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Is Support For VITA already dying? [Use the new thread]
- Thread starter Fezan
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Father_Brain
Banned
True. Those who want to believe that Vita's current situation is perfectly analogous to the early struggles of PS3 and/or 3DS will keep believing it. Oh well.
I can't argue with your feelings towards the 3DS' future lineup 3 months after launch. I thought the available lineup at the time was quite poor (in contrast to Vita). There were a few promising games on the horizon (RE:R, KI, KH, MGS3D), but no more than Vita in my opinion. I thought Nintendo's 3DS showing at E3 2011 was pretty important for the system.
Mammoth Jones
Member
Regardless of announcements ANY system needs time to ramp up.
That's the only argument I can present. Time will tell. Sony might screw the pooch. They might succeed. Or have a moderate success.
But so soon after launch is too early to call either either way.
Ruud_Luiten
Member
Vita has no face, no identity. Without being unique would you want to invest in this platform?
Softwaresales aren't very high either, so why would a dev make an expensive game for Vita?
Softwaresales aren't very high either, so why would a dev make an expensive game for Vita?
Father_Brain
Banned
It's too soon to judge definitively - I've been saying for a while now that TGS will likely be more telling as to Vita's ultimate fortunes than E3 - but that doesn't mean it's unfair to say that the system's announced software lineup, particularly looking at the crucial Japanese third-party support, puts it in more trouble than any new platform in years; the system still doesn't have a single major exclusive announced from a major Japanese third party. That's staggering. (Include non-exclusives with Vita as the lead platform, and you can add Hatsune Miku, but that's still just one title that won't even break 400K there.)
It's mostly because outside of Japan almost everyone has moved on to smartphones/tablets for portable gaming.
I don't think any playstation platform has had "a face". This is a good thing.
Software sales aren't high because the system is young (and split with digital). Welcome to hardware launch.
Iirc they specifically said they wouldn't do that, said it was the one big mistake they did with the PSP (ditched it and shifted full focus on PS3).
Any system has to have something that sells it or people will not buy it. PS1 won the war with FF7; PS2 was the go-to system for many AAA titles before they came up elsewhere, and more importantly it was a DVD player that came out right when everyone wanted a DVD player. They killed a ton of franchises w/ the PS3 but you got Nathan Drake.
PSP died internationally (feel free to ignore the software sales and tout the 'awesome' hardware numbers) because it didn't have anything to call its identity. It thrived in Japan because it was the Monster Hunter portable. Vita doesn't have anything to call its own yet, and with neither a killer app nor pedigree from a previous iteration that enjoyed massive success, it's in a much worse situation than the other PS consoles.
You also can't take it as a given that something will explode, though.
Oppo
Member
Saw this pop up on Twitter. I wondered what happened to this game - PulzAR.
It's essentially desktop tower defence using AR cards as the towers, which you re-position and rotate in realtime.
Playstation Blog page
kind of nifty.
It's essentially desktop tower defence using AR cards as the towers, which you re-position and rotate in realtime.
Playstation Blog page
kind of nifty.
I think that's too reductive, about all those platforms. Playstation has never been identified by one or two games. Monster Hunter didn't blow up on PSP until pretty late. Prior to that GTA was the most popular series on the system. But people bought it for any number of reasons. Most of the time when I see someone playing PSP on the subway, it's a fighting game.
DangerousDave
Member
Father_Brain
Banned
MH exploding the way it did was, pretty much literally, a miracle (neither PS2 nor DS had any new multimillion-selling third-party IPs in Japan, despite much larger userbases than PSP). It's not likely to happen this generation for any new third-party franchise, and it's certainly no more likely to happen on Vita than on any other platform.
OldJadedGamer
Banned
The system launched over 5 months ago actually.
InsaneZero
Member
Hoping for an unknown low profile to become a sales miracle like Monster Hunter is not a strategy. It's a lottery, plain and simple. It's not an legitimate argument for any console's survival so people should stop trying to use it as one.
