Sony’s Holiday Lineup Won’t Be Enough to Save Vita

GenGAME writes: "Sony’s banking a lot on the holiday season as a big effort to boost PS Vita’s alarmingly slow sales performance. They pretty much spelled it out themselves when they asked people not to write it off before it went through its first Christmas.

"Naturally, we feel that if Sony’s telling us not to judge them before the holidays, then they’re inviting us to judge them after the holidays – so if they’re hoping to turn Vita into a high-selling gamer magnet, they’d better do it soon."

[GribbleGrunger]

What can one say...?

deleted first post out of pure exhaustion.

[Catoplepas]

You're fighting an uphill battle.

The uneducated masses will always have another moronic, baseless, biased opinion to share.

On the bright side wishing for failure does does equate it. No doubt the OP will squirt another doom article out of his rectum in the near future, and the horseflies will gather to click.

[Erimgard]

"I actually want Vita to succeed. I think it’s a sexy piece of hardware. More importantly, I don’t think it’s healthy for the industry if Nintendo has a clean slate with no major competitors in the dedicated portable game-player market."

Doesn't especially sound like the OP is "wishing for failure"

[Catoplepas]

@Erimgard

I wasn't specifically referring to the OP but, yeah, I'm going to politely guide you a few posts down from mine, to where someone hasn't listed a retrospective of the OP' articles.

His attempts to be subtle are frankly hilarious. I liken it to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad starting a speech with "I love Israel and it's people, but....".

[chrisarsenalsavart]

I personally love my vita but i have to say i am slightly concerned with the sales here in the uk.
2 weeks ago sony and Games uk have started a nationwide promotion
Psvita wifi + fifa13+ lbpvita+ uncharted for a ridiculous low price of 229.00
And yet the sales went down by 17% from the weeks before that.
On top of that sony has really step up their marketing campaign. You can,t miss it on tv or online.

They was a bundle with LBP for £189.00 and yet lbp sold about 37000 units.

2 things i noticed that sony might be doing wrong and again in my humble opinion, it s who they market the vita for
All commercials are filled with 20 year old+ people Sorry sony, you should market it to the 12+ because nowadays, tbey are the majority of dedicated handheld consumer.
You don,t have to believe me, you just have to look around when you re in the subway or bus to see who actually play with a psp, 3ds or vita.
The second thing is they need to stop advertising multiplat games for ps3 and vita in the same advert without even showing any vita gameplay. Vita games should have their very own advert.
They advertise assassin creed 3 for both ps3 and vita without actually explaining that the vita version is a completely different game.
And on top of that they launch at the same time.
That is, and i m sorry to say just plain stupid.
Because if i have to choose i will always go for the ps3 version first especially if i don,t even know that the vita version is a different game
(Example :assassin creed revelation, blackopsdeclassified, nfs, fifa)
I understand there might be an buget issue by promoting that way, but still.

I am not the negative type and i believe sony can still do something about it

[rpd123]

Well said. I love mine too. I don't think the sales are abysmal but they could definitely be better. A big problem is Sony's marketing. I have yet to see a PS Vita commercial on tv here in the states. Not once. And yeah, releasing Liberation on the same day as AC3 is stupid. I'm buying both day one, but that's because I love Assassin's Creed. Most will only get one. They should've released it during the summer when everyone was complaining there were no games and everyone who was waiting for AC3 would probably be interested in something to quench their thirst for AC3 until the game actually came out. The game probably wasn't ready then, but that's how I'd have done it assuming it was ready.

[DragonKnight]

Why are you concerned? Do you own Sony shares? You have your Vita and that's what you should be focused on.

[rpd123]

@DragonKnight

Are you serious right now? If there aren't enough Vita's sold, then 3rd party developers have no incentive to make games for it because chances of them turning a profit would be smaller. If they don't have incentive, they don't make the games. If they don't make the games, Vita owners don't get the games. See how that works?

[DragonKnight]

I am completely serious. A)None of us here have financial interest in Vita's success, so us being concerned about its sales is pointless and stupid. B)Vita is doing fine, pretty much on par with the 3DS sales for the same time frame and without a near instant price cut. C)Vita is still a new device, ever heard of a thing called patience? And perhaps the most important D)No one here is qualified to be concerned about the Vita's success.

