480°

Sony's Portable Console Dying Ugly in Japan

Forbes writes: "The performance of Vita in Japan has been nothing short of atrocious on so many levels. On the week ending November 11, the unit volume in Japan was a shocking 4,021. The eight-years-old PSP sold 12,000 units during the same week. This is a rare example of a new console failing to dislodge the old one even after one year on the market."

Snookies124164d ago

Lol, I stopped reading at, "The PS3 is aging badly".

Jinkies4164d ago

It's the only consoles left which is basicaly future proof.

It looks, plays and works great for being 6 years old...

AAACE54164d ago

Future proof? No! Nothing is future proof these days. But it is doing well and keeps me playing.

Series_IIa4164d ago

Future proof?

Most games on all of the consoles can't even achieve 720p screen resolution...

Unless upscaling is the future?

MikeMyers4164d ago

It's far from future proof. Just because bluray holds lots of storage space doesn't mean the systems limited amount of RAM and aging GPU is future proof. I do disagree that the PS3 is aging badly though. It's still pumping out great games and future titles like The Last Of Us show great promise and one that still holds its own visually to modern PC's.

Blacktric4164d ago (Edited 4164d ago )

"Tero Kuittinen
Contributor

VP at Alekstra - mobile diagnostics, mobile trend research, mobile expense management.

The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer."

So to put it simply, this guy is just some iOs loving dipsh*t who doesn't have any actual clue about the handheld console market, let alone actual home console one.

Never, EVER, take the words of a market researcher as facts or even as a rumor in a serious way. Ever. These guys are just clowns, parading as actual intelligent researchers.

Mounce4164d ago

@Blacktric - I like you :) lol

@Series_lla - Future proof, a term used by Sony that signals their personal goal of keeping the life of their hardware for 10 years before ditching it, unlike what Microsoft did with Xbox 1 which was butcher it early to fuck over the fanbase that still were playing it to push them to buy their next console to make up for a loss of FULL support by the company.

PS3 and Vita are guaranteed future proof, Sony says this to tell us, the consumer, that they plan on giving it support undeniably until their time is up. PS2 had support up to games like God of War 2 in 2007, that was when PS2 was basically 7-8 years old. PS3 is getting the same treatment, and Vita. To me, it's them saying "Don't think we'll jump ship and tell the current buyers - "Sorry, since its selling like shit right now, we plan on just ignoring everything and pretending it never existed, you just wasted your money, kthxbai""

Meaning, if you buy Sony hardware, it WILL be an investment, that of which is only a matter of time before a game is funded or developed for it that will be of everyones interest individually. I have a Vita, and I will wait patiently knowing there Will be a good handful of games that will make me say "DAMNIT I want a Vita now! -_-" and want to buy one anxiously, but I have one Now so I can just go out and buy that game when it comes out :P

NeverEnding19894163d ago

Not sure why you guys are going so far off topic.

He's looking at numbers and the numbers say the Vita is doing about as good in Japan as the original Xbox did.

dennett3164163d ago

@Mounce, the 360 has been out a year longer than the PS3 and is also still going strong. Both companies are stretching this generation out, and both companies will support both formats even when their next gen offerings are ready.
Both have lost so much money this gen because of their loss leading strategy that they can't afford to abandon the hardware when it's now actually generating profit for them on each unit sold. Sony are not unique in this instance.

Also, future proof does not mean what you take it to mean. Future proof is discussed in terms of hardware only, not software support. Hardware wise, no console is future proof because their spec is fixed with the exception of storage space. PC's are future proof because every component can be replaced at any time.

Blacktric4163d ago

@NeverEnding1989

Some people are going off topic because the author is an absolute clown. It doesn't matter he's pointing out a fact (Vita doing bad in Japan), because the rest of the article points out towards two possibilities;

-He either doesn't have any clue about what the hell is he talking about as a whole, considering the things he said about PS3...

-Or he's just completely biased, which I don't think is that possible since the guy is writing for Forbes as a mobile market researcher who mostly focuses on mobile market (mobile as in cellphones and smartphones).