I see this being brought up a lot but that's a double edged sword - you never know when and what might become a big hit. The "when and what" could be "never" which is why it's better to have something to bank on while waiting for the next big thing to hit since we have no idea when or if the next big thing will happen.
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
The doubt really started with SCE blundering TGS last fall and not much new interesting stuff coming to the table. People were expecting them to deliver after such a light E3 showing (the "wait for" meme has been going over a year now tbh, really since the Feb 2011 NGP reveal) and instead Nintendo totally disrupted TGS with their own Monhun Megaton.
Since then we've had Vita Game Heaven fail to deliver, now we're looking at E3 and then probably TGS again.
A Twisty Fluken
Member
I don't think people have a thorough understanding of just how unprecedented the rise of Monster Hunter was. So yes, this is correct. And the PSP had a lot more lottery tickets.
Piracy was definitely a problem, but I think Sony and PSP publishers just stopped promoting it. Although PSP continued getting strong games through 2010, most of the hype had shifted to HD consoles. Japanese gamers can crack the PSP just as easily as anywhere else, and clearly games are selling there.
This is one reason why I think Sony should be taking cross-play, remote-play, interoperability, etc seriously. Although Vita absolutely needs exclusive games, there's going to come a time when Sony inevitably shift their focus to PS4. Having some universal functionality with PS4 will keep Vita relevant in absence of a big marketing push.
Given how easy piracy also was on the DS, I don't buy that it had as much impact on the PSP as some insist.
The reason why it did not effect the DS as much was because the millions of parents that got the system for their kids do no know how to pirate games for the DS.
DangerousDave
Member
Well, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, the game that was hyped as the true MGS main saga succesor, sold 50k units on US. Less than MGAc!d.
And, no, not only 50k people played MGS PW on US. Unless all the MGS PW users decided to fill the game forums with posts with tons of cloned usernames.
Problem is the PSP was targeted at tech savvy people who downloaded their own games, while DS was targeted at kids, and kids get a lot of gifts and shit (like games).
Edit: beaten like a dead horse
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
R4 made DS piracy exceedingly easy for families and is exactly why we saw DS software figutes fall off a cliff in 2010/2011.
The reason piracy didn't impact DS quite as fatally as PSP is due more to the size of the bases and the mainstream hits (mostly Nintendo themselves) delivered on DS. In fact a good argument can be made for piracy actually inflating hardware sales for both.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Yep, how can we forget E3, Tokyo Game Show, CES, and that holiday season. So many events Vita failed to deliver.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Then how do you explain over 70 million hardware units sold and pathetic software sales? How often did PSP games crack the top ten sales charts in the west? I guess everyone just wanted to own the system, but not buy games for it?
BTW, you didn't need to mail order an R4 chip for PSP piracy. You needed nothing but the standard memory card, and an internet connection.
Father_Brain
Banned
That's sarcasm? Wow.
The gaming market on smartphones in terms of turnover is really tiny compared to the traditional market. Additionally, 3DS had a monster holiday 2011 and I really don't think people have changed that much since then, the industry at large is however going through a lull right now and outside of Japan 3DS hasn't gotten anything to really drive sales since last year.
Did software sales decline at a rate hugely disproportionate to the decline in hardware sales?
But taste in games also has to be considered because there are individuals that might not have a attraction to any of the games shown and then they spout off how it has no games.
first of all, the launch line up wasn't that great. second of all, what will save the vita at this point that will be at e3? 3DS had the probability of mario, mario kart, zelda, pokemon and other stuff EVERYONE knew will be hitting the console. What do this console has that you honestly looking forward to that OTHERS outside of the traditional forum lurkers is looking forward to?
EDIT: to think about it, a true zelda and true pokemon for 3ds didn't even been mentioned yet, so we know that is coming down the road.....so what can we expect from vita outside of this year? wait till e3 to find out? 3ds still have gangs of games leaking and exploited on the front page of this very website. Where is the vita?