If you have a Vita, play it, buy the games you can buy, and shut up. Plain and simple. Let Sony worry about it when they have to.

[Kalowest]

"All commercials are filled with 20 year old+ people Sorry sony, you should market it to the 12+ because nowadays, tbey are the majority of dedicated handheld consumer"

I just want to AWA a few weeks ago and EVERYBODY had a 3DS(12-any age you can thing of). The Vita needs commercials that targets everybody, a price drop next year, and better games.

[medziarz]

CoD:BOD AC3:L NFS:MW

with this triple-A trio the Vita is going to rock;
add to that the excellent LBP:V and U:GA,
the serviceable annual sports: Madden, FIFA and MLB:TS,
the AAA fighters: MK, MvC, SFxT,
the AAA JRPGS: P4:G, Ragnarok,
the other Sony franchises: R:BS, MNR, W2048,
the exclusive games: Escape plan, Gravity Rush, Soul Sacrifice,
many other games, bigger and smaller,
and finally the PSP library as well as PS1 classics,

and we get the most COMPLETE lineup for the first year of a console EVER,

but that want stop the ANTY SONY LOOM, GLOOM, and BASHING thats been going on every year for the last 6 years

[Kalowest]

Half of those games aren't original/new IPs that's why i don't want the Vita. I can buy most of those for 360 or PS3 so they'res nothing special about them. I'm sticking with my PSP(play classics on this), they'res no point in upgrading yet.

[GribbleGrunger]

Can I ask what you mean by not original Vita games? For the sake of not wanting to wait an age for your answer, I'm going to assume you mean games like Assassins Creed, LBP, Uncharted or COD. Right?

So... When you played Uncharted 1 on the PS3 did you refuse to buy Uncharted 2 and 3 because you already had that experience? It's the same with LBP, Assassins Creed and COD. What is the difference between playing a sequel/prequel on another console, to playing it on the same console?

Yes, I know you have to buy the Vita to play that sequel/prequel, but that is not the angle you are taking. All of those games I mentioned will not be and will never be on the PS3, so you are missing out on great games just because you are under the impression that they are in some way 'ports' when in fact they are actually 'The same franchise with completely different stories'.

[lategamer]

PS Vita is the gaming handheld device we deserve, but not the one we need right now. So we'll play on our phones, because we can take it.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

one can say, its a fail.

[Cam977]

Stop with all of this fanboyish hate, it's seriously putting me off this site. Also, how do you know?
You don't.
So, just shut up, and see how it goes rather than making pointless, biased articles.

[legendoflex]

I don't "know," but I do know that when PSP tried to be a portable PS2 and DS/3DS tried to be portable N64s (plus PS2 in the case of 3DS), they struggled to gain solid traction. They had to do something to differentiate themselves first - PSP by getting an entire franchise exclusive to the system (Monster Hunter), DS by being a haven for "classic" style games.

3DS I'm still a bit concerned about because the next round of games looks a lot like portable GameCube games instead of portable N64 games.

PSV is trying to be a portable PS3 right now, and judging by that strategy being not very effective for the last round of handhelds, I'm just not confident it'll succeed this year by any stretch of the word.

I still think Sony has time to turn things around and truly differentiate PSV. This is only the initial year of software for the system; it's pretty common for a system to take a little longer than that to establish a solid identity.

[GribbleGrunger]

Are you sure? They only have another nine years to turn it round you know.

[ftwrthtx]

One thing you seemed to have missed is the fact that the Vita is the first hand held with a control scheme that mimics it's partnered console perfectly.

Dual sticks and Sixaxis puts the Vita in a class by itself IMO.

[joeorc]

"PSV is trying to be a portable PS3 right now, and judging by that strategy being not very effective for the last round of handhelds, I'm just not confident it'll succeed this year by any stretch of the word. "

Ok its not try to be, the fact that this is not only wrong but the term keeps getting used has no weight at all right now based on the fact this talking point against the PSVita is not even close to being right. Unlike the PSP the PSVita is not developed for the same market as the PSP was. No this is one of the things over looked with this talking point. for one the PSP does not have the Playstation Mobile platform on its hardware.

