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[vaibhavp]

i am not all that interested in successor. just give us some more remasters from psp/ps2 era.

or ability to play ps2 games that release for ps3.

 

[mdubs]

If there is no successor, looks like I'll be playing my Vita for many more years to come especially if mobile is supposed to be the alternative

 

[MAtgS]

If there is no successor, looks like I'll be playing my Vita for many more years to come especially if mobile is supposed to be the alternative

You speak as if Nintendo doesn't exist.

 

[dracula_x]

You speak as if Nintendo doesn't exist.

We don't know if NX will be successful.

 

[OnionPowder]

We don't know if NX will be successful.

It won't be successful if you don't buy it, I'm 100% sure it won't be another virtual boy situation.

 

[MAtgS]

We don't know if NX will be successful.

We know that Vita wasn't. Didn't stop us.

 

[Man]

I could see a dedicated & mobile VR device being a thing in 2020 though.

 

[Palladium]

This makes me sad. I liked the hardware and some of the games. Sucks to see it go like this.

Now Nintendo won't have much motivation to improve on the 3ds. We will be stuck with terrible specced handhelds for the next few years.

I bet Nintendo is already thinking of shaving pennies by using obseleted hardware even by today's low-end mobile standards. Anything weaker than let's say a Snapdragon 410 typically found in a $150 China phone will be so hilariously dumb.

 

[Tamanator]

This makes me sad. I liked the hardware and some of the games. Sucks to see it go like this.

Now Nintendo won't have much motivation to improve on the 3ds. We will be stuck with terrible specced handhelds for the next few years.

I really don't think Nintendo has really ever cared about competing spec wise with their competition in the handheld space. Every hardware generation there has been a more powerful handheld dedicated gaming device than Nintendo's, yet they've never been outsold in that space. As always, Nintendo will do their own thing.

 

[Anteater]

Would it be a waste of money if they rebrand and do another marketing push for vita? I don't think the specs are outdated, I don't see the need for a successor yet.

 

[hodayathink]

Even if Sony were to develop a successor to the Vita, and even manage to lower the costs so that the hardware wouldn't be a cost issue, that wouldn't change the fact that Western devs in general and Sony's western devs specifically don't want to develop for a handheld. And Sony doesn't have a Pokemon or a Monster Hunter or any other franchise that would cause people to buy a handheld in droves. It's absolutely pointless for them to develop another handheld at this point, and I don't really get why people don't realize that.

 

[Macrotus]

Would it be a waste of money if they rebrand and do another marketing push for vita? I don't think the specs are outdated, I don't see the need for a successor yet.

They would really need a strong IP like Mario or something to do that.
Not sure if Sony has that kind of title. While Uncharted, Bloodborne are good games,
they aren't as strong as Mario.

I remember Sony marketing the Vita as a good devices to remote play.
And I still haven't removed it from my "might purchase list", to use it specifically for remote play and PS1 archive games. If devs would aggressively release HD versions of their PS2 titles, that would definitely give me a final push to purchase it.

 

[Neff]

SCEE and SCEA never really put faith on the Vita but SCEJ did and they enjoyed moderate success. If these two had anything to do with it the Vita would never have existed.

I think in the best case scenario and with the right software Vita could have come close to the 1/3 or so of PSP sales 3DS managed to keep against DS, but it's only sold the barest fraction that PSP has. Obviously the lack of Monster Hunter at launch was a nightmare scenario for Vita, but I think the lack of strong Square-Enix titles also helped pile on the woes. Basically, Japan was crucial for Vita like PSP before it, but it just wasn't enough this time round. Japan becoming the world's number one consumer of mobile games in the only market that was ever going to give the Vita a chance killed it right out of the gate. The rest of the world was more willing to give Nintendo a chance.

On topic, I think that if either a) Sony comes up with a great new tech idea, or b) the handheld market improves, or c) Nintendo bows out for some reason, then Sony will return with a PSP2/3 (they sure as hell won't call it Vita 2). Otherwise, they really have no need to.

 

[Mushroomer25]

Would it be a waste of money if they rebrand and do another marketing push for vita? I don't think the specs are outdated, I don't see the need for a successor yet.

It'd be a colossal waste of money. The Vita had its' chance, and it crashed & burned on the mass market. The appetite is not there, and has only diminished in the time since the device's release. Sony has factual proof that the US audience does not want the PlayStation Vita. They don't need another multi-million dollar marketing campaign to reinforce that data.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

Vita should have been a phone running Android.

