R
Rodin
Unconfirmed Member
Short answer: software and marketing. Ridiculously expensive, proprietary memory cards didn't help either.
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Why wasn't the Vita a success?
- Thread starter Lagamorph
- Start date
WickedLaharl
Member
Because it was way too fucking expensive and you needed to buy a proprietary card to use it.
Sony screwed themselves.
Sony screwed themselves.
DISSESHOWEDO
Banned
Wrong, wrong and wrong again!
On topic, the memory cards, lack of proper marketing and no monster hunter imo.
I think the short answer is marketing. Sony had a little momentum to begin with but they didn't adapt and perservere through the hard times. The "AAA games on handheld" thing didn't work out, so they turned it into a 3rd party / indie machine and left it at that.
They should have focused on making great mobile experiences like the 3DS did. Games like Persona 4 Golden, Killzone Mercenary, and Tearaway are great, but they needed more along those lines and more marketing to show how fun it can be.
And also Remote Play sucks so that isn't even a valid bullet point.
They should have focused on making great mobile experiences like the 3DS did. Games like Persona 4 Golden, Killzone Mercenary, and Tearaway are great, but they needed more along those lines and more marketing to show how fun it can be.
And also Remote Play sucks so that isn't even a valid bullet point.
People outside of Japan generally don't care about handhelds if it doesn't have Nintendo on the front cover, regardless of what games are there, phones are more than enough for the casual user.
Sony didn't support it after the initial months because they only realized the first point when it was too late.
Because of the first and second points, the peripherals were never lowered in price to keep up with what little demand there would have otherwise been, thus continuing the circle.
Sony didn't support it after the initial months because they only realized the first point when it was too late.
Because of the first and second points, the peripherals were never lowered in price to keep up with what little demand there would have otherwise been, thus continuing the circle.
Sucky...absolutely crap....worthless advertising/marketing. They completely blew it.
Also those memory cards sucked a fat one. I'm still pissed about the memory cards. I have multiple 8GB cards still instead of a 64, 128, or even a freak'n 256GB(if they had made one) I'd like to have for cheap.
I do love my Vita though.
Also those memory cards sucked a fat one. I'm still pissed about the memory cards. I have multiple 8GB cards still instead of a 64, 128, or even a freak'n 256GB(if they had made one) I'd like to have for cheap.
I do love my Vita though.
petethepanda
Member
"Console quality on the go" was the wrong approach and doomed it from the start. It set expectations that were too lofty, and that's not the type of experience that is best suited for the handheld anyway. (Even if we got a few good games out of that approach.)
The Bioshock SRPG that never got off the ground sounds like the type of game that the system should have focused on. Franchises you know but experiences built from the ground-up for the platform.
(I don't think it's as big of a factor in the Vita's doom as it's made out to be, but the price of the proprietary memory cards is definitely a bummer. I've bought a lot of Vita games, but I would have bought even more if I had a 64gb card in it.)
The Bioshock SRPG that never got off the ground sounds like the type of game that the system should have focused on. Franchises you know but experiences built from the ground-up for the platform.
(I don't think it's as big of a factor in the Vita's doom as it's made out to be, but the price of the proprietary memory cards is definitely a bummer. I've bought a lot of Vita games, but I would have bought even more if I had a 64gb card in it.)
bennywhatever
Member
For people that have heard of the Vita: Memory Cards
For the other 99.99%, it was because they have never heard of it. The Vita, unlike the 3DS, didn't have that mainstream "hook".
For the other 99.99%, it was because they have never heard of it. The Vita, unlike the 3DS, didn't have that mainstream "hook".
friskykillface
Banned
low support
memory card prices were a buzz kill
I only bought one cause it was on sale during black friday and it included a ton of free games and it was the assassins creed bundle, think it was like $130
that being said, I enjoyed it, killzone was great, black ops vita was as arcade as you could get
memory card prices were a buzz kill
I only bought one cause it was on sale during black friday and it included a ton of free games and it was the assassins creed bundle, think it was like $130
that being said, I enjoyed it, killzone was great, black ops vita was as arcade as you could get
Father_Brain
Banned
Japan: no MH, no third-party support comparable to what PSP got from the likes of Konami and SE
Everywhere else: designed for a market that no longer existed (specifically, the Western PSP market circa 2007-8)
Everywhere else: designed for a market that no longer existed (specifically, the Western PSP market circa 2007-8)
+ Sony stopped supporting it after the first year
+ Not a PSP2. Just IndieStationPortable. :/
Suzushiiro
Banned
-General decline of dedicated handhelds due to the rise of smartphone gaming
-Much more expensive than its counterpart (its launch price was equal to the 3DS' initial launch price that was reduced by ~$70 a few months later due to how badly it was selling at that price point, on top of the memory card thing.)
