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LordOfLore · Mar 28, 2017

Atsushi Morita, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia, wants you to going to keep focusing on the Vita. Thank Minecraft for that!

Take Romancing Saga 3, for example. That was just announced for the PS Vita (as well as iOS and Android). The console also continues to get special iterations, too. Things seem to still be going well for the Vita in Japan!

In an interview with Trendy Nikkei, Morita talked about Sony's gaming handheld, explaining future plans. ”As for the Vita, since Minecraft came out in October 2014, we've been able to actively bring on board kids—that is, younger gamers," Morita said. That success, he added, felt very significant to Sony. During the years that followed, Sony directed more Vita marketing at kids in Japan.

”From henceforth as well, we're going to continuing concentrating on the PS Vita and increase the number of younger [PS Vita] users," Morita said. ”This year, we also plan on developing an IP that's aimed at children."

Granted, it's not all kids that are keeping the PS Vita alive, as Kotaku previously reported, but they are certainly a big part of the handheld's Japanese success.

Keep me in production if old.

red731 · Mar 28, 2017

Vita means life.

Ratrat · Mar 28, 2017

Did they release hardware bundles? Minecraft clones? Help promote the game? I don't think Sony have actually acted on Minecrafts success at all.

oni-link · Mar 28, 2017

An interesting Switch in strategy

kulapik · Mar 28, 2017

Yeah, Vita is dead in the West, but Japanese games are still going strong, makes sense.

2+2=5 · Mar 28, 2017

Vita keeps getting games... but not thanks to Sony, also Minecraft is owned by MS, just saying.

FreedomFighter · Mar 28, 2017

Lies and deceit. C'mon, Sony. Just stop.

LordOcidax · Mar 28, 2017

Welp, Japan is the only place that Vita is selling "well".

zeromcd73 · Mar 28, 2017

oni-link said:
An interesting Switch in strategy

Not really. He has been saying the same thing for over a year now in multiple interviews about how Minecraft is popular and how they are targeting the system at children.

thuway · Mar 28, 2017

When Andrew House calls the machine a legacy platform - even if they admitted it was taken out of context (https://www.google.com/amp/s/ventur...-our-portable-business-will-be-continued/amp/) doesn't exactly ring optimism for the little portable that could.

I'd be the happiest dude ever if Sony took a PS4 Pro approach and made Vita XL.

MikeHattsu · Mar 28, 2017

2+2=5 said:
Vita keeps getting games... but not thanks to Sony, also Minecraft is owned by MS, just saying.

Microsoft saved Vita then ;P

DrROBschiz · Mar 28, 2017

PS Vita paved the way for Nintendo Switch

It will always have a special place in my heart and Im keeping mine

Yo93 · Mar 28, 2017

Morita said. This year, we also plan on developing an IP thats aimed at children.

Didn't Sony stop developing games for the Vita?

FreedomFighter · Mar 28, 2017

It's weird that in all likelihood the 3DS will outsell the Vita not just this year but in 2018.

Unprecedented.

legend166 · Mar 28, 2017

I mean, it's selling <10k a week in Japan and is down almost 50% compared to last year. They can believe in it all they want but it's on its death bed.

entremet · Mar 28, 2017

FreedomFighter said:
It's weird that in all likelihood the 3DS will outsell the Vita not just this year but in 2018.

Unprecedented.

How is that weird?

Nintendo has been the incumbent in the handheld space for a bit now.

OfficerRaichu15 · Mar 28, 2017

They are developing a new IP for it???
I thought Sony ended first party production for vita?

adamsapple · Mar 28, 2017

OfficerRaichu15 said:
They are developing a new IP for it???
I thought Sony ended first party production for vita?

PSP also kept getting a lot of Japan exclusive games, maybe not first party but the platform was alive in Japan long after being declared dead and buried in the US and Europe.

CaviarMeths · Mar 28, 2017

Eh.

Sure, plenty of Vita games are still coming out, but none of them are selling particularly well. Certainly not anywhere near as well as 3DS games. And Minecraft Vita was huge, the most successful game on the platform I'm pretty sure, but even that has dropped out of the top 20 weekly sales charts.

It's not dead, but it's on life support.

FreedomFighter said:
It's weird that in all likelihood the 3DS will outsell the Vita not just this year but in 2018.

Unprecedented.