 

[BlastProcessing]

Vita should have been a phone running Android.

The phone wouldn't have sold. Especially in the US due to carrier fuckery. That combined with the fact that Android users don't buy games makes it a pretty bad idea.

 

[Parallax]

It'd be a colossal waste of money. The Vita had its' chance, and it crashed & burned on the mass market. The appetite is not there, and has only diminished in the time since the device's release. Sony has factual proof that the US audience does not want the PlayStation Vita. They don't need another multi-million dollar marketing campaign to reinforce that data.

Did it? The only time i saw it advertised in the us it was attached as a means to play baseball games on the ps3 and take it on the go.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

I really don't think Nintendo has really ever cared about competing spec wise with their competition in the handheld space. Every hardware generation there has been a more powerful handheld dedicated gaming device than Nintendo's, yet they've never been outsold in that space. As always, Nintendo will do their own thing.

Hopefully the Nx handheld is atleast powerful enough for gamecube/ps2 games

 

[ArtHands]

This is incorrect, both in the detailed particulars and in the exceedingly wrong understanding of the state of the market.

All companies make decisions about what platform(s) to develop games for based on their projections of future success -- the profit to be obtained over the sales cycle of the title, and to a lesser degree of future titles made to follow up on it. All kinds of different factors go into this -- the current and projected install base of a platform, the expected type of audience, the development costs for that platform, the standard pricing of new titles, the penetration of digital sales, the ease of porting to other platforms -- and, yes, possible financial arrangements with platform-holders that can change the math on the release.

When Capcom was preparing to transition from PSP to a new generation, Monster Hunter was a 4 million selling franchise at the top of its popularity. By virtue of being a local co-op game, it had more platform restrictions than many other franchises -- it needed to be on a handheld, and (because players needed to be able to play with their local friends) it had to be exclusive at launch, so everyone would buy it on the same compatible platform. In thinking about where to develop future entries, they had to consider what options would be most likely to sustain the level of profitability those PSP entries were producing.

To begin with, that meant considering whether individual platforms could even support that level of sales. The 3DS seemed like a safe bet in that category -- it was almost guaranteed to be reasonably successful, and would have a large enough install base to sell millions of copies. It also had a very PSP-esque level of system power, which would mean similar development budgets, and since it's on the weaker end it could support off-ports in the future if they needed to pivot their strategy.

The Vita, on the other hand, was a very risky option -- a guaranteed failure in the West, an uncertain successor to the second-string handheld even in Japan, and powerful enough that meeting people's visual expectations would result in more expensive development and a reduced set of possible port destinations. Independent of anything Sony and Nintendo did themselves, the case for 3DS was pretty strong and many people had already seen the writing on the wall with Tri's release on Wii.

Now when you get into that scenario, Nintendo deciding to secure the franchise and possibly offer co-marketing or priority placement deals to do so would certainly sweeten the pot -- it could easily make it worthwhile to commit to an exclusive strategy rather than plan on a late port. But the degree to which it could be the sole determinant of their platform choice was limited. When we look at it in the opposite direction, even if they had chosen to it would have been basically impossible for Sony to pay Capcom to make MH exclusive to Vita -- their payment would have had to cover the potentially massive loss of sales for this title, the opportunity cost of potentially stunting the series' growth in the future, and the elimination of potential Western sales. The amount of money needed would be far in excess of any reasonable value Sony could get from it -- better to just publish some third-party game that could be a new hit with the same cash.

In short, simplifying these kinds of cases to "oh they got paid off!!!" is almost always a bad analysis; it's much more common (especially these days) for these types of deals to solidify a decision based on the fundamentals, and tip the scales in cases where platform selection is a crapshoot. In terms of the MH situation specifically, the idea that Capcom's choice was obviously wrong unless they got a giant moneyhat is completely unsupported.



With FM -- and this is the assumption people should generally make when any type of vague insider starts making tons of proclamations, but especially the ones that do it primarily to fan the fanboy flames -- he wasn't an insider by any definition himself, but instead someone brokering info from other people. What you wound up with was some mixture of info sourced from regional retail management, a few lower-end employees at publishers or platform-holders, some level of personal extrapolation and investigation, and then a dollop of exaggeration and bullshit.

