I don't have a PS4, I have a PS Vita.
And no, they didn't put up enough quality first party games. The only first party games that had overwhelmingly positive reviews were LBP Vita and Tearaway. None of which were system sellers, unfortunately. Apart from those and Gravity Rush, Sony took a couple of their franchises (for example, Uncharted) and gave them to studios that were not the creators of the franchise.
Sony purposely held back their most talented studios so they could work on PS3 and PS4 games, and let the PS Vita get the leftovers. This of course didn't result in blockbuster, system selling games, so they resorted to what the PS Vita is now known for: ports. Obviously this didn't sell systems as well, so now it's the market's fault because they don't want handheld consoles, right? Oh, but meanwhile, the freaking 3DS is on its way to sell 45 million units. Huh. I wonder what kind of voodoo Nintendo did.
If the market is hostile towards the Vita, then I, as a consumer, EXPECT Sony to fight back that market by pushing out quality software as often as needed until everyone who has the means to get a Vita but doesn't feels like an idiot. It's their system, it's their responsibility. I have every right as a costumer and Vita owner to feel disappointed.
They didn't take enough chances with the system, and this is the result.
Killzone was great. Wipeout was great. Sly 4 was great (multiplat, but still). Uncharted was mediocre, but still - those were first party games, and like you said, they didn't do shit. Now, part of that is marketing, but another part of that is outright lack of support from the gamers - they didn't want those games, and it shows.
The market responded better to ports, third party games, and indies. All those, plus the first party titles were around during the first years, and guess what made the most money?
You can spin it all you like, but most of the games on the Vita that were first party were decent and beyond. Instead, people bought more third party games, and it shows. I don't know what's so hard about this.
Should they have tried a bit more? Probably, yeah, it would have been nice to see some more effort. But at the end of the day, third parties are the money makers, so that's where they are going to focus.
In business, you fight back by playing smart. You find another avenue that makes you money. You can feel disappointed, but lay blame where it should be at in addition to Sony's lackluster marketing approach and dim support of first party (on a lesser level) - the market.
I get that, but still releasing games like gravity rush and wipeout can and would help the system out. I bought the vita just because of Uncharted, gravity rush, and wipeout (unit 13 wasn't bad either). From my understanding they helped with the borderlands 2 release correct? So they will probably be doing more of that than full fledge games from their own studios? That's what frigging sucks.
The point is, GR and Wipeout didn't sell, so it'd be better to focus on areas where the games would sell. You bought a vita for those things, but not enough of your type did.
Kneejerk? I've owned a Vita since launch, this is something I think about a lot. P4G was wonderful but generally speaking I think the PSP has a much stronger library than the Vita ever will in terms of everything but indie games.
PSP also had support from companies still making great games, ala SE, and lots of time to stew. The Vita may not reach the PSP levels of awesome, but it'll sure be close if they continue the approach they are reaching now.
