180°

Sony expects worsening handheld business

The company said today it expects to record a combined total of just five million Vita and PSP sales during the period. That compares unfavourably to seven million Vita and PSP sales reported today for the business year ended April 2013, a figure that fell well short of the 16 million units Sony initially forecast last May.

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computerandvideogames.com
FrigidDARKNESS4005d ago

The vudeo game handheld business is dead taken over by tablets, android and Iphones with larger screens.

SpideySpeakz4005d ago

Sony handhelds were obviously targeted towards a more mature audience than Nintendo handhelds. So the PS vita is actually competing with tablets, not Nintendo's handheld tech.

FragGen4005d ago

Monster Hunter. Sony desperately needs to pay the devs to port it to Vita. It made the PSP relevant for a while and it being on the 3DS and not the Vita is a seriously bad piece of the Vita struggles puzzle.

Blacktric4005d ago

"Sony handhelds were obviously targeted towards a more mature audience than Nintendo handhelds. So the PS vita is actually competing with tablets, not Nintendo's handheld tech."

If you genuinely believe this, then I feel bad for you. There are more than enough mature themed games on 3DS to warrant a purchase on top of other great games. Vita is doing bad because it lacks good stream of new releases that are actually worth buying. Sony needs to get their act together and start releasing more games like Soul Sacrifice instead of ports of PS3 games.

MilkMan4005d ago

Trust me when I tell you that unless a different business model is adapted, the smart device era of gaming will die a quick death.

joeorc4005d ago

"Trust me when I tell you that unless a different business model is adapted, the smart device era of gaming will die a quick death."

well you may be in for a shock, because that is not what is happening. You remember the dedicated PDA? the Dedicated PDA was absorbed into the smartphone Market, Slowly but surely the dedicated Game Handheld market share will cap to most likely around 150 Million most likely, with Nintendo having that lion's share for dedicated Handheld game console's Sony with the next highest and other's having less than Sony.

Smartphones and Tablets are not going away , because the best analogy of it is like the PC market is to the Game console. General computing devices like the Smartphone are general computing devices 1st while Game running applications are 2nd. the Game console is reverse of that. but both can be in the market at the same time, dedicated PDA's for instance are not gone completely, its just smartphones took over their function of use from a mass market standpoint.

rainslacker4005d ago

I think he was speaking more along the lines in the way games are produced and sold for smart devices or tablets. For sure, those devices aren't going anywhere soon, and will likely absorb more of the PC market as they continue on and become more powerful.

However, the current models for selling games on these devices is flawed in many ways from a developer standpoint. While it's easy to get your game up on the stores, the ability to actually get your product seen is getting harder and harder every day. The business models required to actual make money off most games(F2P, MT) tend to require quite a bit of upkeep on the developer side, so smaller devs are left out. On top of that, there is a huge amount of crap software, and the quality control is almost non-existent. Basically, if the software won't crash the OS, then it passes.

Until these things are worked out, it means that the whole business model is based on a huge user base. There are so many users, there is a chance to hit it big with a title. However, a great majority of the games produced, do not make money. Certainly not enough to sustain most small development studios. On top of that, many of the big publishers now have mobile development, which only pushes out the little guy even more.

MilkMan4001d ago

I should have been more explicit in my response.
tablets and smart devices are a part of our modern culture, however the gaming aspect of it is not even in its infancy but in experimental stages.

First, no casual game, no matter how popular or how much it makes can take the place of the OUYA, let alone your preferred home platform. Why?

According to analyst and based on my own personal consumption, the best software titles these devices offer, are nothing mmore than time-waters and are played minutes at a time DURING off time in the day. Meaning these times DO NOT interfere with allocated dedicated "game" time.

Dedicated gamers, schedule time for their activity. They go home, and and invest 1 to 6 hours worth of gaming daily.

So in terms of infringement, tapping away at your IPhone or Galaxy, means absolutely nothing to a publisher like say Activision, which knows they will have their fans playing their games, daily and consistently.

So the concept of people all of a sudden leaving their consoles in droves and having their WiiU's collect dust, is a myth.

About my earlier statement:
If you've played most app games, the better ones tend to be well made, addictive in their own right, just good games over all.
However, they have one major flaw and this is BIG.
In App Sales.

What does this mean? It means the game is designed from the ground up to be addictive, and fun to play and interesting, BUT everything you want to do to progress in this game (passed the initial tutorial levels) you must pay to move forward.

To say that the indie game DLC Quest wasn't off on how they (publishers/ developers) milk you for every dime. Id be lying.

To illustrate what I mean let me give you some real world examples.