When you break down the types of sources that typically feed these posters, it becomes clear that some types of "rumors" are more reliable than others. The existence of a title, even well before a public announcement, is often information available to people in retail, small regional branches, etc. and so it could be accurately leaked from numerous sources. That a game's platform was chosen "because it was paid for" is something that, even if strictly true, is information that would only be truly available to a small number of high-ranking employees -- almost anyone reporting on such a thing who doesn't have a direct and clear inside source is almost certainly feeding you a line.

The whole "they paid Capcom" bs is really a belief they made up so they have something to believe in, rather than the more realistic scenario that Capcom did so because the 3DS is the better platform for handheld unlike the Vita. They are delusional, and that also explains the whole imaginary "3 years exclusive contract" which they propagate for years. And when it is shown to be not true (when MH appear on smartphone, PC and Wii U), they'll alter the 'terms and condition' of this '3 years exclusive contract' on the fly to suit their narrative.

I'll also say your assessment about FM is about right. There are stuffs he made up that can't be refuted by the official source easily. Things like 'inFamous Vita', which was kinda 'leaked' during a video interview in the first place. Well, he took it and ran with it, and that placed him in a win-win situation, regardless of the outcome. If Sony doesn't talk about it which is usually the highest probable outcome, well it could mean its confidential stuffs and Sony isn't ready to talk about it and that he could be right. If Sony confirms it, then he's right. The lowest probable outcome is Sony coming out and denying the rumor.

 

[KooopaKid]

Good for Nintendo I guess, no competitor left in the dedicated console handheld business.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

Good for Nintendo I guess, no competitor left in the dedicated console handheld business.

I wouldn't say good for Nintendo at all. It's just more proof one of their bread and butter revenue streams is in deep shit because the market for dedicated handhelds is becoming non existent. It will only get worse.

An environment where Nintendo can have healthy competition with another platform would be a good sign that the market as a whole is healthy. This isn't the case anymore.

 

[Hip Hop]

Would it be a waste of money if they rebrand and do another marketing push for vita? I don't think the specs are outdated, I don't see the need for a successor yet.

They already tried, like it or not, that's what the Playstation TV was.

It failed miserably.

 

[Game Guru]

An environment where Nintendo can have healthy competition with another platform would be a good sign that the market as a whole is healthy.

Except that for the handheld market, Nintendo's never had healthy competition with another platform besides last generation. Sony's the only one of Nintendo's handheld competitors to have actually made a successor handheld. The PlayStation Vita has sold better than all of Nintendo's handheld competitors except the PSP and the Game Gear. The PSP did so much better than any of the other handheld competitors to Nintendo that it outsold them all combined by a humongous extent including the Vita.

The bad sign for the handheld market is how badly Nintendo's doing.

 

[Nestunt]

No price drop anytime soon huh?

It will have collector's item price for the rest of its life

 

[seventynine]

In the near future all I really want to see from Sony is the Remote Play app ported to iOS, Windows phone and non Sony android handsets.

I love Vita for all the 2D games it has but I struggle with anything 3D on it because of how cramped the controls are.

 

[Man]

Good for Nintendo I guess, no competitor left in the dedicated console handheld business.

Nintendo is expanding to Mobile because the handheld market is disappearing.

 

[Castef]

Not surprising. I guess that a new handheld console should be really special to stand a chance.

 

[Augemitbutter]

Vita as a device is good enough for 7-10 years. too bad they stopped supporting it. 3rd parties or nothing. gotta beg the japanese for every localization now, or hope for PS4 ports. i'm more happy to play on a console, but i doubt all those dungeon crawlers will end up on PS4. that's why we need good western niche support. and more falcom.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

Except that for the handheld market, Nintendo's never had healthy competition with another platform besides last generation. Sony's the only one of Nintendo's handheld competitors to have actually made a successor handheld. The PlayStation Vita has sold better than all of Nintendo's handheld competitors except the PSP and the Game Gear. The PSP did so much better than any of the other handheld competitors to Nintendo that it outsold them all combined by a humongous extent including the Vita.

The bad sign for the handheld market is how badly Nintendo's doing.

For sure. That's really what I'm trying to get across. It's not a good thing for Nintendo not to have healthy competition. That, combined with the fact that relatively speaking, the 3DS isn't doing as well as it should speaks volumes.

I also find it interesting that it's at almost double of what the Gamecube and N64 sold in terms of hardware units but has barely outpaced either system on software sold. Brings me back to 2013 where the system had a killer line up, and still ended up down YoY.

