Douche McBaggins The 3rd
Junior Member
Not it isn't. Not for anything really serious or requiring perfect controls.
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Sony: Over 100 Vita games in 2013, 1/3rd of game sales are digital, more
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Not it isn't. Not for anything really serious or requiring perfect controls.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Not sure. I may be too busy playing PS4 games on my Vita to notice.
JoeyJungle
Banned
I wonder when they'll be like "This download stuff is pretty popular, maybe we should make larger memory cards?" (and selling them at reasonable prices would be nice too, their profit margin must be at least 100% on those things)
EDIT:
eddfromtheriver and UberTag beat me to it
EDIT:
eddfromtheriver and UberTag beat me to it
AgentOtaku
Member
Yep, I addressed that
Tallshortman
Member
It's not essential at all, sure a lot of people use it to play games but it's almost never the reason anyone buys an ipad nor is it at all required to enjoy quality games.
Those digital sales. No wonder the support keeps coming.
It's a shame we have no hard numbers, it's undoubtable that the device is selling more software than popular perception would have it.
It's a shame we have no hard numbers, it's undoubtable that the device is selling more software than popular perception would have it.
That isn't a negative.
chickdigger802
Banned
well luckily thats a very niche audience. And there are quite a few boardgames and 4x games that are way more complex than anything on consoles.... and consoles yo, you better not be using wireless gamepad connecting to an hd tv! All that latency!
Questions (that are unlikely to be answered):
1. Does this include Playstation Plus game downloads as a sale?
2. Does this include download only titles, such that buying one DL-only title and one retail would be "50% of games sold through PSN" talk?
If this is the download % for retail games only and not counting Playstation Plus, then it's very good results. Big IFs, though. Detailed clarification would be nice.
2. I guess this includes download only games because didn't the Ubisoft CEO specify the PSN sales as 15-20% (compared to 7% on consoles)?
Chief Icaroc
Banned
That could definitely explain it.... I was thinking this was data from the vita.
How many hours per day do you spend on vita?
A) 2-4 B)3-10 C) 23-24
Father_Brain
Banned
To the extent that games actually are system-sellers for iOS devices, as I said above, it's not any one or two or five or eight games that sell the hardware, as tends to be the case for dedicated gaming platforms; it's the entire App Store ecosystem, and as good a job as SCE is doing of getting indie PC games on PS3/Vita, there's no possible way they can compete with the App Store in sheer breadth and diversity of content.
metalslimer
Member
So basically their strategy is to turn the machine into an indie and PS4 stream machine. If they can make that kind of niche thing profitable and convinvce retailers to carry a product where digital sales are such a big component than more power, but I have large doubts retailers will go for that plan unlesss Sony provides retailers with a significant cut of the hardware money which im not sure sony would go for.Basically i question the opportunity cost for Sony in such a move.
AranhaHunter
Banned
Not suggesting Vita will ever reach those levels, but didn't Steam and, like other people mentioned, iOS' app store started like this?
If that's how they meant then overall SW sales numbers are grimmer than we originally thought and the indie games are coming because Sony is banking the whole thing.
Those numbers can be either good or bad depending on how you read it.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, total retail Vita software for the week was 66.6K:
If he meant ALL games on PSN (PS1/PSP/Minis/Mobile/PSN retail/PSN exclusive) accounts for 33% of the total, then the total number of downloads would be 33.3K and it includes all of the above. Total Vita sales would be 100K. This is a real poor figure as we know Vita sales at retail are not that high and we would then know that not a whole lot of people are actively buying SW on Vita from PSN. Even if he meant exclusive Vita SW (which would then exclude PS1/PSP/Minis/Mobile), the number would still be poor as there are quite a few Vita exclusive PSN games.
If he meant 33% of total for games that are sold at retail are from PSN then the picture is a lot better as the vita's retail + retail DD SW total would be 100K + sales of SW that are sold exclusively on PSN, which could amount to a lot more.
Yeah, that number was given for AC:L but it doesn't really clear the picture one way or another.
Father_Brain
Banned
With Killzone coming in September, this would seem to suggest that whatever's intended to be the tentpole holiday title(s) for Vita hasn't/haven't been announced yet.
I didn't watch the conference call but the transcription in the neogaf thread just says Vita digital download and doesn't say this number was only given in regards to AC: L. Ubisoft released other games for the platform.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=512154
It's not really that hard if you bought it because you have a more portable lifestyle.
As I said before, I hardly ever play my Vita at home (although on weekends I do), but I have 2+ hours to kill on the bus every weekday, so I play my Vita on the way to work, and on the way home. Depending on Los Angeles traffic, I tend to be on the bus anywhere between 1 to 1 1/2 hours per trip, so anywhere between 2 and 3 hours of game time a day. That's 10-15 hours on weekdays, and if I play 2 or 3 hours on Saturday and Sunday, my weekly Vita play time is anywhere between 15-20 hours a week.
I didn't buy my Vita to be a replacement console. I bought my Vita because I like the idea of being able to play a "console" on the go. It's a large reason why I don't mind seeing ports of console games on the handheld. I have so many games downloaded from Steam and PSN, and I just don't play them. If they were on the Vita, I'd play them all the time. The ones that have cross play, I do play them often.
I'm loving Stranger's Wrath, Sly: TiT, PS All Stars, etc, and I play them 100% on the Vita over my PS3.
metalslimer
Member
With Killzone coming in September, this would seem to suggest that whatever's intended to be the tentpole holiday title(s) for Vita hasn't/haven't been announced yet.