The 3DS outsold the Vita in Japan by huge margins every year and is still getting key software. Its life-to-date total is 4:1 to Vita. That's roughly the same ratio as current PS4 to Wii U sales worldwide. It's not a close race.

Principate · Mar 28, 2017

entremet said:
How is that weird?

Nintendo has been the incumbent in the handheld space for a bit now.

Successor is out for the 3DS. PSP outsold the DS in it's later years in Japan was looking to be same hear until the vita completely cratered partly due to self sabotage.

maouvin · Mar 28, 2017

Yo93 said:
Didn't Sony stop developing games for the Vita?

OfficerRaichu15 said:
They are developing a new IP for it???
I thought Sony ended first party production for vita?

Yes, but it's not like they're forbidden to doing it again. They stopped for business reasons, and can go back for business reasons.

Rymuth · Mar 28, 2017

Vita~~ was seriously wounded! But the soul. Still. Burns!

18-Volt · Mar 28, 2017

This year, we also plan on developing an IP thats aimed at children.

You, or Nippon Ichi, Namco and Tecmo Koei? Definitely not you, Sony.

FreedomFighter said:
It's weird that in all likelihood the 3DS will outsell the Vita not just this year but in 2018.

That would be very strange because both consoles are unavailable almost everywhere right now.

Principate · Mar 28, 2017

Rymuth said:
Vita~~ was seriously wounded! But the soul. Still. Burns!

Vita is selling less than 10 k on average again and going down. It's on life support at this point.

Mikey Jr. · Mar 28, 2017

This thing was released in 2011.

I get "lol vita means life", but it's been over 6 years for a handheld. The fact that it is somewhat alive in Japan is admirable.

pswii60 · Mar 28, 2017

Principate said:
Successor is out for the 3DS. PSP outsold the DS in it's later years in Japan was looking to be same hear until the vita completely cratered partly due to self sabotage.

It's still not weird unless you've been living under a rock.

family_guy · Mar 28, 2017

Mikey Jr. said:
This thing was released in 2011.

I get "lol vita means life", but it's been over 6 years for a handheld. The fact that it is somewhat alive in Japan is admirable.

Well people still play 3DS games which is far more outdated.

sibarraz · Mar 28, 2017

Bought a vita last week, I feel bad for no supporting it on release, but then the price was not worthy at launch and I didn't have a job

But now that I have one I'm all for a successor

How many vitas were sold worldwide?

RRockman · Mar 28, 2017

Ratrat said:
Did they release hardware bundles? Minecraft clones? Help promote the game? I don't think Sony have actually acted on Minecrafts success at all.

Yes

I always new the Japanese loved it. The west hate the Vita though.

MTC100 · Mar 28, 2017

LordOcidax said:
Welp, Japan is the only place that Vita is selling "well".

Was also the only place the WiiU sold "well" compared to systems other than the 3DS at least.

SatoAilDarko · Mar 28, 2017

I'm really, really surprised at them making new games specifically targeting children. Especially only in Japan where there are less and less born.

It's also a market Nintendo has a strong hold over. I can't help but think of the failure of Gaist Crusher and to a lesser extent Monster Hunter Stories. And those were 3DS.

MTC100 said:
Was also the only place the WiiU sold "well" compared to systems other than the 3DS at least.

Don't the top Wii U games like Splatoon have higher sales than any PS4 titles?

Oregano · Mar 28, 2017

SatoAilDarko said:
I'm really, really surprised at them making new games specifically targeting children. Especially only in Japan where there are less and less born.

It's also a market Nintendo has a strong hold over. I can't help but think of the failure of Gaist Crusher and to a lesser extent Monster Hunter Stories. And those were 3DS.

Monster Hunter Stories outsold all but a handful of Vita games too.

Principate · Mar 28, 2017

pswii60 said:
It's still not weird unless you've been living under a rock.

It kind is if you were paying attention to the two platforms. Vita had comparable amount of third party support to 3DS for a lot of it's life. There was periods it was selling extremely close to the 3DS and even surpassing it. Then devs figured it was a complete dead end and despite the fact they had largely already ditched the 3DS moved their support to the PS4 (keep in mind consoles tradition sell much less than handhelds in japan for the past few generations both in software and hardware). In spite of all this it still ended up with roughly exact same attach ratio (typically more dedicated smaller platforms have higher attach ratio especially when they have substantial comparative support).

killatopak · Mar 28, 2017

red731 said:
Vita means life.

