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Should Sony announce a psVita2/psp3 in response of the nintendo NX being an handheld?

4Tran

Member
No, handheld market is owned by phones. Just put out a new phone more focused on gaming if they feel like doing that, like Xperia.

I actually feel Nintendo is kinda screwed going all out handheld now. If it fails to find a bid enough success they won't have the home console to fall back on. They have to fight phones whether people believe it or not.
I have to agree with this. The reason I was skeptical that Nintendo was going to go handheld-only is because it looks like a shrinking market no matter how you massage the numbers. That's a losing proposition so you'd think that Nintendo would bet the farm on it.

I would buy it only if it has a decent Third Party support. Like the PSP in its first years.
Depending on what you like, the Vita has excellent third party support. However, you can forget about the Western AAA companies ever making major efforts on handhelds like they used to.
 

Theonik

Member
So what came first, the Nintendo audience didn't support otaku publishers or otaku publishers didn't support the Nintendo audience?

Also, how are NIS, Falcom, Idea Factory, etc doing on PS4 so far?
Nintendo was historically terrible at 3rd party relations and their policies for lower volume runs of games on the DS were non-existent. Risk for many of those companies is too great for their niche products so they shifted to the PSP that was doing much better for them and the audience migrated.
 

Josh5890

Member
It is amazing how the Sony went from the PSP, which quietly sold 80+ million units to the Vita which was dead within two years as far as AAA devs were concerned.
 

Osukaa

Member
If they did I would buy it day 1. I Love my Vita as well and hope Nintendo succeeds with the NX so the market for (somewhat) dedicated handhelds gets bigger again. I guess only Sony knows if they ever will jump in again though and the chances for it happening for now dont look so bright -_-
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
The PS4 Portable idea in the OP might be feasible several years down the line. New lower-end games (like indies) would also probably run on it. If Sony makes the Neo the beginning of a family of devices all sharing the same library, a portable form factor could fit in with that. That way the portable would at least have an appealing software library.
 

Agent X

Member
Personally, I would love to see Sony create a new portable successor to the PSP and Vita. The system should retain the ability to play PSP and Vita games (and PS1 games as well), Remote Play, and PS Now, but offer improved and updated hardware to bring it up to today's standards.

Unfortunately, that's unlikely to happen.
 

Theonik

Member
PSP sold 80mln also because it was (easily) hackerable
PSP software sales were actually relatively high. In 2011 Sony had announced 70m PSPs sold and 298m software sales to that point.
It didn't set the world ablaze but I wouldn't say software sales were a failure. DS suffered from an even more rampant piracy problem but of course sold more than twice the amount of units.
 

OuterLimits

Member
The Nintendo audience doesn't match up with the audiences for those companies (see how poorly NIS's and Falcom's DS games performed) which is why they don't support Nintendo's systems.

NIS is doing about as well on the PS4 as they are on the Vita and PS3. Falcom is making the move too. Tokyo Xanadu and Ys VIII are getting upgraded ports. Can't imagine that the small fanbases wouldn't also be on the PS4 since, you know, there's a large overlap between Sony's Vita owners and their console owners.

And aside for co-op hunting games, multiplat games are split pretty well like the Attack on Titan game (62K for Vita, 61K for PS4). It's very reasonable to think that, if there was no Vita version, the PS4 sales would increase. Might not necessarily be double namely if there are price differences between the versions but I see no reason why the fanbase would be more likely to move to the NX than to the PS4 especially when the games aren't based around co-op.

Disgaea 5 was PS4 exclusive and absolutely bombed in Japan. Not having a portable version like past games in series was a mistake
 

AppleBlade

Member
Yes they should and they should also support it better. If the Vita was a crappy piece of hardware and a horrible experience I'd say No (like many others are) however the Vita is actually a great piece of hardware and it is a pleasure to use and despite Sony putting no effort in the platform at all it still gets plenty of playtime from me. It's pretty remarkable that the hardware, os and such limited software support has managed to carry the system and keep it a relevant part of my gaming life years into it's life.
 

Theonik

Member
Yes they should and they should also support it better. If the Vita was a crappy piece of hardware and a horrible experience I'd say No (like many others are) however the Vita is actually a great piece of hardware and it is a pleasure to use and despite Sony putting no effort in the platform at all it still gets plenty of playtime from me. It's pretty remarkable that the hardware, os and such limited software support has managed to carry the system and keep it a relevant part of my gaming life years into it's life.
The big problem that killed the Vita more than anything else was that Sony's resources were stretched thin trying to support both systems. WiiU suffered from the same issue in Nintendo. The main difference between the systems in that regard that made the big difference was internal politics. Sony's Japan branch really wanted a PSP successor so they pushed for the NGP, but they never consulted their branches abroad. Europe and US were not too hot on that idea with the US being the most negative.