The PSP does not have an basic licence fee for development that started out for $99.00 let alone allows you to use the over the counter PSVita as a debug machine! The PSVita is designed as you would a smartPhone not the way the PSP was designed.

that is the very core problem in only looking at the past as an indication of how this will play out. Sony does not need the PSVita to be first, it needs it to be another choice for consumers to choose from than just only one dedicated Game handheld out there. Made only by Nintendo!

The simple fact is Sony is not just relying on a dedicated Game handheld to sell Games on for playstation as a platform, smartphones are gaining market strength by sheer number's, Sony knows this first hand with xperia- smartphones selling over 7.4 million units a sales Quarter.

Sony views the PSvita as yet another playstation Platform that can play playstation Games on that they can sell more playstation content to their platform consumers, Not being 1st does not mean that its any less viable as an option.

its not a sprint that matters its the support for the long haul that does.

[GribbleGrunger]

excellent post as always. Bubbles

[phantomexe]

I know after AC that's preety much it for me. The cod game isn't my thing on a handheld. The ragnorok game if that's spelled right looks ok. Sony really needs more rpgs or more games like golden abyss. This is my opinion and in my opinion the games the vita has isn't very good. i expect that to change over time hopefully.

[legendoflex]

CoD on a handheld is awesome in theory, but when it's completely split off from the main multiplayer install base, I'm not sure it's in the right place to succeed. If they could make one that was fully compatible with the console games, however...

(unless it's actually been compatible this whole time... nothing I've read has suggested as much)

[InsaneChronos]

Nothing can save Vita. Sony is almost dead. Say somtheing new, dammit. I'm feeling sick of this repetitive shit.

[mcstorm]

I see where your coming from but i have to disagree that sony are nearly dead.

I own a 3ds and psv and really enjoy them both but games like lbp vita and resistance bs with there online support add abit extra to the games.

Sonys biggest problem is they dont show off there products they way microsoft and nintendo do. Because of this they have sliped into 3rd place as the playstation brand is not as strong as sony thought it was.

I see sony dropping the psv price and memmory card price after Christmas. Im not sure if it will be to late for the psv then but if sony start pushing it with a price drop it will pickup sales.

I said at the start that the 3ds will out sell the ds total sales and the psv will out sell the psp total sales and i still see them doing this.

I also see sony changing things with there next gen home console. I see them putting more into 3rd party support like they did with the psx and ps2 as well as push on creating an image for them selfs with lbp and sack boy as sony dont really have a face to its console like microsoft have halo and master chief and nintendo have mario.

People seem to forget that sony were backed heavy by 3rd party in the last 2 gens for exclusive games and microsoft pulled that away from them this gen and thats why we have seen so many new ips this gen.

Sony can pull things around but they do have alot of work to get there again.

[ExCest]

I think he was using sarcasm as he is tired of the articles that say things like failure and whatnot.

[mafiahajeri]

obvious hit seeking article but no hit from me!!! :D

[ftwrthtx]

With the Vita slowly being integrated more and more with the PS3, writing it off anytime soon is a very naive move. Add in all of the upcoming titles, and the Vita's future is looking very bright, unless you just hate Sony and can't see the forest for all the trees.

[Cocozero]

If Vita doesn't explode this christmas I can see 3rd parties dropping support for it, which will mean the end the Vita.

[InsaneChronos]

Where is the damn connection between that?

[Erimgard]

I think Black Ops and Assassin's Creed titles have more pull than any of the other games out thus far for the Vita, so I think the Vita should have respectable numbers this holiday. In the neighborhood of 3 or 4 million units sold in December.

I just don't see a massive turnaround without a price cut, or some truly UNIQUE content.

Tearaway should be a boost next year. That game almost has me wanting a Vita.

[abzdine]

"Sony’s Holiday Lineup Won’t Be Enough to Save Vita" not from you dear writer that's 4 sure.

Vita had a great lineup and good games are still kicking on it every month. Battle Royale, Ratchet and many more coming soon...

[NovusTerminus]

I remember when everyone said the same things about the PS3 in 2007. Look at it now...

