their divisions are losing money” many of their division ARE making money, will most returning to making profit by March 2013. Vita is part of the gaming division (obviously) and it too is going to recover because good developers (Sony’s roster, an advantage or purchasing studio’s) will support it to the very end.

    • tarbis

      I see you only read the topic title and not the whole article.

      • Zach

        No, I read the whole article, thanks.

    • Trurl

      You say the Vita WILL do fine, but has no arguments to support your wish. This is it, nothing more than a wish.

      At the moment the Vita is a big flop. On top of that Sonys gaming division is already loosing money since six years. On top of that the whole Sony concern is loosing money since years. On top of that Sony unemployed half of the members of their gaming divisions in the last 10 month.

      Sony even changed the whole management a few month ago, but i didn’t help, they are loosing more and more money each month.

      It could be that Sony is history in one or two years, but that happened to big business concers before (look at Commodore, Atari or Sega). Perhaps Sony recovers, but it is very unlikely now.

      • Zach

        I didn’t add any points because, frankly, I don’t have any. It sounds ridiculous, yea I know, I just know Sony will do fine, their Vita will, they’ll recover. I have faith in them. You can laugh all you want, but I’m serious I know they’ll recover. Sony actually made profit with their gaming division for the year or 2011, and they’re not making profit this year because of their recent purchase of Gaikai (as well as the Vita flopping) They haven’t layed off half of their gaming staff, they layed off half of their PR team, which manages marketing for gaming. Sony is such a large company, and just a bit under of half of their division are still making money, with at least half of the other half on their way to returning to profit. Call me a fanboy all you like, I know Sony will recover. I can’t wait to see everyone’s comments saying “Oh yea I knew they would durrr”

        • http://www.gengame.net/ Alex Plant

          They’ll probably recover, yes. But it won’t be this year.

          • Zach

            Definitely not this year, maybe 2014 or 2015 they’ll go back to normal. I hope.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

    I, Along with millions of other gamers, don’t care about the vita, no matter what games come out on it I won’t be getting it. Also, just because one product fails doesn’t mean sony is doomed, anyone remember virtual boy?

    • http://www.facebook.com/jordan.dipalma Jordan DiPalma

      Nintendo didn’t put their all behind Virtual Boy. They tested the waters with it, gave it a push, watched it sink and moved on. Sony is really banking on the success of the Vita, they’re pouring money into it, and it’s not returning the favor.

  • Joel Monteiro

    It’s an average piece of hardware with terrible software support. This console was never meant to be successful. It looked bad theoretically and is performing even worse than the grimmest of predictions. It took the Vita 42 weeks to sell 1 million units in Japan, the most handheld heavy market in the world. It took 12 weeks for the 3DS to reach that mark(and those were 12 weeks without a price drop!) and the PSP took 14 weeks.
    The Vita is a port machine and few people want that.

  • Trurl

    Call of Duty on Vita looks bad, really bad. The graphics are worse than the Wii version.

    All-Stars Battle is exact the same game on the PS3. If people want this game they would buy it for the PS3 or Vita, because almost all Vita owners owns a PS3.

    Assassins Creed is the only game that could be “legitimately awesome”, but we have seen only a glimpse from this game until now. It could also be “legitimately mediocre”.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EEOTERFR3DPUJ2GDNRIKDSW2AQ BrianC

    The Vita will definitely do great. The 3DS was struggling and finally got some games and picked up. There’s no reason the Vita can’t do the same. It’s a much more powerful system with better games.