Father_Brain
Banned
Conversely, there will also be people who conflate their subjective taste in gaming with sales analysis, and will thus proclaim Vita "saved" if Sony merely announces enough qualitatively good software, regardless of whether that software falls into categories unlikely to move much hardware (i.e. PS3 ports, Western dudebro titles).
semiconscious
Gold Member
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
R4 solution is easier from an end user perspective though. No cfw flashing or technical know how needed, which is probably why parents bought them like crazy.
I want some big 3rd party games for starters. Some dream games would be Borderlands, Burnout, Elder Scrolls, maybe Dead Space or even Assassin's Creed (especially with multiplayer).
From Sony I want original franchises. A new game from Sucker Punch or Media Molecule would be good to see. I'm not sure if they're likely to do something on PS3 before PS4 comes out. And of course, 1st party franchises. Twisted Metal would've been a better fit on Vita than PS3. I think Infamous would be a great candidate. God of War of course has already had great handheld entries.
I'd like to see something to scratch the Demon's Souls itch. Demon's Souls 2 from FROM would be incredible. But even a close approximation from an internal team would be welcome. Especially if they added coop and streamlined the systems a bit. Soul Sacrifice looks interesting, but it's clearly a different kind of game.
RoninChaos
Member
oh, so now people hate the vita because they can't afford it?
C'mon, son.
C'mon, son.
Kinda like how I feel about the current state of the 3DS?
Here is hoping both systems have a killer E3 though, because competition is always good. I'd like to have more games for both systems.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Software sales were never there.
Father_Brain
Banned
Really? The GTA titles (at least the first one) did pretty well early in Vita's lifespan, and GoW:CoO sold much better than GoS.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
I disagree. The fact that you had to go out of your way and give your credit card info to mail order from what's most likely some shady website, isn't exactly what I'd expect your average parent to do.
With PSP you already have what's needed. Even then I doubt this is sort of the thing most parents bothered to do. PSP appealed to an older demographic that was more knowledgeable and driven to do this than little Timmy's mom and dad.
And since when were DS software sales ever in the toilet like PSP? Over 70 million units sold and what were the sales figures for the top selling games? A joke for an installed base of that size. Sony wasn't embroiled in a cat and mouse game with hackers for nothing.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Do you have sales figures cause I'd like to see them. I'm sure GTA was among the top selling games for the hardware, but for a sstem with such a massive installed base they were pathetic, hence the reason Rockstar ported to PS2.. Sales probably rose when it was found to be a key game needed for an exploit to run homebrew.
Does anyone know how many games broke one million in sales on PSP?
Depending on what firmware you hacked the PSP on you needed equipment ranging from just a card reader to a separate battery or even a particular game.
DS always needed a card reader, sure, but it has a way higher total of software sold. PSP's software problem especially in the west isn't just down to piracy.
Hell back when it was first released the PSP was more or less the best possible device to watch video on that could fit in your pocket. I know tons of people who bought it just for that or for that and one game.
I bet a decent part of the reason why it fell off a cliff in the west was because of the proliferation of later gen idevices and smartphones in addition to the lack of software that really stood out for western audiences.
DS always needed a card reader, sure, but it has a way higher total of software sold. PSP's software problem especially in the west isn't just down to piracy.
Hell back when it was first released the PSP was more or less the best possible device to watch video on that could fit in your pocket. I know tons of people who bought it just for that or for that and one game.
I bet a decent part of the reason why it fell off a cliff in the west was because of the proliferation of later gen idevices and smartphones in addition to the lack of software that really stood out for western audiences.
kawaiigamr
Neo Member
I think vitas got potential thats unused right now, i feel almost like sony released it to consumers too soon before doing anything with it, the same way the ps3 went for like 3 years having barely any games...Im mostly pissed at the fact that they still have no ps3 crossplay and theyre releasing the same exact games simultaneously for ps3 and vita...why cant i just buy one copy and play it on both systems? Hopefully they fix alot of stuff, that would be the unexpected announcement id go for at E3
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