Ragnarok Odyssey, AC:L and P4G with a cross buy on ASBR I think it is decent. Not the strongest ever seen. But It will survive, and get some strong games.

[ceballos77mx]

Ha ha, they said the same for the PSP.

[Burning_Finger]

The only thing that needs saving is this online forum from this clueless wanna be journalist. XD

They just spewing repetative bs over and over again like they run out of topics or something. I recommend this guy to find another hobby.

[TENTONGUN]

i will always go on the record saying that i love my vita. doom and gloom it all you want. but i have a passion for games and potential of the device. if you cant afford it and need a major reason to invest then i feel ya a lil. but it wont sink this xmas cause a few of you outspoken n4g posters dont want one.

[mafiahajeri]

But what do you mean? They accumalate to %80 of the gaming community and what they buy breaks or makes a device!

/S

@KMROC Yeah thankfully they didnt enter and you didnt lose $ with your stock in MS...

[thebudgetgamer]

I guess we'll see.

[legendoflex]

This is actually pretty subdued compared to my complaints about Nintendo.

[joeorc]

is many times you always hear something like this about Nintendo and their platforms, it looks like Sony is now getting the same treatment, so when in a few years time the death of the PSVita may not happen than what? will this all be swept under the rug? will people still keep saying this or move on to the next Sony or Nintendo product to grace the store shelf space and the next self fulfilling prophecy continue?

[smashcrashbash]

Another baseless claim from a non business knowing article. You know what these claims remind me of? It's like the same people who where so sure that the PS3 would be dead,GT5 would not sell over 500K,PSP would never survive as a handheld and Bluray would never win the format war. Everyone was so sure and had all the evidence in the world and yet were wrong.

@ joeorc. Nah. If the VITA ends up succeeding people will just constantly boomerang back to the bad times or talk about how it didn't really succeed or how it didn't sell as much as the 3DS. It never ends dude. Success or failure someone will always find something negative to say.

[KMCROC]

This why am glad MS did not attempt to enter the handheld market. but wonder how they would have fared in it.

[joeorc]

"This why am glad MS did not attempt to enter the handheld market. but wonder how they would have fared in it."

they are entering the Handheld market, just the fact like the PDA market Microsoft does not really make Hardware they makes software "for" Hardware. That has always been their Way before many times they use outside hardware companies, to which they than make software for that component. But Microsoft did not really make the hardware themselves. Now that is slowly changing Microsoft has invested in Hardware production for Microsoft devices in China. So Microsoft are slowly investing into self production components. But since Windows Phone and Smart Glass are created to provide a unified platform for Xbox integration into the platform stack, Microsoft really are entering the market. Having a dedicated Game Hand Held today is while a large market, is no where near as big as the smart devices market which has the lions share of the market. Nintendo and Microsoft and Sony all see this.

Micrsoft really does not need a dedicated hardware for mobile devices for 1) their 1st party is mainly for office and other software development aside from games. and 2) all their xbox game developments are just for a single platform for games aside from Windows, they pretty much have their hands full just with Xbox and PC and Kinect and Windows Phone and Tablet Windows 8/RT. Having yet another Platform while would be awesome, i doubt Microsoft really see's a need for it. Windows Phone and Windows 8/RT is their game handheld platform's.

[NastyLeftHook0]

saving? lol.

[TitanUp]

i have the vita and the games i have for it and im happy with my vita i don't need a ton of games to play on the go.

[Clarence]

More hate. This time towards the vita.

[ziggurcat]

figures... forbes comes out with sony anti-doom and gloom article, gets posted on N4G, and within the hour another sony doom and gloom article appears. it's like clockwork.

stop approving these garbage articles, and stop clicking on them.

[DivineAssault]

the ultimate gaming handheld needs saving huh? well, why do games keep coming? shouldnt it be on clearance then? or price dropped?

[etowntwo]

I'll end up buying a Vita one day..... Will AC be the game that pushes me to buy it? I'll wait for the reviews.

For sure the day they release a GoW game for Vita is the day I'll definitely buy it.