Their console business is in tatters and dedicated handhelds are become far less viable. NX is going to have to put in some serious work to keep Nintendo relevant.

 

[Pitch]

Vita means life

 

[KooopaKid]

I wouldn't say good for Nintendo at all. It's just more proof one of their bread and butter revenue streams is in deep shit because the market for dedicated handhelds is becoming non existent. It will only get worse.

An environment where Nintendo can have healthy competition with another platform would be a good sign that the market as a whole is healthy. This isn't the case anymore.

It's still good news for them. Ok mobile is dominant now but that's still a better chance for them to sell dedicated handhelds for the hardcore that want one.

 

[TheDarkTriforce]

Yeah, the Nintendo 3DS which sold over 50000000 times says hello! It's Sonys incompetence that the PlayStation Vita was a fail, they praised it as a holy handheld platform and did not support it at all! And now they blame it on the mobile markest, it's really funny that allways something else is fault. It's Sony own fault because they did not support the Vita, they didn't even try to support it / thread! In my opinion Sony should never be allowed to make a new handheld before they not release at least 50 AAA games for the PlayStation Vita like they promised when they announced the PlayStation Vita!

 

[Heartfyre]

I respect the decision, but it'll always be sad when the Vita is my favourite handheld console by a large margin. I just hope they keep the online infrastructure together for a long time, since I can see myself using it regularly for the next ten years.

 

[Funyarinpa]

Yeah, the Nintendo 3DS which sold over 50000000 times says hello! It's Sonys incompetence that the PlayStation Vita was a fail, they praised it as a holy handheld platform and did not support it at all! And now they blame it on the mobile markest, it's really funny that allways something else is fault. It's Sony own fault because they did not support the Vita, they didn't even try to support it / thread! In my opinion Sony should never be allowed to make a new handheld before they not release at least 50 AAA games for the PlayStation Vita like they promised when they announced the PlayStation Vita!

Sony's incompetence cartainly played a part, but it should also be mentioned that unlike Nintendo, Sony doesn't have any established handheld franchises like Nintendo, nor do Sony's games appeal to an audience nearly as wide as Nintendo's portfolio. Also 50 AAA games by Sony? LOL

 

[ATXAlchemy]

Yeah, the Nintendo 3DS which sold over 50000000 times says hello! It's Sonys incompetence that the PlayStation Vita was a fail, they praised it as a holy handheld platform and did not support it at all! And now they blame it on the mobile markest, it's really funny that allways something else is fault. It's Sony own fault because they did not support the Vita, they didn't even try to support it / thread! In my opinion Sony should never be allowed to make a new handheld before they not release at least 50 AAA games for the PlayStation Vita like they promised when they announced the PlayStation Vita!

LOLwat?

 

[FeenixRising]

Yeah, the Nintendo 3DS which sold over 50000000 times says hello! It's Sonys incompetence that the PlayStation Vita was a fail, they praised it as a holy handheld platform and did not support it at all! And now they blame it on the mobile markest, it's really funny that allways something else is fault. It's Sony own fault because they did not support the Vita, they didn't even try to support it / thread! In my opinion Sony should never be allowed to make a new handheld before they not release at least 50 AAA games for the PlayStation Vita like they promised when they announced the PlayStation Vita!

Sit down bruh

 

[The Lamp]

Eh, the climate isnt that harsh, if you support the damn thing.







It does. Support will be even worse in the following years.

The climate IS awful and that's why they stopped supporting it. Back when it had exclusives, no one bought it, so of course they've abandoned it in favor of the massively popular PS4.

 

[darksagus]

Ill be playing my Vita for years, it's a nice piece of hardware with lots of great games already, and with PSP and PS1 libraries to back it up. Mobile games hold almost no appeal to me since 99% of them are a single mechanic wrapped in micro-transactions with terrible controls.

 

[Game Guru]

For sure. That's really what I'm trying to get across. It's not a good thing for Nintendo not to have healthy competition. That, combined with the fact that relatively speaking, the 3DS isn't doing as well as it should speaks volumes.

Yeah, it says that Nintendo's biggest competition exists outside the dedicated video game market.

 

[2+2=5]

Good for Nintendo I guess, no competitor left in the dedicated console handheld business.

This is a really limited vision of things:

1)handheld market is already disappearing, less handhelds means less exclusives and games in general, meaning less interest in the handheld market from both gamers and developers, so even without concurrents nintendo will have big problems, if you add that Nintendo isn't that successful in the home console market the future for nintendo is going to be hard

2)Vita is actually the junction ring between home consoles and handheld, once that vita will be gone many developers will shift to home consoles(especially those who make ps4/vita multis) and others to mobile, only some will shift from vita to the nintendo handheld.