Dee_914163d ago (Edited 4163d ago )

@snookies
lmao you shouldve kept reading

" Nintendo’s portable gaming empire is facing a potentially lethal long-term threat from mobile apps. Apple‘s iPad application market is getting more and more sophisticated game titles, as ambitious games like “The Room” and “Clash of Clans” edge towards console game quality"

DEAD

I just dont understand why people keep comparing the sells to the DS.I mean I understand because both are handheld mobile devices but c'mon,nintendo has always had the more popular handheld coming from the gameboy days.Thats like comparing the sells of black ops 2 and resistance 2 regarding popularity.Just because it didnt sells as much as a juggernaut doesnt mean its doing bad.
Im guessing thats what people are basing they're scales of good or bad on.
Oh well I dont care.Il prob get my vita sometime next year when I start school.Yea.. Normal people dont buy everything day 1 btw

@ blacktric
He's just another one of those "phones will take over the gaming market"idiots

Consoldtobots4163d ago (Edited 4163d ago )

I am currently replaying GOW3 and my jaw still drops at what Sony Santa Monica achieved on the PS3. Anybody that can look at games like God of War, Uncharted, for the graphics they achieve with 512mb ram and what Insomniac achieved with Resistance 1 in terms of parallel processing.........which STILL HASN'T BEEN MATCHED OR SURPASSED. anybody that tells different is a fanboy talking out of their behind.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 4163d ago
HarryMasonHerpderp4164d ago (Edited 4164d ago )

The author sounds like a butt hurt fanboy "it can feast on Sony's corpse and hoover in consumer dollers" who talks like that? it's like he's loving it.
What a complete loser.

kopicha4164d ago

he is just trying to get hits for the site. That's obvious. With all the Vita hate going all these long, that's like an easy way to draw attention. Notice he wrote 2 different article on the same day which one praise and one bash. Moreover it is not the first time the site is writing on article to bash on Vita. There was at least twice in just less than a month with this one making it 3 articles. Funny thing is how contradicting to then write another article to praise the device over the recent addition with PS+. Anyway a writer who can call games like The Room and Clash of Clans console quality games already you can stop reading right there.

torchic4164d ago (Edited 4164d ago )

never agreed more with a human being.

I just want to add that this was the same website that just a few hours ago posted an article that gave "3 reasons why Sony's PS Vita will crush handeheld competitors"

http://www.forbes.com/sites...

dennett3164163d ago

It's a big site with several different writers. They most likely also operate from a "neutrality" stance in that both sides of every story must be put forward so as to counter accusations of bias. They are not a games specific or format specific site, that's not conflict of interest, it's ensuring a level of unbiased coverage.

Tewi-Inaba4163d ago

The difference is, one is an opinion the other is a fact ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

geddesmond4164d ago

Lol I did the exact same thing. Japanese PS3 sales have always been around the 15k to 21k a week mark unless it gets a software boost from titles the japanese market goes crazy for. Last week the PS3 sold 17k. How exactly is that aging badly lol.

shutUpAndTakeMyMoney4164d ago (Edited 4164d ago )

Why didn't he mention the 70 Million+ sales on par with xbox after giving it a year head start?

sony will finish 2nd place and and 1st place in non casual gamers eyes.

CalvinKlein4163d ago

you mean sony lost half its market share and MS gained more than double theirs from last gen?

zgoldenlionz4163d ago

I got a feeling November is going to be a good month for the vita. Scratch that it's going to be a great month.

Anon19744163d ago

I guess now that the hoopla surrounding the Wii-U's launch has died down a bit, gaming "journalists" can get back to what they've been doing for the past 6 months, reminding us all of the Vita's impending doom, over and over and over again.

Abriael4163d ago

I stopped reading at "forbes.com".

ChronoJoe4163d ago

So you stopped reading near the end of the article?

...

2pacalypsenow4163d ago

It shows the Forbes.com in the N4g article page

ChronoJoe4163d ago

My reply was @ Snookies12, the guy I hit reply on.

He said he stopped reading at 'the PS3 is aging badly' which is fair enough, but that's usually what people say when they stop reading at something early on, which flags the entire thing as probably not worth reading.

It's kind of redundant to say, when you've already read 90% of the articles content.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 4163d ago
moegooner884164d ago (Edited 4164d ago )

" The franchise is not as strong over there as it is in America and Europe, but the PS3 version of the game still sold 73’000 units – a solid number considering how badly the PS3 is aging right now. In stark contrast, the Vita version of the AC3 sold just 24’000 units – and this triggered only 9’000 unit increase in the console sales."

