frankie_baby
Member
Personally I think it'll be discontinued in the spring, we may see the first signs as we get towards the end of the year and shops need space for the wiiu, I expect vita to disappear from all but dedicated game shops
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Media Create Sales: Week 38, 2012 (Sep 17 - Sep 23)
- Thread starter Chris1964
- Start date
Personally I think it'll be discontinued in the spring, we may see the first signs as we get towards the end of the year and shops need space for the wiiu, I expect vita to disappear from all but dedicated game shops
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
Collections being the key word. How many singular $39.99+ PS2 or PSP HD Remasters are on PS3?I dont know about product apporval, but the price shouldnt be a problem. The PS2 HD collections are well under $60
Spring 13 ? Yeah....no.
But WiiU, iPad Mini and co. will make the life even more difficult for Vita. With its upcoming lineup its destined to fail.
Vita needs a bigger exclusive SE title which pushes the plattform - even if it wont be out till 2014 at least that would be a sign of hope for its supporter. Right now i feel like Nintendo is just playing it safe with the 3DS since its now established and there is no real competition, but they probably have many deals and announcements secured for 2013, but there is just no need to unveil them. Monster Hunter 4 will just be the beginning i think....
Are you crazy?
frankie_baby
Member
Yeah.....yeah
As more clear examples, I think the 3D0 was terrible hardware. I think the Neo Geo was terrible hardware. I think the Sega CD was terrible hardware. All of these systems were very powerful for their time.
In the past, the primary problem with high end hardware a la the 3D0 was that it was expensive to produce; this meant that the 3D0 itself was 400 dollars to the competition's 150 or 200. This automatically limited its appeal and potential. Today, the primary problem is not hardware cost, but development cost; as development costs continue to rise, your system has to be very popular to justify making a game at the high end of the cost spectrum.
You can still make PS2-esque games for the Vita, but those are extremely unlikely to be system sellers. "System sellers" tend to be things which take particular advantage of whatever the system's strong, unique selling points are, whether those strong points be graphics (e.g. Gran Turismo 1 on the PS1) or online (e.g. Halo and Call of Duty on 360) or controls (e.g. Wii Sports). Games which don't take advantage of the system they happen to be on can still be good games, but are very unlikely to be what we casually refer to as "system sellers."
The Vita's primary claim to fame, relative to its immediate competition, is its raw power. Making "system sellers" for the Vita is almost by definition an expensive endeavor, and that is a primary problem with the system.
frankie_baby
Member
Its a less crazy opinion than the vita will get monster hunter and have a PSP sized turnaround
MrCunningham
Member
The PSP really shows that new hardware wasn't even necessary in Japan. People are still buying games for the PSP, nobody cares about better hardware unless it has the software to back it up. Right now the Vita has very little that appeals to the Japanese gamer, while the PSP is a completely Japanese centric machine. The 3DS on the other hand is selling constantly well, I'm surprised that the vanilla unit (non XXL) is still selling well.
The pace at which mobile technology is advancing also is a huge problem. The Vita sounded like incredible technology a year ago. Today not so much. Next year it will be surpassed by phones and tablets costing less.
Little Green Yoda
Member
Do we have any reports from devs as to how expensive Vita game development is relative to game development on the 3DS? Judging from the slower game output in this handheld generation, 3DS development probably isn't cheap either.
Yet the best selling Vita game in Japan is a PS2 port ...
Byakuya769
Member
That makes sense: good point.
What's the consensus on Download Cards? Is retailer feedback positive on their implementation? As it eases up store space, i would believe so. But then the sales are not the same magnitude.
That is quite nice, i'd like to see an update on the LTD of Xenoblade. Any word on The Last Story??
Thanks for doing this Vinnk
much appreciated!Absolutely, I very much agree. Even the 3DS isn't great hardware, just not as bad as Vita.
I still very much believe that the best portable gaming hardware would have been something that could reasonably be priced below the 130 dollar threshold and had particularly cheap game design. Of course, that belief will never be tested, so at best that's a hypothetical.