3)the same applies to gamers, not every vita owner will buy the nintendo handheld.

Vita has a bigger role in the handheld market than people want to think, unlike what some nintendo fans think being the only handheld maker in this times means harder times for nintendo that has to fight the mobile market alone while trying to survive in the home console market.

 

[Stone Ocean]

If Vita had 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, plus microSD card, we would be singing in a different tune right now.

We would singing the same tune but like an octave or two higher

 

[SolarMystic]

Sad, but expected. The Vita just can't survive while only catering to a niche market.

The climate is certainly different, though I don't think smartphones are the reason for the misfortune of the Vita. The 3ds has proven that there is still an audience for a dedicated handheld gaming device. I know everyone likes to spell doom for the 3ds because it can't pull in DS numbers, but that was impossible anyways. The casuals of the DS era are on smartphone or just not gaming at all anymore. What would make a better comparison is how the 3ds performs against the sales of the GBA. The market has just regressed back to pre Wii/DS era numbers.

Unless Nintendo totally flops with the design/price/games of their next handheld (like they almost did at the beginning of the 3ds cycle) then their next handheld will do fine.

Even Sony can bring out a Vita successor if they market and price the thing right, and get the games on it that people expected to be on the Vita. Though I do believe Sony should just stay focused on their bread and butter, console gaming.

 

[KooopaKid]

This is a really limited vision of things:

1)handheld market is already disappearing, less handhelds means less exclusives and games in general, meaning less interest in the handheld market from both gamers and developers, so even without concurrents nintendo will have big problems, if you add that Nintendo isn't that successful in the home console market the future for nintendo is going to be hard

2)Vita is actually the junction ring between home consoles and handheld, once that vita will be gone many developers will shift to home consoles(especially those who make ps4/vita multis) and others to mobile, only some will shift from vita to the nintendo handheld.

3)the same applies to gamers, not every vita owner will buy the nintendo handheld.

Vita has a bigger role in the handheld market than people want to think, unlike what some nintendo fans think being the only handheld maker in this times means harder times for nintendo that has to fight the mobile market alone while trying to survive in the home console market.

1) Why less handhelds means less exclusives? The Vita developers made games only on Vita. Nintendo doesn't loose anything. Those developers might be tempted by Nintendo if it's the only choice now.

2) If Vita 2 were to exist, they would move there. Now they might go to Nintendo. How is it not a positive?

3) Yes but some will more easily now. Persona 6 on NX? Again only positives.

The shrinking handheld market is another subject entirely.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

1) Why less handhelds means less exclusives? The Vita developers made games only on Vita. Nintendo doesn't loose anything. Those developers might be tempted by Nintendo if it's the only choice now.

2) If Vita 2 were to exist, they would move there. Now they might go to Nintendo. How is it not a positive?

3) Yes but some will more easily now. Persona 6 on NX? Again only positives.

The shrinking handheld market is another subject entirely.

I don't think it's another subject entirely, really. Sony/Vita being out of the picture meaning less direct competition isn't a good thing overall. Sure it means that Japanese developers may swarm to Nintendo so they can find a new home for the very same niche 'weeaboo' games that many of the more hardcore Nintendo fans on this forum love to lambast so heartily, but all it tells me is that mobile is putting in work in killing off dedicated handhelds.

With no competition, Nintendo is left to stave off the inevitable on their own while the ship sinks rapidly. That's not good news for them in my opinion.

 

[ArtHands]

Sad, but expected. The Vita just can't survive while only catering to a niche market.

The climate is certainly different, though I don't think smartphones are the reason for the misfortune of the Vita. The 3ds has proven that there is still an audience for a dedicated handheld gaming device. I know everyone likes to spell doom for the 3ds because it can't pull in DS numbers, but that was impossible anyways. The casuals of the DS era are on smartphone or just not gaming at all anymore. What would make a better comparison is how the 3ds performs against the sales of the GBA. The market has just regressed back to pre Wii/DS era numbers.

Unless Nintendo totally flops with the design/price/games of their next handheld (like they almost did at the beginning of the 3ds cycle) then their next handheld will do fine.

