Software outside of Japan fell off a damn cliff but people bought hardware pretty regularly in its last few years for ease of piracy. Also happened to the DS but not as dramatically.
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PlayStation Boss Sees Limited Potential for Handheld Gaming
- Thread starter fluffydelusions
- Start date
Software outside of Japan fell off a damn cliff but people bought hardware pretty regularly in its last few years for ease of piracy. Also happened to the DS but not as dramatically.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Yeah, for PlayStation.
ComradeZero
Member
What? 99% of people give them shit for what they did to the Vita. What 'pass' did they get?
No kidding. And I expect mobile will probably only encroach further into that space.
I'd prefer Sony to concentrate on console gaming, anyway (though I suppose they also have VR). Like someone said, their handheld efforts always gave a sense of fracturing the company rather than expanding it, so to speak.
I'd prefer Sony to concentrate on console gaming, anyway (though I suppose they also have VR). Like someone said, their handheld efforts always gave a sense of fracturing the company rather than expanding it, so to speak.
Not even Nintendo would be stupid enough to release a pure handheld in this phone gaming perioid.
I mean, a PlayStation boss isn't releasing Nintendo handhelds.
The pass comes from people saying Sony did the right thing by not supporting their console. Some of those people are in this thread.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Andrew House wasn't commenting on purely dedicated handhelds. He made this comment in reference to the Switch.
MegaManTrigger
Banned
Lord of Ostia
Member
That's the exact context it is showcasing. The market leader, 3DS, in this market will struggle to hit the numbers that the PSP hit which was outsold 2 to 1 by the DS. The PSP, no matter the context, was a successful piece of hardware. It sold more than the current market leader.
I don't think anybody is going to argue that the current market is just as easy to sell dedicated portable gaming systems to as the DS/PSP market was.
Lunarwhale
Member
It's a shame. The Vita's one of the nicest handhelds I've ever had. Its OS was snappy and user experience pleasant all-around.
It's just that it was also hampered by terrible decisions, like grossly overpriced proprietary memory cards (anecdotal, sure, but I've spoken to people who cited this as part of why they skipped it), seemingly arbitrarily blocked off PS1 and PSP titles, and limitations like one account per system. I'd like to see Sony at least attempt a hybrid system down the line, but there's little to no chance of that.
It's just that it was also hampered by terrible decisions, like grossly overpriced proprietary memory cards (anecdotal, sure, but I've spoken to people who cited this as part of why they skipped it), seemingly arbitrarily blocked off PS1 and PSP titles, and limitations like one account per system. I'd like to see Sony at least attempt a hybrid system down the line, but there's little to no chance of that.
Tom Nook Sawyer
Member
RIP Super Metal Dave and his Switch-like Sony Hybrid
LiveFromKyoto
Member
As far as I'm concerned, the fact that it's still getting games announced in Japan and translated means the Vita's still alive and kicking. And it's so much better than the PSP ever was that I'll be satisfied mining its library for years.
That said, I've enjoyed both Sony's handhelds greatly. It's a damn shame they're turning their back on that market, when portable devices are in their corporate DNA going back decades. It's fine if people enjoy mobile gaming, but it's just not the same.
That said, I've enjoyed both Sony's handhelds greatly. It's a damn shame they're turning their back on that market, when portable devices are in their corporate DNA going back decades. It's fine if people enjoy mobile gaming, but it's just not the same.
MaximumSpider
Banned
Exactly what I was thinking
Barajas_201
Member
Maybe if they didn't screw it up with dumb gimmicky ideas and propitiatory memory crap it would work.
MegaManTrigger
Banned
My point being that it's weird to directly compare handheld consoles from preceding and succeeding generations because that doesn't really accomplish anything. I would never argue that the PSP wasn't a success, I just don't see the point in comparing the PSP to the 3DS, which is why I specifically mentioned the DS when it came to people making hyperbolic statements like "The DS sold double so therefore the PSP failed!"
Incitemaybe
Member
I'd like it if there was a hybrid system going forward as it's the form factor and choice I've always wanted for 30 years.
J
JeremyEtcetera
Unconfirmed Member
All released after Killzone M:
Freedom Wars
Fat Princess: Piece of Cake
Doki Doki Universe
Destiny of Spirits
Hohokum
Helldivers
This is just from the A-L list. Hopefully one of these games meets your specific criteria although I have the feeling that the criteria will change again after this post. They didn't give up on the system until 2016 no matter what some here want to believe.
The very definition of hybrid implies this wouldn't be a split though. I'm saying make their next mainline PS numbered system a hybrid, not make a hybrid on top of making the PS5 as well. Then it would just be the handheld PS again.
Yes, I remember and agree. The Vita as it was conceived and sold was never going to succeed. The value proposition wasn't there for most people, including myself. It was too expensive for a device that did things like other devices, just not as well and required proprietary memory cards. Again.
The launch line up was fine but similarly to the Wii U, there was no killer app. Also like the Wii U, the overall value proposition was not adequate.
My point, and perhaps I should have been clearer, is that a follow up to the PSP was not doomed from the start. The Vita as it was conceived was unfortunately always going to fail. However that doesn't mean it was destined to if Sony had made different choices and positioned it differently.
Yep, that list CLEARLY demonstrates full effort by Sony's first party studios in promoting the Vita as a go to destination for their titles. Right.
J
JeremyEtcetera
Unconfirmed Member
That's not what he asked for(not to mention the list isn't complete), but like I said the criteria would change after my post and here it is right in your post.
SinCityAssassin
Member
Generally it's not a failure, but some would still consider it a failure compared to the dominance of the DS and it's possibly a failure for Internal members of Sony.