-Weaker library than the 3DS- while third party-wise they were about even with Vita maybe having a slight edge (both got ports/remakes, indies, and niche Japanese titles, mostly) the 3DS' first party library blows the Vita's first party library out of the water.
-Much more expensive than its counterpart (its launch price was equal to the 3DS' initial launch price that was reduced by ~$70 a few months later due to how badly it was selling at that price point, on top of the memory card thing.)
-Weaker library than the 3DS- while third party-wise they were about even with Vita maybe having a slight edge (both got ports/remakes, indies, and niche Japanese titles, mostly) the 3DS' first party library blows the Vita's first party library out of the water.
I don't buy consoles to drool over the chips inside, I buy them to play games. I bought one at launch and in all the time since then, I bought two games. Gravity Rush and Tearaway. It wasn't worth paying £200 for 2 games.
ZombiePlatypus
Member
At least that was an individual game. This was the cornerstone of Vita's identity for god knows what reason. Honestly I don't know what Sony was thinking shoehorning console games on a handheld. Sure, it's impressive, but it should have been obvious there would be no demand there.
Sakura
Member
Software?
I don't think people want handheld versions of console games. Like, here is your Vita, so you can play inferior versions/spinoffs of all your favourite AAA games. That is how I feel it was pushed (when it was pushed). But outside of hardcore circles, I don't think people want that.
Look at Nintendo's approach. They treat their handheld like a flagship platform. They have entire franchises that are pretty much handheld only. And they have no problem putting main entries in big franchises on there. ie, rather than the 3DS just getting an Animal Crossing spin off or something, it instead gets the next main Animal Crossing.
Sony and the western third parties that put games on the Vita never really gave it that kind of support. And eventually it basically just became a system for niche Japanese games.
People kind of overplay the power bit. I don't think that is terribly important to the average consumer.
I don't think people want handheld versions of console games. Like, here is your Vita, so you can play inferior versions/spinoffs of all your favourite AAA games. That is how I feel it was pushed (when it was pushed). But outside of hardcore circles, I don't think people want that.
Look at Nintendo's approach. They treat their handheld like a flagship platform. They have entire franchises that are pretty much handheld only. And they have no problem putting main entries in big franchises on there. ie, rather than the 3DS just getting an Animal Crossing spin off or something, it instead gets the next main Animal Crossing.
Sony and the western third parties that put games on the Vita never really gave it that kind of support. And eventually it basically just became a system for niche Japanese games.
People kind of overplay the power bit. I don't think that is terribly important to the average consumer.
Memory card prices killed it before it could ever get a decent foothold. It would have stood a better chance if they had gone with microSD instead.
The shift away from traditional handhelds to cellphones are one of the reasons why Sony won't be making another handheld. In this case, the Vita was their last attempt at a dedicated handheld. Now there's no reason to make one.
The shift away from traditional handhelds to cellphones are one of the reasons why Sony won't be making another handheld. In this case, the Vita was their last attempt at a dedicated handheld. Now there's no reason to make one.
In Japan, the vita is generally outselling the new3DS on a weekly basis at this point.
Problem being that the market has become small in general. So only the people who already have the console buy games, nobody is buying a unit for new titles.
Skellig Gra
Member
It's great for niche titles but it didn't have any huge mass market appeal games.
Acquiescence
Member
Because of the surging mobile market and because Sony didn't put its best teams behind it in terms of software support. All the major players are working on the PS4 (understandly), but the Vita didn't come close to receiving that same kind of commitment from the first-party studios.
JordanN
Banned
I see "console on the go" used as a negative, but what else was Vita suppose to do?
A 3DS clone? That makes two identical handhelds and Sony already made the PSP anyway (which 3DS is closer to).
