100°

Will the Lack of a Holiday Price Cut Doom Vita to Failure?

Game Rant's Jeff Schille writes: "Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida reveals that there will be no PlayStation Vita price cut this year. With no holiday price cut to boost sales, could this be the beginning of the end for Vita?"

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gamerant.com
Erimgard4260d ago

It won't doom the Vita, nor is it the beginning of the end. The Vita's fantastic holiday lineup and Cross Buy bargain will help the system sell better than it has thus far (which isn't saying anything at all, given its abysmal sales) and the Vita should have an "okay" holiday season.

A price cut could have been a turning point that made the Vita have a GOOD holiday season, but frankly, Sony will take what they can get with it. A price cut is out of the question right now, because Sony is already losing money on the system, and they don't have the spare cash to dig that hole deeper in order to move units.

Long term I believe the Vita will struggle to be successful, and a price cut could very well fix that, but for now the Vita isn't doomed. It will see a sales increase in Q4 of 2012, and then its sales will slump again. The Vita will not be able to reach massive success without a price cut, but now is not a viable time for Sony unfortunately.

DarkHeroZX4260d ago

the vita is actually profitable. 3g model only cost $159.10 to produce. its priced at $299, so they're bringing in atleast $40-50 for every vita sold after all other fees are paid. but its not so much the price thats the issue, its content lol. Sony can very well pull it off but they need to bring in more value which they are working on. Now what does need a price drop is those memory cards.

Erimgard4260d ago

Sony said themselves that they were going to lose money on the Vita for the first 3 years.

Erimgard4260d ago

I take the word of Sony's CEO and President over an analyst's guess.

http://www.examiner.com/art...

Here's the actual interview (in Japanese) if you want to check it:

http://translate.google.com...

I don't see why Sony would lie about the system not turning a profit until three years into its life.

DarkHeroZX4260d ago

Dude both your articles are old lol. Mine is more recent, yours are much older.

Anyway they invested over 150 million on the vita development. Even though they make money off of every vita sold they aren't going to turn profit until an estimated 3 year. Its like how the ps3 is profitable now but its still billions in the hole.

hkgamer4260d ago

Depends what you mean by being profitable. Cannot really say how much everything costs but if you add up all other costs occurred during the process of manufacturing the Vita it may not be making a profit at all.

R&D costs - most likely millions and millions
Labour costs - all those people working at factories
Marketing costs - Advertising/PR
Material costs - Screens, buttons, casing, etc..
Manufacturing costs - factories/machines/logistics

Not really sure which categories you can sum up and then divide to work out the true value of a single Vita but they will probably add up more than $299.

Probably didn't catergorised them properly and surely alot more other costs that my mind can't think of right now.

@Erimgard
With Sony's new approach to Vita such as Crossbuy and Playstation Plus, it would probably be harder to calculate the actual revenue the Vita is producing. So it may actually take longer than 3 years to see profits.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4260d ago
Anon19744260d ago (Edited 4260d ago )

It's funny, and yet sad. I was just typing in another "Vita doom" article on the front page that this was getting ridiculous and this one popped up. A guy can't even keep up with the speed that this shit is coming out! Try typing in "Vita" and "Doom" or "Save" into the search to see just how bad it's getting on this site. The goddamn thing hasn't even been available worldwide for six months yet, and Sony themselves have said they're happy with Vita sales and digital sales were exceeding their expectations.

So do any game journalists out there want to step up and report on, oh..I don't know...maybe some game news? Anyone? Seriously, as a community, we need to stop giving these guys hits, and blacklist these sites that are just in it for hits. And I'm not talking just Sony detractors, I'm talking the ridiculous Nintendo doom articles as well. It's funny. 360 games sales have dropped off by nearly half the first 6 months of 2012 according to Microsoft themselves, Wii sales had fallen 55% year over year last quarter and yet Sony says they're happy with the Vita's sales and revise PSP/Vita sales down a bit, reveal a bunch of cool incentives for Vita users and it's "DOOOOOM!"

TBM4260d ago

OMG this is insane lol. we can't go one minute without the doom articles. where's the actual gaming news on this worthless site?

Mustang300C20124260d ago (Edited 4260d ago )

Right because Tretton and Sony are going to come right out and say they are disappointed about the Vita performance. It is called spin like you are doing. By the way your a grown man how come you keep whining about articles you don't want to see? That goes for everyone hear on any article. Why are trying to keep up with these articles.