But given that both the 3DS and Vita appear ready to underperform their predecessors by significant margins worlwide, I don't think it's silly to suggest that better hardware could have been designed which would have been more popular and reached larger audiences.
And how is Vita doing over there in Japan? Selling gangbusters, is it?
thehypocrite
Member
You're wrong, is even more crazy than that.
The real question is how many were actually up for being acquired.
For example, if Nintendo offered Activision $500 million to put CoD exclusively on Wii U, they might actually ignore it because they feel making $1+ billion in revenue every year on their current platforms is a much better long term choice.
If developers didn't feel that making a major game on the Vita would be a sound long term decision for any given reason, this only leaves the smaller titles for Sony to vie for, and they did actually have a fair share of those. It's just that without those major titles, it is very hard to build a self sustaining installed base.
I mean, even to use your own example, they actually went and got God Eater. It's only on PSP/Vita, not 3DS. However, it's not nearly as strong of a brand as Monster Hunter, and thus it is unlikely to cause a critical mass lift to the system's sales.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
The thing is, LBP is a great example of a game that take advantage of the system, and it doesn't seem like it will be selling Vitas. I hate to be the guy who blames poor sales on poor advertising, but I feel like it's at least a major factor in the Vita's present position.
As for being expensive to design for, I thought there was a major push to make the system's SDK readily available for anyone interested? I admit I haven't heard almost anything about this subject in months, certainly not on GAF.
Lol so how exactly does the vita get out of this slump?
Well, there are two main possibilities:
1.) Mix an aggressive price cut with a miracle title in 2013. I refer to it as a "miracle title" because it would have to really be something extremely above and beyond the competition from a completely unseen direction at this point.
2.) They don't and instead refocus their Vita teams on retail and/or digital PS4 games, doubling down on their much more successful gaming product and trying to be dominant with that instead.
test_account
XP-39C²
If they can price 2-3 games in a collection for $30-$40, i dont see any problems pricing one game for $40. I dont expect this happen, but it shouldnt be a problem technically i guess.
djplaeskool
Member
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
Hey now, don't pick on the Neo! >:[
It did exactly what it set out to do, provide a cost effective and hugely successful and long lived modular arcade platform that had a side bonus being repurposed as a boutique consumer item for enthusiasts. It shouldn't be held to the standards of the other failed hardware platforms you're suggesting (3DO, Sega CD, PS Vita) because it had entirely different aims that it more than managed.
Neo*Geo CD, now that's another story...
For awhile the best selling GBA game was a SNES port, the best selling DS game a N64 port, the best selling PSP game a PS2 port and the best selling 3DS game a N64 port. It tends to happen with handhelds.
thehypocrite
Member
I agree. In a market where you can get a multifunction/production device like a tablet for less than 200 dollars a dedicated handheld gaming device should be made to cost under 149.99 with ubiquitous technology to have as minimal barriers of entry as possible. I think Sony over designed the Vita appeasing to the more enthusiastic gamers but pricing themselves out of the mainstream range. The risk is that by the time they reach/fix this, game developers/gamers would have branded the system as dead.
Lol so it just decays and dies in the near future?surely discontinuing it would be very damaging for the ps brand......Can they just keep producing it if it sells worse?
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
The problem is it's against SCEA policy. $20 download or $40-50 collection or both, those are your options.
Graphics Horse
Member
I think that could have happened if they'd put all their efforts behind Playstation Mobile. Now I'm not sure of the future of either Playstation Mobile or PSVita.
test_account
XP-39C²
I see. Do you have any website where i can read about this? I would like to read more about stuff like this. I think it would be unwise to charge $40 for a PSP port anyway, that is why i dont expect it to happen. I'm not expecting to see a port of the game at all before in maybe 2 years at earliest as well.
grimshawish
Banned
The lucky thing for Sony is that:
- 50% of people don't care about the Vita
- 50% of people don't know about the Vita
- Vita's owners are statistically irrelevant and so not included :/
People can be understanding about things, like Wii's last 2 years (whilst 360's not so much); people won't buy another Sony handheld (or any non-Nintendo dedicated, but the market has decided that already anyway) but I don't see it affecting PS4.