.

Ban Puncher · Mar 28, 2017

FreedomFighter · Mar 28, 2017

entremet said:
How is that weird?

Nintendo has been the incumbent in the handheld space for a bit now.

CaviarMeths said:
The 3DS outsold the Vita in Japan by huge margins every year and is still getting key software. Its life-to-date total is 4:1 to Vita. That's roughly the same ratio as current PS4 to Wii U sales worldwide. It's not a close race.

Recall when late in its lifecycle the PSP outsold the NDS?

Consider that Sony consoles tend to have a very long tail while Nintendo systems tend to die off rather quickly when new Nintendo hardware is introduced.

This plays out with consoles as well. So yes, I'd say 3DS outselling Vita in 2018 would be something. And it's absolutely weird given the precedent for several gens now.

SalvaPot · Mar 28, 2017

I wonder if Minecraft on the Switch will steal a bit of the thunder.

I don't see Sony releasing a new portable, they really don't seem to care enough to support it.

SlipperyFishes · Mar 28, 2017

DrROBschiz said:
PS Vita paved the way for Nintendo Switch

It will always have a special place in my heart and Im keeping mine

Huh how so? I don't see much similar between the two

Mr. Pointy · Mar 28, 2017

MikeHattsu said:
Microsoft saved Vita then ;P

They inadvertently saved the wrong console.

BlackLagoon · Mar 28, 2017

MikeHattsu said:
Microsoft saved Vita then ;P

I would say the opposite. If MS hadn't locked down console exclusivity for Minecraft delaying the Vita port for several years, I think the Vita would have been in a much better place globally.

BeforeU · Mar 28, 2017

lol what... I think soon we will get news about it being discontinuing

FreedomFighter · Mar 28, 2017

SlipperyFishes said:
Huh how so? I don't see much similar between the two

Yeah, agreed. I think a better comparison would be Super Gameboy; asa well as GBA player, and eventually, Vita TV are precursors to Switch. Not Vita in and of itself - I don't see that connection.

Maedhros · Mar 28, 2017

Principate said:
Vita is selling less than 10 k on average again and going down. It's on life support at this point.

I heard that it was dead on the first year...

Yet... here we are...

entremet · Mar 28, 2017

FreedomFighter said:
Recall when late in its lifecycle the PSP outsold the NDS?

Consider that Sony consoles tend to have a very long tail while Nintendo systems tend to die off rather quickly when new Nintendo hardware is introduced.

This plays out with consoles as well. So yes, I'd say 3DS outselling Vita in 2018 would be something. And it's absolutely weird given the precedent for several gens now.

That was still an outlier in terms of Nintendo handheld competitors, mostly buoyed on MH sales, which wisely Nintendo locked up this generation.

Sony handhelds only have two generations of data. Not enough to measure clear trends.

Principate · Mar 28, 2017

Maedhros said:
I heard that it was dead on the first year...

Yet... here we are...

It's sold a 3rd of the PSP in Japan is the last Sony handheld and ended up with the same attach ratio as the 3DS despite being having almost a quarter of it's sales. Great good or mediocre performance it is not.

Maximo · Mar 28, 2017

BlackLagoon said:
I would say the opposite. If MS hadn't locked down console exclusivity for Minecraft delaying the Vita port for several years, I think the Vita would have been in a much better place globally.

Yep same day release as the PS3/PS4 versions with a creeper themed Ps Vita bundle would have done insane numbers.

KillerMan91 · Mar 28, 2017

entremet said:
That was still an outlier in terms of Nintendo handheld competitors, mostly buoyed on MH sales, which wisely Nintendo locked up this generation.

PSP outlived DS also outside of Japan (thanks to developing markets). PS1 greatly outlived N64, PS2 outlived Gamecube by huge amount, PS3 outlived both Wii and WiiU (crazy). This is first time that any Nintendo console is going to outlive its same gen Sony competitor. It's unprecedented.

1st Course · Mar 28, 2017

This might actually be the last year for the Vita as a relevant platform in Japan. Sales are down ~50% over last year.

Calm Mind · Mar 28, 2017

"Vita means life" in the same way that children believe in imaginary friends.

Dragonslayer_023 · Mar 28, 2017

Man we can't have a positive Vita thread? They literally say it's doing well and people are all LALALA DEAD DEAD.

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