Also it was 80 million.
LiveFromKyoto
Member
Lumines: Electronic Symphony. Might well be the best puzzle game ever.
It was the people who failed the Vita, not the other way around.
OrbitalBeard
Member
That's not how this works.
EmCeeGramr
Member
None of those are big games in the slightest to the point that I've never even heard of three of them, and two of the ones I have heard of were multiplatform.
Freedom Wars is probably the only one on that list which would count as a big budget Vita game.
Oh, please. Don't act like I have arbitrary standards. I'll give you Freedom Wars but that was due to the game's development time. Everything else you listed was not a big budget game and they killed Destiny of Spirits like a year after it was released.
Point remains. Sony gave up on Vita.
SinCityAssassin
Member
You have to take into account that the DS/PSP era was largely untouched by the Mobile market as Smart Phones were new and game apps like Infinity Blade or Chaos Ring were considered a novelty.
Maybe, but obviously it wasn't something that sold people on a Vita like BotW has with the Switch or Wii Sports did with Wii or Mario 64 did with the N64.
It wasn't a killer app.
A good launch line up doesn't really matter unless there's one killer app that people flock to and/or the overall value proposition is there for a large amount of people.
The PSP is a weird console to judge in hindsight because it sold a lot of hardware units but it's not entirely clear how much of that was due to piracy. It was clearly a successful hardware platform, especially in Japan, but software sales absolutely cratered in the west early on and never recovered.
J
JeremyEtcetera
Unconfirmed Member
"Oh please, you were right but to me you're still wrong."
You're also twisting my previous words up. I never said that they didn't give up on Vita. I said they gave up in 2016, not 2013 when Killzone released. I'm sorry that you felt burned by them after the release of Killzone M but the point still stands.
I remember people bitching that Lumines was a full priced game without a platinum trophy. It may well be great but it was quickly overlooked.
Now you're putting words in my mouth. You are also changing your position. Don't say that you never said Sony didn't give up on Vita when your first reply to me in this thread was:
And yes, after Killzone: M Sony gave up on Vita. Freedom Wars was only released because they had been working on it since 2012 but tell me: how many big budget games did Sony develop for Vita after Killzone: M was launched?
Nights Owl
Member
Was waiting for this to be mentioned. Lmao. Such a silly thing, tbh.
PSP was a pirates greatest dream. CFW drove those sales moreso than software or PSPs hardware. Vita sadly died with sony making propietary memory cards and thus harder to CFW it too. Also Sony abandoned Vita too soon.
MetalliCabombination
Member
Theyre doing fine with consoles and Nintendo is doing fine with handhelds. No need to fuck it all up
J
JeremyEtcetera
Unconfirmed Member
And then read the next sentence in that very post, and my next post. Why are we going in circles here? We are even agreeing here in general but disagreeing on the year. Why not just leave it at that?
Here is a url to the google search I have made for you:
http://tinyurl.com/yaocwrsa
I'm not doing your work for you man. If you're really interested in Sony Published and Developed Vita games, there you go. I don't like debating with someone who moves goal posts. I gave you an answer earlier. You can do the rest. Once again, I'm sorry you feel burned by Sony but all it takes is one search engine.
. I think I know like 1 person who owns one.The only one who moved goalposts was you. And your link proves me right. Sony gave up making big budget games for Vita after they released Killzone M.
I don't think he's wrong. I think the ultimate appeal of dedicated handhelds is going to be limited compared to mobile. I think the Switch is successful right now at least partly because it's squeezing every last bit of that market it can.
Right now, it looks like the Switch is going to ultimately consolidate the audiences of the 3DS, Vita, and Wii U. With all that combined you have a pretty healthy platform, but not a mainstream phenomenon on the level of mobile, the Wii, or the original DS.
As for the future of portable gaming in general, I think that lies in pretty much being an extension of consoles, which is what the Switch is a start for. In the past handhelds were successful because of great wholly exclusive games because of the massive differences in what they could achieve compared to consoles. That changed not only because of mobile but because with the advent of 3DS and Vita, handhelds became more or less fully capable of running the kinds of 3D games Japanese developers tend to make on consoles.
Here's what I see Sony possibly doing later on, if it's even physically possible: Wait a few more years until the original PS4 hardware becomes mature enough, shrink it down to about the size of a Switch, and just launch that as a portable system that plays all digital PS4 games. It would work even better if Sony gave PS5 developers the option to make games on the platform that are still playable on PS4, effectively extending the PS4's life. At the very least indie developers would definitely do this.
And if devices like the GPD Win catch on, real portable PC gaming could have some potential.
Right now, it looks like the Switch is going to ultimately consolidate the audiences of the 3DS, Vita, and Wii U. With all that combined you have a pretty healthy platform, but not a mainstream phenomenon on the level of mobile, the Wii, or the original DS.
As for the future of portable gaming in general, I think that lies in pretty much being an extension of consoles, which is what the Switch is a start for. In the past handhelds were successful because of great wholly exclusive games because of the massive differences in what they could achieve compared to consoles. That changed not only because of mobile but because with the advent of 3DS and Vita, handhelds became more or less fully capable of running the kinds of 3D games Japanese developers tend to make on consoles.
Here's what I see Sony possibly doing later on, if it's even physically possible: Wait a few more years until the original PS4 hardware becomes mature enough, shrink it down to about the size of a Switch, and just launch that as a portable system that plays all digital PS4 games. It would work even better if Sony gave PS5 developers the option to make games on the platform that are still playable on PS4, effectively extending the PS4's life. At the very least indie developers would definitely do this.
And if devices like the GPD Win catch on, real portable PC gaming could have some potential.