Even Sony can bring out a Vita successor if they market and price the thing right, and get the games on it that people expected to be on the Vita. Though I do believe Sony should just stay focused on their bread and butter, console gaming.

There's nothing to be sad about unless you are one of the few remaining vita supporters who havent yet move on.

Sony gets to focus on the console and ps vr. nintendo and mobile gets the remaining handheld/mobile market. Its really a win-win situation for all.

 

[Y2Kev]

I see a lot of posts lamenting the death (or non-life) of the Vita. I find there to be a lot of misinformation and/or misattribution of responsibility for the reasons why the device failed. I am interested in having a discussion. Put bluntly, I believe that if you believe the Vita failed because a) Sony did not have its “big” first party studios working on it, b) because memory cards were expensive, or because c) it wasn’t “marketed,” I would suggest you should reevaluate your position.

Sony’s Big First Party Studios

I think that when most people complain about the lack of presence of Sony’s big first party studios, they’re basically saying that Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, and Sony Santa Monica did not produce titles for the platform. While this is true, I do not believe this to be relevant to why the Vita failed. If you look at the PSP—which I think most people would say was successful, or at the very least “far more” successful than the Vita—Sony’s big studios did not really work on marquee titles in their big franchises here either (with the exception of Guerrilla, who published a fantastic spinoff that bombed). Naughty Dog was not present. Instead, Ready at Dawn, then (and perhaps now!) a B-tier studio, produced a title in a Naughty Dog franchise in Daxter. Ready at Dawn also produced two God of War games, perhaps Sony’s biggest IP in the States, instead of Sony Santa Monica. Guerrilla, as mentioned above, produced a Killzone spinoff. Insomniac was not present; instead, a bunch of Ratchet spinoffs were produced by smaller profile developers. Resistance was present, but again by Bend and not by Insomniac. Team Ico was not present. Sucker Punch was not present. Evolution was not present, but a spin-off (Artic Edge) was produced by another studio. Media Molecule was not present. Polyphony only appeared very late in the PSP’s lifecycle. Zipper was present.

On the Vita, the same is largely true—the big developers are not present on the platform. There were some important changes. While Ready at Dawn was not present, Bend produced a title in Sony’s other big western IP, Uncharted. Team Gravity appeared and produced a “big” title for the platform. Guerrilla Cambridge was present and produced a FULL Killzone game. Zipper produced a brand new IP for PS Vita launch. Media Molecule produced a brand new IP for Vita. Evolution, Polyphony, Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, and Insomniac were still not present, though Vita got a port of a PS3-bound Ratchet that was developed by Insomniac.

I’m not even going to discuss the massive “undersupport” from the various studios across the platforms (that produced small games like Patapon and such). There’s just so much to cover here and I don’t think anyone would disagree it doesn’t move the needle really either way.

So I think it’s unlikely that the buying public gives much of a damn about WHO is developing the games. The PSP was successful without the big name studios from Sony. I think the reality is that Sony’s franchises do not have sufficient pull to attract a big audience interested in a Sony handheld platform. Naughty Dog could have made a big original IP and it would have bombed and it wouldn’t matter.

Memory Card Prices

Memory card prices are a big thorn in the side of the hardcore, but I’m not sure they really dissuaded a large number of buyers in the mainstream. Sony basically subsidized the price of the Vita with the price of the memory cards; the price of the memory cards lowered the price of the Vita and therefore I feel this is largely had a counterbalancing effect. The hardcore are more interested in digital sales and carrying large libraries. I understand and appreciate that expensive memory cards are annoying and frustrating for the core, but I think its myopic to believe this had any real effect. I think it is far more likely this limited the Vita’s ability to penetrate the hardcore audience (say a total demographic of 20 million gamers) than reach the mainstream. We’re talking about the successor to a platform that sold 80+ million units. I do not believe this can be attributed to memory card prices.

Marketing

So why did the Vita fail? The reality is that the Vita was designed for an audience that does not exist. Sony’s traditional core gamer is the 18-35 year old male interested in cinematic and multiplayer experiences like the ones provided by the larger third parties and Sony today. They have never had tremendous penetration with the younger audience. They have never had tremendous penetration with lapsed, female, or casual gamers. Lots of people who bought the PSP simply migrated to mobile to get their gaming fix as the mobile platform met their needs better—cheaper games, more durable hardware, lower “all in” hardware cost considering the utility, and software more targeted at their demographic. Candy Crush wasn’t a big franchise before it was released, but it met the needs of the average gamer more than Uncharted or Gravity Rush, so they moved. And nobody cares that Naughty Dog didn’t make Uncharted.