Sony have enough entertainment arms to engage with Vita owners online and offer them some forms of content.
Do you think they will keep producing the vita for years to come if it continues to sell like it does now or worse?
The real dangerous thing here is that developers rightly felt that they could not bring certain games to DS after the PS2 finally died out, looked at the PS3 as too expensive at the time and saw the Monster Hunter boosted PSP as a viable platform.
This time around though a lot of those middle of the road developers have already shifted to PS3, might see the PS3/Wii as a healthy enough place to stay or consider the 3DS powerful enough to handle most of their RPGs and light action games, which it is.
This time around though a lot of those middle of the road developers have already shifted to PS3, might see the PS3/Wii as a healthy enough place to stay or consider the 3DS powerful enough to handle most of their RPGs and light action games, which it is.
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
As with everything to do with the various product approval boards, you won't find any official public doc on this. Best bet is to look for devs interviews where things slip.
I believe this was the chief reason why Peace Walker HD was included in the western HD Collections rather than given a standalone release like in Japan. It's also one of the reasons MH3rd HD wasn't released here.
thehypocrite
Member
I think there will be a revision announced early 2013 and launched before the spring. They want to time it before the release dates of Soul Sacrifice/God Eater 2 and try to reset the Vita. This will be their strategy as it worked with the PS3 for them, thus I have the unfounded impression they'll try it with the Vita.
Looking at the Vita components there's no reason why it wouldn't get yearly refresh like smart phones.
If it works is TBD.
maybe for the programmers but then the people who make business decisions don't see the benefit to develop games for it.
EDIT:
Revised VITA + SS/GE2 vs MH4? good luck
Let's be honest how many people are you expecting to buy a vita just for god eater 2?
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
Relaunch/revision seems really likely to me as well. SS/GE2 would be the right time too.
What your ouya-type (android powered?) 99$ handheld without full experiences/$40 games has to offer of unique? Sounds like it is a very bad plan, to be between smartphones (as a portable gaming system, it comes virtually at an extra 0$ for the price of a phone or a tablet) and the 3DS.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
1.) Nintendo's 3DS price cut was what was needed at the right time. I feel the right time for the Vita price cut was before it even came out, which of course would never have happened. My opinion, however admittedly unrealistic, is that the system is $100 too rich for anyone to feel like taking a chance on right now. I'm not convinced they're even going to drop it $50 before Christmas of 2013, and that's just not going to cut it.
MM's Tearaway looks like something completely unique, taking full advantage of the system, but I don't see it being the miracle title because the MediaMolecule name is a burden rather than a boon at this point. An exclusive mainline Final Fantasy wouldn't do it, because the SquareEnix name is suffering the same. I can't think of anything in Japan with the kind of safe, confident quality associations anymore that isn't Monster Hunter or a Nintendo IP.
2.) I've had this bad feeling, ridiculous as it may be, that the only way to save the Vita at this point is have it be boxed in every PS4 as a controller.
frankie_baby
Member
Unless of course Sony have millions of unsold vitas sat in their warehouse by then, not much point making a revision then is there
The problem with this is that MH4 is coming out this spring.
grimshawish
Banned
I think some shops will drop it over New Year, they'll be using every sale to ditch stock.
Which could mean some nice deals ofc.
Next year Vita will still be on the market, selling? Who knows - don't think Sony will do a Sega and announce its brutal murder though. Just...let it die at physical retail...and try to support it online to some degree.
Gran turismo can help in this situation since it sold so well on the psp and a full gt on the vita would be even more promising.
frankie_baby
Member
thehypocrite
Member
That game in Japan has sold over 550k so I think more than all the people that bought it before and kept using it (Japan). Also is an opportunity to show developers that the device is a fertile ground for their games.
If they push it hard along with Soul Sacrifice, they have a small chance of giving it an identity/games and price more aligned with mainstream consumers. Doesn't mean I think I'll work but is a strategy worth trying.
No it's not.