They had to push the Vita regardless but when it came to them allocating resources they never believed in the project so basically left it to die, focusing instead on closing the PS3/360 gap and preparing for the PS4. Eventually all Sony branches decided to basically shift resources in pushing the PS4 as the more viable system.
 
PSP software sales were actually relatively high. In 2011 Sony had announced 70m PSPs sold and 298m software sales to that point.
It didn't set the world ablaze but I wouldn't say software sales were a failure. DS suffered from an even more rampant piracy problem but of course sold more than twice the amount of units.

I didn't mean that PSP sw sales were low but piracy helped hw sales in the same way it helped monstrous DS sales (and Wii too)
but considering that in Japan it sold around the GBA but except for MH titles anything else passed the milion mark

which are the milion sellers besides GTA for the west and MH for Japan?
 
All the ps4 games on the go (no internet connection is needed).

Um how would that be possible? It's basically a given than the NX games won't be graphical powerhouses, since they have to be played on portable hardware.
How could they get a PS4 game to run on a portable?
 

Fox_Mulder

Rockefellers. Skull and Bones. Microsoft. Al Qaeda. A Cabal of Bankers. The melting point of steel. What do these things have in common? Wake up sheeple, the landfill wasn't even REAL!
Um how would that be possible? It's basically a given than the NX games won't be graphical powerhouses, since they have to be played on portable hardware.
How could they get a PS4 game to run on a portable?

Probably not now, but in the near future i'm sure it will be possible.
 

Neff

Member
I think Sony killed their own chances there

511KlqNXJVL.jpg

It's crazy how Sony is still in love with the idea of proprietary formats even though it's shut them down at almost every venture and cost them untold billions.
 

Kuni

Member
Yeah no.

Vita has done very well in the niche market it's carved out for itself. It's actually a curiosity in that it both failed and succeeded with a great library and profit (for devs at least)

It's a shame as I still see a place for a good gaming handheld that doesn't have the issues of the current mobile market: space, overheating, input method, battery, piracy. But the market has spoken loud and clear.

Sony should diversify for sure to guard against another PS3 situation but I'm not a smart enough cookie to know what that is.
 

AnGer

Member
In response to the NX (possibly) being a handheld? No.
If they want to try one more time? Yes, and I'll even support them if they do it. Both Vita and PSP are great devices (the PSP has the better library though IMHO) and if Sony manages to stop messing around with the media formats, it'll likely be a device worth seeking out.
 

MacTag

Banned
Nintendo was historically terrible at 3rd party relations and their policies for lower volume runs of games on the DS were non-existent. Risk for many of those companies is too great for their niche products so they shifted to the PSP that was doing much better for them and the audience migrated.
Yes this makes sense in regards to DS vs PSP. Media was a major factor as was system spec; lots of companies had recent PS2 and PC games that could be easily ported to PSP but not really translated to DS. That's why PSP got Monster Hunter and DS didn't for example.

For 3DS vs Vita though a lot of these inherent advantages lessened or dissappeared entirely. Media is similar and so are the logistics surrounding it (costs, capacities, volumes, lead times) and while there's still a gulf in spec, it's lessened versus the DS/PSP gulf in terms of what games can be done on both systems. And as such 3DS got Monster Hunter to great success. Similarly the gulf in spec for Vita and recent consoles/PC widened versus PSP and the consoles/PC games of it's day, making direct ports and conversions a less attractive proposition outside focused Japanese cross development or low spec indies. Vita's incredible market collapse didn't help matters either.

With DS there were more compelling reasons for niche Japanese publishers to avoid the platform than we saw with 3DS. And likewise PSP was a much more attractive and competitive platform in it's day than what Vita offers, yet we still see some niche publishers fighting market realities to fully back Vita and never really bother giving 3DS a shot. Even now with Vita's end in sight we see these same publishers attempting to transition to PS4 on some slim hope of a Square driven Japanese turnaround, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the same usual suspects completely ignore NX again. Saying there isn't a market on Nintendo platforms for their games when no serious attempt is ever made to try build one (even when the general marketplace and platform characteristics favor trying) just seems like circular logic to me.

PSP software sales were actually relatively high. In 2011 Sony had announced 70m PSPs sold and 298m software sales to that point.
It didn't set the world ablaze but I wouldn't say software sales were a failure. DS suffered from an even more rampant piracy problem but of course sold more than twice the amount of units.
DS sold 2x the units but it also sold 3x the software PSP did.