"For gaming, Sony only incurred a $45 million loss, which is fairly low compared to the other divisional slides, but still adding to the financial troubles of the company. Sony cites sagging PSP and PS3 sales as being a root cause for their losses, while the Playstation Vita has failed to counterbalance those losses due to low sales. Sony is increasingly lowering their expectations for this fiscal year, looking to consolidate their financial forecast for the fiscal year in response to expected losses."

http://www.blisteredthumbs....

They keep having to adjust their expectations from the quarterly reports.

However long it has been on the market is irrelevant. If it isn't performing well since day one in Japan and what we know today Worldwide from the fiscal reports than yes it is in trouble. Dead NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. It isn't performing as planned period.

Mustang300C20124260d ago

The price cut is out of the question because Sony can't afford to price cut it. That is why we see the bundles coming. Sony's plan was to offset the possible and already confirmed lowered sales of the PSP and PS3 with the Vita and from the fiscal report Sony themselves state that this isn't working so far because the low sales of the Vita in addition to the low sales of the games for the system.

Sony's real issue will come if the PS4 is coming in 2013(IMO I think it is coming in 2014) and if that happens the issue is where the price will be when it comes to a PS3, VITA and PS4 on the market. If the PS4 drops next year and Vita is still underperforming even with a price drop, than it will be the first to ax because now way Sony is going to just stop PS3 support.

Silly gameAr4260d ago

I don't know why people still go to articles like this. They're all pretty much the same.

Metal-X4260d ago

There's that word again.....

TheGamingArt4260d ago

* sigh *.... LEARN HOW TO BE A PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST. God damn, stop spamming with this B*** S***

miyamoto4260d ago

NO. the types of games will decide Vita's fate.

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280°

Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

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techraptor.net
ChasterMies11d ago

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

just_looken11d ago

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

Cacabunga11d ago

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

just_looken11d ago

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

Redemption-6411d ago

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

Huey_My_D_Long11d ago

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

Einhander197211d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

FinalFantasyFanatic11d ago

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 11d ago
DivineHand12511d ago

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

Joe91311d ago

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

Obscure_Observer11d ago

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

S2Killinit11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

Joe91311d ago

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

S2Killinit10d ago

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 10d ago
Christopher11d ago

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

CrimsonWing6911d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

S2Killinit10d ago

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

Abnor_Mal11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

Christopher11d ago

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

just_looken11d ago

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

Einhander197211d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

FinalFantasyFanatic11d ago

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

romulus2311d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218311d ago

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

S2Killinit10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder11d ago

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

crazyCoconuts11d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

Show all comments (43)
80°

Sony May Soon Let You Decide How Much NPCs Talk In Games

Sony has patented to add multiple dialogue modes to let players switch between how many conversations with NPCs they want in the game.

blackblades17d ago

Sony is like the only ones outta the 3 that has atuff like like this pop up changing thing in ways.

just_looken17d ago

Sony in the past has always been first at bat with new ideas/tech but in the end never fully use it or just toss it away.

blackblades17d ago

I think they did use some but yeah most usually never happened but at least they thought about it. Sony seeks things like this and other, Nintendo seek different ways of playing going by there different controler designs and console designs.

just_looken17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

some of the other stuff sony want's/owns never used
https://gamerant.com/sony-p...
https://gamerant.com/sony-p...
https://www.eurogamer.net/s...
https://metro.co.uk/2023/03...
https://decrypt.co/114754/s...

monitor/adjust game difficultly as you play
https://www.techradar.com/g...

Sony nfts
https://www.theblock.co/pos...

Pay ai to play the game for you
https://thebusinessofesport...

Oh all the above last 12 months

I just imagine a evil scientist with test subjects when it comes down to sony recent patent reports.

Kaii17d ago

Will we get dialogue options that won't spoil puzzles in a matter of seconds? :p

280°

Judge rules in PlayStation's favour in $500m patent infringement lawsuit

Genuine Enabling Technology was seeking damages, claiming the tech allowing PlayStation consoles and controllers to communicate infringes its rights.

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gamesindustry.biz
S2Killinit19d ago

Big victory for Sony. And a long time coming.

DarXyde19d ago (Edited 19d ago )

Crazy to think the savings from this lawsuit allows them to develop one AAA game.

Make it Bloodborne 2, please and thank you.

19d ago
Profchaos19d ago

Sounds like patent trolling they tried the same thing against Nintendo with the same pattern.

Motion and control input traversing over higher and lower frequencies seperate from each other allowing the controller to do both

Pyrofire9519d ago

Patents suck. Most of them are complete garbage.

Knightofelemia19d ago

So to recoup the money Genuine is going to take on Nintendo or Microsoft next. I hate patent lawyers they are some of the worst bottom feeders out there.

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