[TENTONGUN]

if youre big into ac then im sure your console ac3 will trump it. ac for vita looked like there werent hardly any npc's around. like a ghost town. would kill the experience for me tbh. fingers crossed though

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Assassin's Creed Bloodlines on pSP was horrid. I wouldn't expect much more for the Vita version, but I am hoping.

Find my nose drawn to your avatar BTW/

[Sanquine90]

You know what:D If they give me and my friends a port of COmmand and conquer tiberian sun with touch controls and same controls as the first one with a decent online mode :D the vita wil be saved by C&C fans:D Wishful thinking i know but after listining to this i just want to play C&C http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[tubers]

Waiting for a KHBBS Vita or The 3rd Birthday sequel.. basically a huge SE title. (not a fan of God Eater 2)

[redtideone11]

anyone want to bet ps vita on sale still won't make it sell?

[SpinalRemains138]

Another article spelling doom for Vita while not explaining how it should be selling. Vita has sold well over 2 million units since its launch. 3DS in that same timespan has sold about 2.5 mil I believe. If 3DS is selling like hotcakes, then how eactly is Vita doomed?

I don;t understand why different manufacturers get held to different standards.

Vita is a high end gaming device. I have one and can say first hand how awesome a piece of hardware it is. Nothing this good will fail. Patience is a virtue that people today under 20 years of age do not possess I suppose.

[Blankman85]

Vita sold 2 million since December last year til June. That 2.5 million is from March til June. If you count in 3DS sales in Japan from December through to February then you'll see that the 3DS has sold alot more than the VITA.

[SpinalRemains138]

HAHA.

You don't have one and you're all upset.
Maybe mommy will buy you one for xmas, man. Settle down.

You can always play some Mario until you get a real handheld.

[deletingthis34675334]

Article #3028 about this. Every PlayStation system in Sony's history did rough in sales the first year and then picked up the next year. The Vita will be no different. This certainly is not news.

[Protagonist]

These type of articles are getting disgusting, there is absolutely non whatsoever gaming-news in them.

[profgerbik]

Vita games coming.

Soul Sacrifice, Street Fighter X Tekken, Silent Hill Book of Memories, Persona 4, Tearaway, World Rally Championship 3, NFS Most Wanted, AC3: Liberations, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Ragnarok Odyssey.

The future looks bright to me for the Vita.

It is amusing they always talk about their financial status but let's not mention Sony bought out Gaikai for $380 million. They have to be hurting right?

The Vita also gets Playstation Plus in November, so if you don't want one shame on you.

:)

[medziarz]

CoD:BOD AC3:L NFS:MW

with this triple-A trio the Vita is going to rock;
add to that the excellent LBP:V and U:GA,
the serviceable annual sports: Madden, FIFA and MLB:TS,
the AAA fighters: MK, MvC, SFxT,
the AAA JRPGS: P4:G, Ragnarok,
the other Sony franchises: R:BS, MNR, W2048,
the exclusive games: Escape plan, Gravity Rush, Soul Sacrifice,
many other games, bigger and smaller,
and finally the PSP library as well as PS1 classics,

and we get the most COMPLETE lineup for the first year of a console EVER,

but that want stop the ANTY SONY LOOM, GLOOM, and BASHING thats been going on every year for the last 6 years!!!

[Silly gameAr]

5 years from now.

"So and so games won't be enough to save Vita".

I seem to remember articles like this for the PS3...7 years ago. Catch my drift?

[g-nome]

The Vita is awesome and I play it every day ... now busy with MGS hd collection ... looks just beautiful on the console.

[urwifeminder]

Good point in greens vid link sales = gamer interest.

[Reaper9937]

Monster Hunter = PSVita saved

[JayD-1K]

Ninety will do everything in its power to stop that from happening! One of the main reasons why the PSP started kicking the crap out of the DS In the last few years, was because of that game!

That's why this last MH game is exclusive to the 3DS.

[Bigboss999]

The vita will ultimately do fine.Just add Peace Walker 2(exclusively)to the existing library,and we would have to clean our eyes again to see what the sales figure would become.

[Adolph Fitler]

Im not a big handheld fan.......no scratch that, I wasn't a huge fan, until I bought a Vita.
The machine is awesome.....Really comfy in hand, & the dual analogue sticks, wicked screen clarity, brightness & size, makes it feel like a PS3 in your palms.