I didn't mean that PSP sw sales were low but piracy helped hw sales in the same way it helped monstrous DS sales (and Wii too)
but considering that in Japan it sold around the GBA but except for MH titles anything else passed the milion mark

which are the milion sellers besides GTA for the west and MH for Japan?
The be fair GBA's only Japanese million sellers were Pokemon and a SMB1 rom. PSP's software sales in Japan at least weren't a world away from what GBA was doing, not much could crack a million on either.

GBA was also hit pretty hard by piracy in it's day but in different ways than DS and PSP. It was more about emulating the platform entirely rather than using custom firmware or pirate cards on real hardware.
 

Theonik

Member
Yes this makes sense in regards to DS vs PSP. Media was a major factor as was system spec; lots of companies had recent PS2 and PC games that could be easily ported to PSP but not really translated to DS. That's why PSP got Monster Hunter and DS didn't for example.

For 3DS vs Vita though a lot of these inherent advantages lessened or dissappeared entirely. Media is similar and so are the logistics surrounding it (costs, capacities, volumes, lead times) and while there's still a gulf in spec, it's lessened versus the DS/PSP gulf in terms of what games can be done on both systems. And as such 3DS got Monster Hunter to great success. Similarly the gulf in spec for Vita and recent consoles/PC widened versus PSP and the consoles/PC games of it's day, making direct ports and conversions a less attractive proposition outside focused Japanese cross development or low spec indies. Vita's incredible market collapse didn't help matters either.

With DS there were more compelling reasons for niche Japanese publishers to avoid the platform than we saw with 3DS. And likewise PSP was a much more attractive and competitive platform in it's day than what Vita offers, yet we still see some niche publishers fighting market realities to fully back Vita and never really bother giving 3DS a shot. Even now with Vita's end in sight we see these same publishers attempting to transition to PS4 on some slim hope of a Square driven Japanese turnaround, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the same usual suspects completely ignore NX again. Saying there isn't a market on Nintendo platforms for their games when no serious attempt is ever made to try build one (even when the general marketplace and platform characteristics favor trying) just seems like circular logic to me.


DS sold 2x the units but it also sold 3x the software PSP did.


The be fair GBA's only Japanese million sellers were Pokemon and a SMB1 rom. PSP's software sales in Japan at least weren't a world away from what GBA was doing, not much could crack a million on either.

GBA was also hit pretty hard by piracy in it's day but in different ways than DS and PSP. It was more about emulating the platform entirely rather than using custom firmware or pirate cards on real hardware.
While some of the perceived advantages of PSP vs DS disappeared with the 3DS, the publisher relations don't suddenly change overnight. These niche games found a good audience on the Vita and these publishers were expecting their audience to move to it rather than 3DS. If you are a mainstream game series like Monster Hunter your decisions are different.

One advantage niche developers have is they get to choose which platform to be on and their games will sell similarly low figures. Their targets are quite low and their pull for their dedicated audience quite strong so even if it's just a 'Nintendo treated us like crap, we like Sony' that's enough for them to justify the decision internally.

Yes, DS sold a lot more software units than PSP, though a lot of it were focused on a few massive hits by Nintendo. It was a massively successful system but still had massive piracy. The point I was making though was that the PSP was not a system that was sold mainly on Piracy. After all, they sold a healthy amount of software for it. People would never have bought it if there was no library worth pirating on it anyway. The other point is, that massive sales of software despite rampant piracy on the DS shows piracy doesn't really matter much if the system is successful.
 
I think they might at some point. I mean if the NX is successful why not.

At some point there's going to be a market for NX-like handhelds that can provide excellent tv experiences.
 
I say they should cut it with dedicated handheld devices. Take advantage of that iOS/Android base and offer something that turns current iPhones and Android phones/tablets into something like a Vita++, with a curated store and exclusive titles.
 

baberunisei

Member
We need just a Vita Neo, a little more powerful and maintaining the same form factor to reduce costs. Then it would be able to continue receiving all the indie and Japanese goodnesses that have been captivating us Vita-lovers in recent years. C'mon Sony! Do it for us! Remember the Vita attach rate!
 

Malakai

Member
Power had nothing to do with it because they could have built the games ground up for the DS/3DS and then ported them to the PSP/Vita.

Falcom's president explicitly stated that it's because the sales of their DS games were poor that they didn't develop more games for it.

They on released two games:
Legacy of Ys: Books I & II which was panned for changing up the original story too much.
Ys Strategy which wasn't even released in the United States and received very bad reviews.
 
They on released two games:
Legacy of Ys: Books I & II which was panned for changing up the original story too much.
Ys Strategy which wasn't even released in the United States and received very bad reviews.

I'd also like to add that both of these games were outsourced - Falcom was not responsible for development (which probably explains the quality issues). They didn't publish these games either. Falcom literally never touched the DS.
 
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