A phone? Sony tried those with the Xperia/psp hybrids which didn't take off.
The console on the go was the only lesser of two evils where Vita could actually succeed anywhere.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
No games.
3ds already established itself by the time it came out and was wildly popular in japan.
Memory card situation.
Smart phones.
Marketing.
I bought a Vita on launch day. No regrets. I sold it a while ago but I liked the system for what it is was. 3ds just has a much better library and kind of ate it's lunch.
3ds already established itself by the time it came out and was wildly popular in japan.
Memory card situation.
Smart phones.
Marketing.
I bought a Vita on launch day. No regrets. I sold it a while ago but I liked the system for what it is was. 3ds just has a much better library and kind of ate it's lunch.
Sniffynose
Member
The memory card price, and the stupid controls.
I've had both versions and loved them but once the games stopped coming I relied on it for remote play, but the controls just couldn't keep up and once sony did the remote play app for windows I sold them that week.
If it had full DS4 controls and used microsd it would have been THE ultimate handheld.
I've had both versions and loved them but once the games stopped coming I relied on it for remote play, but the controls just couldn't keep up and once sony did the remote play app for windows I sold them that week.
If it had full DS4 controls and used microsd it would have been THE ultimate handheld.
JesseEwiak
Member
Enough people don't want AAA console games on the go and people don't want to pay $250 to play high quality ports of indy games or JRPG's.
Honestly? Not exist.
Honestly? Not exist.
Sheriff_Battlesnake
Banned
Spensive.
Also mobiles were filling the portable market. People couldn't justify a $750 phone and then a $250 handheld when the phone does most of what the handheld does.
I loved my Vita with all of my heart, it was such a sexy piece of hardware. Too beautiful for this hideous world. My ex made sure it had a proper burial, and by that I mean she sold it to a pawn shop for crack under the guise that she thought I was cheating on her so I deserved it.
Also mobiles were filling the portable market. People couldn't justify a $750 phone and then a $250 handheld when the phone does most of what the handheld does.
I loved my Vita with all of my heart, it was such a sexy piece of hardware. Too beautiful for this hideous world. My ex made sure it had a proper burial, and by that I mean she sold it to a pawn shop for crack under the guise that she thought I was cheating on her so I deserved it.
I think it's the combination of the demographic that would buy games like Killzone and Uncharted prefer the big TV experience and secondly it's redundant as a media device when there's smartphones and tablets now.
These are fundamental issues holding a Sony portable back no matter how well they execute it.
These are fundamental issues holding a Sony portable back no matter how well they execute it.
TheGeniusArcana
Member
It was expensive, wasn't marketed well, and lacked a strong early library. (Even now the library is extremely weak if you're not into niche games.) Add the obvious memory card issue to that and it's sadly not hard to see why it ended up this way. Smartphone games were more than enough for most people as well.
Bolivar687
Banned
1. Games - no quality titles or remakes of masterpieces as proof of its power.
2. Memory cards - it was anti-consumer, hence why so many people enthusiastically cheered for it to fail.
2. Memory cards - it was anti-consumer, hence why so many people enthusiastically cheered for it to fail.
technozombie
Member
My answer: The Xperia Play.
The Xperia Play and the Vita were being talk about around the same time. The Play came out 6 or 8 months before the Vita. Here's the problem the Play had lackluster single core performance, and the Vita had great performance but wasn't a phone at a time when smartphones were becoming huge. Instead of one unified device they had 2 that lacked in important areas.
Also the memory cards. I am one of those people who purposely did not buy a Vita because of that. I was reading about Vita on the net, looking at screenshots and was otherwise hyped to get one. After seeing what happened to Sony's memory stick in the case of cameras and the PSP, I knew I didn't want a part of it.
The Xperia Play and the Vita were being talk about around the same time. The Play came out 6 or 8 months before the Vita. Here's the problem the Play had lackluster single core performance, and the Vita had great performance but wasn't a phone at a time when smartphones were becoming huge. Instead of one unified device they had 2 that lacked in important areas.
Also the memory cards. I am one of those people who purposely did not buy a Vita because of that. I was reading about Vita on the net, looking at screenshots and was otherwise hyped to get one. After seeing what happened to Sony's memory stick in the case of cameras and the PSP, I knew I didn't want a part of it.