So selling 73,000 units among an install base of 6 million, is considered a solid number, but selling 24,000 units among an install base of 1 million isn't, how exactly does this make any sense ??

MikeMyers4164d ago (Edited 4164d ago )

It doesn't make much sense other than Vita obviously has a much more limited game selection when compared to the PS3. The author is suggesting AC3 is more of a system seller for Vita than it is on the PS3 (or thinks it should have been). Not sure if I would agree unless marketing was more so for the Vita version.

What we need to take into context is not all great products have great success. For whatever reason Vita is failing to capture a wide audience. I personally think it is due to todays times with everyone fighting for spare time with the huge array of devices available now to the consumer. On top of that Vita has been marketed as a sidekick/partnered to the PS3 whereas something like the 3DS is more geared towards its own identity. As a PS3 owner the Vita looks much more tempting (especially for me being a Plus member), but as a non-PS3 owner it probably doesn't. That's just my own opinion.

aceitman4164d ago

Japan is waiting for a price drop , they did the same with the psp and it took off , the 3ds did the same thing price drop and boom it took off . I think after the holiday Sony will do a price cut or ,they might surprise us and just keep the price down now.

XB1_PS44163d ago

I bought it after the black friday price drop. It was too appealing once it cut under $200.

NYC_Gamer4164d ago (Edited 4164d ago )

PSV isn't dying the handheld is just being ignored by many developers in favor of the 3DS..It's not fair that many studios haven't produced/announced any Vita software.

Aibo4164d ago

Well, in my opinion:
"many studios haven't produced/announced any Vita software" = "dying system"

bubblebeam4164d ago

A lot of that is due to the fact that Sony are well renowned for making games for the 'core', and devs these days are trying to find new and cheap ways to make quick $$$.

It does suck, yes. But there are already some great games out for it. Persona 4 Golden has like a 95 on Meta off 20 reviews or something. That's insane.
It shows a handheld can have better games than what home consoles can offer.

I think people are being a bit to presumptuous, as the VITA hasn't even been out a full year in Japan, and only 9 months everywhere else. Give it time.

Majin-vegeta4164d ago

*Looks through submitter's history*Damn trolls are out today.

Lol guys don''t bother clicking the link it's jibberish.

j4re4163d ago

Gibberish or not, this terrifies me: "Nintendo’s 3DS continued its rampage, moving 186’000 units during the week – 46 times more than its handheld rival."

smashcrashbash4164d ago

I love when people revel in Sony being in trouble with articles like this. How is the PS3 'aging badly'? What does that even mean? I have never seen a generation so eager to see a console fail. I watched Sega's consoles die and never laughed or gloated or anything.It was horrible to see the Dreamcast with so much potential go to waste like that and the same goes for the VITA. No matter what I think of another console i would never want to see it go to waste.

onandonandon4164d ago

"Sony in trouble"? Revel away!!

Show all comments (106)
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.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
ChasterMies14d 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_looken14d ago

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

Cacabunga14d ago

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

just_looken14d 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-6414d 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_Long14d 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.

Einhander197214d 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.

FinalFantasyFanatic14d 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 14d ago
DivineHand12514d 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.

Joe91314d 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_Observer14d 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.

S2Killinit14d ago (Edited 14d 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.

Joe91313d 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.

S2Killinit13d 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 13d ago
Christopher14d 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.

CrimsonWing6913d ago (Edited 13d 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.

S2Killinit13d 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_Mal14d ago (Edited 14d 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.

Christopher14d 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_looken14d 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

Einhander197214d ago (Edited 14d 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.

FinalFantasyFanatic14d 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.

romulus2314d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218314d 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.

S2Killinit13d ago (Edited 13d 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.

mastershredder14d 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.

crazyCoconuts14d 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.

blackblades20d ago

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

just_looken20d 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.

blackblades20d 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_looken20d ago (Edited 20d 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.

Kaii20d 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.

Read Full Story >>
gamesindustry.biz
S2Killinit22d ago

Big victory for Sony. And a long time coming.

DarXyde22d ago (Edited 22d ago )

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

Make it Bloodborne 2, please and thank you.

22d ago
Profchaos22d 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

Pyrofire9522d ago

Patents suck. Most of them are complete garbage.

Knightofelemia22d 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.

Show all comments (13)