Either golden abyss 2 or there just wont be one like japan last year
Father_Brain
Banned
Well, I did say "would seem to." I think Soul Sacrifice was intended to fill that role before it was delayed, at least...
Well last year SS was meant for a December release but had to be delayed. Let's not forget that this time last year we knew nothing of Vita's holiday line-up either. I would imagine Sony has Ubisoft contracted for another AC game (Sony usually signs 3 game contracts with everyone) and Activision is going to put out a COD for Vita (seeing that it sold relatively well considering the development costs). Anything beyond that is anyone's guess.
How many of those games are going to get more people to buy it? It's tanking in Europe, cant even shift 40k a month in the US and in Japan were waiting to see how it settles after the price drop.
What exactly is the plan to get those sales up as a bunch of indie titles aint doing shit.
What exactly is the plan to get those sales up as a bunch of indie titles aint doing shit.
Father_Brain
Banned
Well, they weren't dated for the holidays, but AC and COD were announced long before this time last year.
Ubi does have more support coming, but I wouldn't expect another exclusive AC with Sofia working on ACIV. We'll see, though.
This is the year of the Sneak Attack Vita. You won't know they're here until you're buried under 'em.
Now that the Phoenix is Rising, anything is possible.
metalslimer
Member
Well presumably they are ok with vitas western sales and the plan is to increase japanese sales while going for extreme niche in the west. Whether retailers go for this is anyones guess. They are probably making a tidy profit on those rip off memory cards
CosmicQueso
Member
I share your dream. I share it every day.
You're technically right, but we really knew nothing about those 2 games apart from the fact that they were coming to the system.
I'm amazed if they really are happy with the western sales. Talk about setting the bar low!!
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
Indie games are a great fit for the Vita, especially since they're small enough to download. It might not have been their strategy starting out but I'd run with it.
Do you have any numbers to share with us?
If Sony is making a profit on the system and offering an ecosystem that indies can make more profit on, does it really matter how many systems Sony actually sells?
I mean we know of the battle between iOS and Android, but remember that hardware with Android on it have a lot more sales than hardware with iOS on it. However, iOS apps generally make more money than Android apps.
If PS Vita's digital games make more money for their developers than iOS's digital games, then it makes more sense to make games for the Vita even with its horrible hardware sales.
well the last two months they have shifted less than 40k in the US. If that success others need to get it on this handheld gaming business.
There forecast says it does matter.
Fifa gets released on practically everything. The important question is whether the Vita version is worthwhile or just another port missing key features.
Father_Brain
Banned
Huh? We have regular NPD leaks, and we have European numbers from Q4 of last year as well.
You said 'western', so I'm assuming you have more than just the US to go on. How about software? How many units have they shifted at retail? How many digitally? What kind of profits or losses are devs looking at?
I'm assuming you have all this information because you seem to know they've set the bar low.
We have very, very little in terms of 'western' numbers.
Father_Brain
Banned
Even if digital sales were half retail, the retail numbers we have are bad enough that that wouldn't change the picture too dramatically.
I wasnt talking about software. I questioned how many of these titles are going to see HW sales increase from the gutter they are in now. We know they suck in the US, we know from nintendo's data they suck in Europe and we know from media create they have pretty much tanked in Japan.
Not really sure what else you need? If sony are happy with those HW sales then so be it, I am very doubtful they are though.
Jawmuncher
Member
I hope they don't count the PSmobile stuff in that number (though they probably are). I see that as a cheap way to inflate numbers.
Oh we're getting all these games....most of them are stuff that's 99 cents on phones.
Oh we're getting all these games....most of them are stuff that's 99 cents on phones.
You'd think so wouldn't you. Thing is, we don't know what the RoI is on these titles. It seems to me that support for the Vita is steadily increasing of late, rather than decreasing as expected. That suggests to me that perhaps the picture is not as dire as many have painted.
I couldn't tell you, but then I don't purport to know where the bar is. Sony could be making a handsome profit or a painful loss for all I know.
I believe it was always part of the strategy, but now with more focus.
Yoshida: Small games, indies crucial to Vita success (June 8, 2012)
Father_Brain
Banned
Not from major third parties. We can agree to disagree, but I don't think support from Western indies or Japanese niche publishers is particularly relevant to the overall fortunes of the platform; in the case of the latter, I don't even think it's particularly newsworthy.
I would say it makes it even harder to make concrete declarations about anything.
I said support is increasing. Do you disagree? I guess not as you needed the 'major' qualification.
If we were playing the 'wishful thinking' game, I'd suggest that all it would take is another Minecraft to make you reconsider what you think of as 'major'.
Father_Brain
Banned
From indie devs, sure. From Japanese niche publishers, I'm actually not sure whether there's that much of an increase in comparable releases from last year. There might be!
I'd argue that the Minecraft you're citing as a counterexample doesn't actually exist, unless there's evidence that a large number of people have bought PCs/360s/mobile devices specifically to play it. I just don't buy that it could have become a phenomenon had it launched on Vita, Wii U, or any other platform with a tiny installed base.
...that is Sony's intention. It's very clear that handsome profit is the less likely situation.
michaelius
Banned
I thought i'm using mine a lot with around 7 hours per week
AranhaHunter
Banned
I'm not sure that's correct. I remember Frozenbyte saying that Wii U sales were good, I don't remember anything about it selling better than on PSN/XBL. Do you have a source?
So it is, but that's for Ubi's games though and it doesn't give us anything concrete one way or another to be honest.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
100 games. I'll believe it when they're on the shelves.
metalslimer
Member
I dont know if vita support is increasing. If anything major support has dropped off a cliff and small developers have compensated. Were seeing more PS3/vita games from smaller developers as well.