AquaWateria
Member
Vita is dead in Japan though.
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Shawn Layden loves the Vita says it's still viable just not in the West
- Thread starter Vanillalite
- Start date
Toadthemushroom
Member
PS Vita UK launch sales 'around one quarter' of PSP debut
I'd forgotten about this. Yikes.
I was there at launch and while I was smitten with my device (crazy to think the last Everybody's Golf was 5.5 years ago) even I couldn't escape the feeling that there was just a general lack of interest around it, even at launch.
I'd forgotten about this. Yikes.
I was there at launch and while I was smitten with my device (crazy to think the last Everybody's Golf was 5.5 years ago) even I couldn't escape the feeling that there was just a general lack of interest around it, even at launch.
C'mon Shawn
Don't act like we don't remember
This. And he knows.
Did House specify that he was referring to the platform in the West specifically back then?
entremet
Member
Yes.
Shin
Banned
Didn't the system itself cost 299 or 399 at launch as well?
I got a white oled version and I like the aesthetics and everything about it TBH.
Amongst other things, obv.
I'll never understand the pricing on these. Making your own for fear of piracy, fair enough. But the pricing is idiotic and daylight robbery.
Don't forget that while the PSP launched strong and had success, it had lost a ton of momentum in the West near the end of its life. And all the momentum the PSP had in Japan was primarily due to Monster Hunter, which wasn't on the Vita. So the Vita was the successor to a successful portable, but PSP wasn't actually successful enough to really carry over any good will to the Vita. Sort of like how the Wii was dragging at the end of its life and didn't exactly do the Wii U any favors.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
C'mon Shawn
Don't act like we don't remember
Obvious case of highway robbery.
ThatStupidLion
Member
"its hard to know exactly why.." i can tell you exactly why it didnt take off in NA/EU
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
I love you Vita. Your daddy is a neglectful asshole that did nothing but try to sabotage you for most of your life. Everyone said you were going to be a failure but you didn't give a shit what people said. You just fought on through the hardships of life and gave us your love. Countless hours of your love have been spread to so many people. Not enough people returned the favour, but know that those of us that did will not stop. We will continue to spread the word of Vita for the rest of our lives, as Vita means life. And as Nintendo Switch continues what you started, know that you have left a fine legacy. A legacy that will go down in the ages. You will be remembered. I raise my glass to you, Vita. You accomplished more than you had any right to. Well done, Vita. Well done.
I don't really believe this.
Switch has a ton of super expensive accesories and people waste their money on them like their lives depend on that
in all truth, softwarewise it had pretty awful first two years and by then it was over.
NightwingRebirth
Member
Slightly unrelated, but does anyone have accurate numbers for global Vita sales? Did it sell more or less than the Wii U?
Blam
Member
mindatlarge
Member
I took up learning Japanese just so I could play import Vita games. It has been a fun experience and beats using Google translate, if you have the time and will to do so.
purseowner
Member
It will be forgotten in 5 years tops.
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
At least he likes his own product
Toadthemushroom
Member
Software-wise it was a lot like the Wii U at launch, lots of variety and decent games, but nothing that was a must-play or an attention grabber. And stuff like Uncharted and WipEout 2048 - while super impressive for cutting edge mobile hardware - just invited comparisons that Vita wasn't as good as the PS3 in terms of inputs and comparative games.
While I enjoyed the Vita launch window (I picked up Everybody's Golf, Rayman Origins, Mutant Blobs Attack, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Katamari and Blazblue) it didn't help that there was a long software drought soon after. I remember there being basically nothing until Disgaea 3 and Metal Gear in the summer.
Both Vita and 3DS suffered early on due to the changing market and how both Nintendo and Sony hadn't lowered barriers to entry for devs to combat software droughts, Nintendo got off much better with the 3DS for reasons explained rather well in this old NGP analysis:
James Scott
Banned
I remember people saying that Sony teased that it sold 15 million or so a long ass time ago. I imagine it's pretty close
You know, I love my Vita and I'm really sad that it wasn't successful, but I don't understand the narrative that the memory cards killed it. Do you guys really think that the casual handheld buying crowd (which the Vita would have needed to be successful) even would have considered the cost of the memory cards before buying a Vita? I doubt it. More, I feel, it just didn't carry the same casual appeal as a 3DS or even the PSP before it.