Marketing refers to the complete design process through which a product is developed from concept to actual product on store shelves. Vita is a true failure of marketing, but not a failure of advertising. It was designed for an audience that does not exist at a price point they do not want to pay with software people do not largely want to buy. All those things considered, the device has done very well for itself. It is now being supported largely by Japanese niche titles and indie games because that is the demographic that originally bought the system so there is somewhat of an audience there. As casual gamers and cinematic gamers and multiplayer gamers did not purchase the system, those games did not appear. There is nothing Sony could have done to change this except fundamentally change the design of the Vita (which would have changed the type of software that released on the Vita).

I am continually frustrated by the failure of this handheld as I find it to be a comfortable, connected, and integrated device with nice graphics and good ergonomics. But I realize that I am a hardcore gamer with specific needs that are no longer desired by the mainstream in the market. So I am a niche customer with a niche device. I am at peace with the fact that the type of experience I like cannot be supported by the market any more than I am mad that I do not get tons of Japanese RPGs on consoles or that 3D platformers are all but dead.

Vita was star-crossed from day 1. I will always love it, but it had no chance of being successful.

 

[2+2=5]

1) Why less handhelds means less exclusives? The Vita developers made games only on Vita. Nintendo doesn't loose anything. Those developers might be tempted by Nintendo if it's the only choice now.

2) If Vita 2 were to exist, they would move there. Now they might go to Nintendo. How is it not a positive?

3) Yes but some will more easily now. Persona 6 on NX? Again only positives.

The shrinking handheld market is another subject entirely.

Less exclusive and games in the handheld market in general, not in the nx lineup.

Didn't you notice the recent surge of japanese games for the ps4? Many of those are ps4-vita multis or Vita ports, their developers are slowly passing from vita to ps4, they are not passing to 3ds.

People and developers have different tastes and needs, if they buy/develop on vita is because for some reason they are not satisfied with the 3ds, something similar will happen with the nx, just because there's no vita 2 it doesn't mean that people will pass on the nx.

Yes some vita developers will make nintendo handheld games, but betting on a disappearing market with a single handheld is risky, it's true that concurrents steal sales but they also make the market bigger and keep the market and the interest alive.

 

[BreakAtmo]

Memory Card Prices

Memory card prices are a big thorn in the side of the hardcore, but I’m not sure they really dissuaded a large number of buyers in the mainstream. Sony basically subsidized the price of the Vita with the price of the memory cards; the price of the memory cards lowered the price of the Vita and therefore I feel this is largely had a counterbalancing effect. The hardcore are more interested in digital sales and carrying large libraries. I understand and appreciate that expensive memory cards are annoying and frustrating for the core, but I think its myopic to believe this had any real effect. I think it is far more likely this limited the Vita’s ability to penetrate the hardcore audience (say a total demographic of 20 million gamers) than reach the mainstream. We’re talking about the successor to a platform that sold 80+ million units. I do not believe this can be attributed to memory card prices.

I don't buy it. Memory card prices are a thorn in the side of everyone when the device needs one to work, as the Vita did. Essentially every potential Vita customer needed one. I can easily imagine millions of casuals thinking the Vita looked like a good purchase, then seeing the memory cards at prices roughly triple to quadruple that of microSD and immediately going 'nope' on principle. If it had had 16 GB of internal storage then I'd agree though - that's arguably how the 360 got away with its hard drive prices.

And I don't see how Sony subsidizing the Vita price with the cards would counterbalance anything in the minds of consumers. At the time of the Vita launch the 3DS was about $80 cheaper. No one was thinking of the Vita as relatively cheap and accepting the memory prices based on that. It was, rightly or wrongly, seen as being sold at a premium price, and I think the hugely expensive memory pushed that over the edge.

 

[sono]

Agreed.

If the Vita is not successful it is hard to see what a successor would have that would make it compelling. Everyone that has a Vita loves it.

The Vita just needed more AAA games and was too expensive in my humble opinion.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

3 things would have done the Vita the world of good.


1) A rockstar title. PSP had 3.
2) A MGS game. PSP had 3.
3) A Gran Turismo game. PSP had 1.

These were major factors in me buying a PSP, and others. Big titles transferred to the small screen are what people buying a £200+ platform want to see. Not the same indie game they have on their other platforms. Only one of these is really Sony's fault.