I don't think memory cards were quite that important, you can convince people to buy them if the rest of the product is stellar but the premium didn't match with the software selection. Sony tried the PSP strategy again, failing to release compelling games and instead releasing what felt like watered-down console games. They didn't put a strong effort into the software and instead deferred to third parties. Western third parties don't give a shit about portables, probably because they don't know how to effectively market without realistic explosions and it shows, because they tried exactly that and gave up.
Meanwhile, on the Japanese side where they do have a better idea of how to effectively utilize them, Nintendo basically poached a lot of the studios to make games, most importantly, Monster Hunter. Basically that was PSP's center column, without it everything else crumbles. Developer interest lessened (and whale rich mobile water certainly didn't help) and the ones who stayed were the ones with a very specific niche carved out from the PSP days. So it has it's own little island ecosystem but nobody was there to grow it beyond that.
Meanwhile, on the Japanese side where they do have a better idea of how to effectively utilize them, Nintendo basically poached a lot of the studios to make games, most importantly, Monster Hunter. Basically that was PSP's center column, without it everything else crumbles. Developer interest lessened (and whale rich mobile water certainly didn't help) and the ones who stayed were the ones with a very specific niche carved out from the PSP days. So it has it's own little island ecosystem but nobody was there to grow it beyond that.
Ok, this was funny.
I think console gaming on the go is a good selling point. You have to at least sell it tho...dont expect that to sell itself. Even tho one would think that could sell its self.
I honestly think memory cards is a big reason. Especially when Vita games were put on PS+ IGC.
Trigonometrize.
Member
The Vita is plagued by one thing: consumer trends. The price was good, the marketing was serviceable, the games were there, but what it comes down to more than any other factor is that no one in America, no one in Europe, and almost no one in Japan wants to play games on the go on anything other than their phones. And hey, the games are cheaper, you need the phone anyway, so there's zero reason to buy a Vita for you or even your kids.
Overpriced memory cards and a lack of appealing games.
Every time I had money and seriously considered buying a Vita because the hardware was fantastic, it came down to these two things. I'd look into memory card prices and laugh at the fact that 64 GB for Vita was $100 while 64 GB for a micro SD card was less then $20. Then I'd look at the games and realize that it was mostly niche anime RPGs and indie games that I'd already played elsewhere.
And the shrinking dedicated video game handheld market due to the rise of the smartphone certainly didn't help, either.
Every time I had money and seriously considered buying a Vita because the hardware was fantastic, it came down to these two things. I'd look into memory card prices and laugh at the fact that 64 GB for Vita was $100 while 64 GB for a micro SD card was less then $20. Then I'd look at the games and realize that it was mostly niche anime RPGs and indie games that I'd already played elsewhere.
And the shrinking dedicated video game handheld market due to the rise of the smartphone certainly didn't help, either.
bobbychalkers
Member
Console-like experiences aren't what make handhelds attractive. A lot of devs that make the big 3rd party games that bring people to new hardware aren't interested in making portable me too versions of their big IPs. That coupled with expensive hardware and accessories and phones eating up the portable marketshare made it unappealing to wide audiences.
yea that was probably one of the biggest problems.
Nah. The PSP was not just about video games, it was also a descent multi media player. MP3, video and all that jazz. PS Vita is just irrelevant in that regard because of smartphones. The 3DS with its toy-like positioning has another vibe to it.
ChronotriggerJM
Member
It was a great system that had no void to fill, the market doesn't need 2 handhelds with the rise of mobile gaming.
Darryl M R
Member
Memory card price and size, and remote play is pretty bad on it. A lot of people would have picked it up just for a remote play device. But now I can use my Macbook.
Father_Brain
Banned
Uh, source? I'm looking at the MC thread and it doesn't support that at all.
To be clear, Sony has done about as good a job as they possibly could have done of turning Vita around over there after its abysmal first year, but they could only do so much.
tearsintherain
Member
- crappy control scheme, fucking hate that touch pad shit on the back and only two bumpers made it hard to translate console games 1:1
- memory cards - 64gb SD card for $12, or 32gb vita card for $75 WHAT A DEAL.
- rise of mobile gaming, why take two devices when you can take one and get 80% of what you want.