Implication of the word 'exactly' is important here. But yes, they generally should (and undoubtedly do have) have probable ideas and explanations for why it wasn't a commercial success.
I think it's a more sensible comment than you'd expect at a glance. Like I said, the implication of the word 'exactly' is important here. It's very hard to pin-point the exact reasons in a highly precise way as to why something wasn't successful in the market. I think it's just a bit of a normal, humble attitude to say you can't know it exactly. On the other hand there are some people on this board who proclaim they know it all and exactly with just a few inconclusive personal observations.
You can't really say things like: "Me and one of my friends thought the memory cards were too expensive, therefore it failed!!" When it reality memory cards might actually have made SIE extra money, because we don't know if they would have reached an audience beyond core enthusiast handheld gamer audience with or without the memory cards that would have outweighed the profit generated from the memory cards (not way to know if it's the case, but it's a possibiliy)
Shifty1897
Member
VITA was supposed to mean life, not Virtually Impossible To Afford.
And yet, the 3DS did okay enough with bog-standard SD. Heck, even with the hacks that exist now, is SD the entry vector?
"How can we discourage our customers from meaningfully engaging with the digital marketplace for our platform?"
Vital Tundra
Member
Disgusting, especially being the fact that I just payed 40 for over 100gb card.C'mon Shawn
Don't act like we don't remember
Though the memory cards are recquired for the Vita. The Switch's expensive accesories are still optional.
****
But in general, more than memory cards, Sony just abandoned it. And is not the first time they do so. Outside of their PlayStation consoles, if something is not a success fast they just abandon it. They don't commit to build or make things better. They quickly claimed that they wouldn't make more games like Uncharted on it. And after Killzone, they just ignored it.
They should just admit it, rather than feign ignorance. XD
dugdug
Banned
They aren't absolutely necessary, though. If you only had the 4GB mem card for Vita and bought Uncharted, you were done, and already needed a new card.
Vita had a great launch lineup, arguably the best of last gen. Extra Switch controllers and docks might be expensive but the system includes everything you need really except memory (like Vita). And it uses cheap microSD for that, not really comparable at all.
The Switch takes industry standard memory cards.
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Sony are very bad for this. We're lucky PS3 was so damn essential to them, or they would have let that die too.
Switch at least has some internal memory.
Vita didn't, then they added like 1GB on it whch at least allowed for some saves.
The bolded is the core reason it failed, not memory card prices. Why would someone play the big Playstation games/franchises on Vita rather than PS3? Your Uncharteds, your Fifas, your CoDs, your Maddens? That question was never answered.
Pubs put 3rd string devs on Vita (because they needed the 1st and 2nd string teams on PS3/360) so it was no surprise when people declined to play those lesser quality games just because they were portable and instead stayed with the home console.
With Nintendo, on the other hand
-some games only appear on handhelds (Mainline Pokemon)
-some games were more suited to handheld (Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing)
-with Switch, handheld and home titles is no longer a choice of purchase (buying Uncharted Golden Abyss vs buying Uncharted 3, for example) rather a choice of where you want to play.
So there was always an actual appeal separate to the home console there.
People just didn't want lower-quality AAA gaming on the go, and I'm not sure they ever will.
"competing"
Are we really pretending the cost of memory cards were the reason for Vita's failure in the West?
I think its pretty obvious that mobile games on phones did the Vita in. Factoring in a huge games library, ftp options, and substantially lower prices that equals game over the the Vita in the West.
I think its pretty obvious that mobile games on phones did the Vita in. Factoring in a huge games library, ftp options, and substantially lower prices that equals game over the the Vita in the West.