It is, by FAAAAAR, the greatest handheld machine so far.....& not just by a little bit, by a country mile.
I mean, I read bad things about Resistance: Burning Skies, & being a Resistance fan was dissapointed, but then I got my Vita & downloaded the demo & was pleasantly surprised & I bought the game & love it. All the negativity surrounding the machine is ridiculous.
Everything is not good enough about this machine & it's games, to the naysaying fanboys........
Even Resistance: BS developers are copping undue slack, with people saying it's not good enough 3-4 months out from release & even up until now....shutup dooshes, the game looks great.

If your on the fence about buying a Vita, don't be....once you unbox this thing & fire it up, you won't regret your purchase.

[stage88]

Not another one

/thread

[Nac]

People seem to forget that the 3DS didn't have such a great first year. At least the Vita has had UC, LBPV, and Gravity Rush in its first ten months.

[TBONEJF]

I'm thinking it will end up like the SEGA GAME GEAR. I mean look at how many years Nintendo been making portable hardware gaming.

[ILive]

I don't understand why people keep saying the vita needs a price drop. It is far from being expensive and it is far to early to be thinking about a price drop. How is Sony suppose to make a profit when they are already selling the thing at a loss if they cut the price so early. I say cut the price in two to three years since the hand held is suppose to be here for a good bit.

[MasterCornholio]

I hate all the fanboys who want one system to fail so that another company can establish themselves a monopoly in the market. Competetion is a very good thing and if Sony gives plenty of competetion to Nintendo the next time that they make a handheld instead of being lazy they will think of the trouble that Sony gave them and will work harder to prevent the past from repeating itself. The same thing would happen to Sony so because of healthy competition both devices would benefit.

For example, when Nintendo had a monopoly in the handheld Market they had so much faith in their customers they took a huge risk and created the Virtua Boy which in the end failed miserably. Now if Nintendo didnt have that monopoly back then they would have thought twice about the virtua boy and would have came up with a different product.

[vork77]

ports and ports and more ports give me a none ported game

[mrbojingles]

The console needs saving. You can enjoy it now, and love it. Nothing wrong with that.

But if consumers across the globe continue to not give a **** about the platform then that attitude can only spread to third parties. I'm sorry, it's the truth. Did third parties flock to all the worst selling platforms in history? No.

Did that stop good games from coming to low selling platforms like Dreamcast, Saturn, Cube, etc? No, but there were certainly a lot less good games and developer interest than if they had fared better in the market.

This can't be denied. I don't know if this holiday is really "make or break" for Vita but it certainly needs to see some sort of sign of life. Without any major system selling exclusives on the horizon what will do the job for Sony?

Like I said, this doesn't mean the Vita won't have a great future. But if it continues to flounder at retail it means it will not have as bright a future as it could if consumers cared more about it.

Personally I'm hoping to snag a Vita on sale on BF. Preferably for $199 with 4GB and a good game, but honestly after seeing the 3DS hit $99 last BF I'm sure we'll see a $150 Vita. The first edition bundles were already sold for $118 at Sam's Club.

[MaximusPrime]

"save"?
Why?

PSV is doing fine. Just cut the crap

[axisofweevils]

Yep, it's doing so fine that Sony cut their own sales predictions by 2 million, and it's selling worse than the Dreamcast.

If that's doing fine, I'd hate to see it doing badly.

[TheColbertinator]

Who cares.Just give me Persona 4 Golden.

[tweet75]

isnt it normal for any sony console not to get into its high points 2 or 3 years into its lifecycle? I will bet vita may not do amazing this holiday good but not amazing. Next year with a series of spectacular games next year and maybe a price drop it will be huge next holiday.

[Cam977]

I love my Vita!

[strifeblade]

so many people here are sayin vita is keeping up with 3ds...

*looks at sales #*

3ds- 20 million plus
vita- 3 million/ just under

AMI I MISSING SOMETHING HERE!?!?!?!?? OR WE WE ALL SMOKING SOMETHING ELSE!

sure 3ds has a year head start but vita has a lot catching up, it will be lucky to have half the sales of 3ds by the end of the gen