Take Heroes of Destiny from Glu. Its a well made, on-rails dungeon romp, Think Diablo.

However to get better loot for your team requires real world money or special Glu coins which are nearly impossible to obtain on your own merit.

If you wish to train your character because they leveled up, requires real world time to do it. I'm in the 5 minute count down range myself.

This means you must stop and wait for your character to level up OR you can spend "real world" money to hurry the process up.
See where I am going with this?

Take Monopoly Hotel, a silly little time waster of a game. To do ANYTHING of significance once the tutorial is over, you need to buy Monopoly coins...for 1,300 of these coins they want $99 real dollars.

I don't know about anyone else, but as a gamer, the only time I would lay down money like this It's for a triple A game, it has to be a collector's edition AND I expect swag with it also.

If this smart device model continues, I cannot possibly fathom that it can sustain itself. No self respecting gamer, would pay these prices for nothing more than energy to be able to perform the most mundane of tasks.

Then again, there are folks who prostitute themselves for "mounts' on Worlds of Warcraft (goggle it up)

I hope this clarifies my position on my earlier statement.

thechosenone4005d ago (Edited 4005d ago )

If that were true then why is the 3DS doing so well these days? Sony needs to cut the price of both the Vita and their memory cards after that I'm sure they'll see a nice uptick in market share numbers. And less you all forget...

"Nintendo posts earnings, drops 3DS from $249 to $169 August 12th, current owners get 20 free games."

http://www.engadget.com/201...

ufo8mycat4004d ago

3DS is for casuals and kids. Different market. Bigger market. Of course its going to sell more.

phantomexe4005d ago

I don't believe that and i think people know what the difference is between the vita,3ds and an iphone. Games is the vitas problem but in time that will change. The 3ds will do better and better each year as people replace there ds. 3ds just needs to keep doing what it's doing.

Chitown712914005d ago

Well what I think what help Sony a heck of a lot, would be

1).A subsidized Vita for $49 (With AT&T to add it on should be no more than $10 a month with a shared data plan).

2). Better integration across all devices. PS4/PS3 and Vita should talk like lets say an iPhone and iMac . Through cloud or through bluetooth, everything should be seamless.

3). Original content. Have separate 1st party companies and have them focus on Indie titles STRICTLY for the Vita. Also no more ports or big known franchises thats already known on other Playstation Platforms, but content strictly for the Vita. (Tearaway looks to be a GREAT start to it)

4). "Create new experiences". Focus heavily on Virtual Reality stuff, as no one is really focusing on it right now and it could be Sonys niche into an untapped market.

Chitown712914005d ago

Oh and
5). Remote Play! Make it totally accessible to everything on the PS4. Literally every game and every video, every photo, anything, should be able to be mirrored on the Vita! ( I know they touched on it at the presentation , but Im just stating all that would make Vitas fortune turnaround)

H4all4005d ago

what next article?
Tablet/Phone Gamer vs Handheld gamer?

handheld have more experience from the phone/tablet...
for sample... the controller/ the game title..

Gr814005d ago

Vita is looking like Sony's Game Gear.

Kingthrash3604005d ago

how is that? wow such negative comments dont belong in the gaming community same goes for this article...why are writers and fanboya acting like profits? like they can see the future. ignoreing the facts like this world wide depression thats happening may contribute to, to people buying less.
that comment calling the vita a gamegear when the gamegear failed during a time when people were actually spending money. god I cant wait for the vita to drop its price just to see what you negative people come up with...that the real reason why the vita isnt selling I mean if you want a handheld and are torn between the vita and 3ds financially you pick thr 3ds because it's cheaper. or better yet a ds over 3ds or psp over vita or wii over wiiu or ps3 over wiiu ect. its all about the money the cheaper the better.

knifefight4004d ago

The article is only talking about the sales projections that SONY made themselves.

Fact: SONY is predicting half the sales they predicted last year.

Again, one more time, that's SONY talking. If you have a problem, maybe you should talk to Sony about it.

Gr814004d ago

Does your comment even mean? How am I a fanboy because I am using factual numbers of Sony's handheld and comparing it to another failed handheld?

I've been very critical of Nintendo and Wii U as well. Hell Nintendo fans have been equally mad at me for my comments lol.

If anything I'm an equal opportunity kind of guy. To have Sony's expectations for the Vita be so low can only mean that this thing is floundering in the market. Pointing that out is trolling? Give me a break.

Perhaps you should expand your interests beyond gaming, as the world is much bigger than arguing over sales of videogame systems.

Krew_924004d ago (Edited 4004d ago )

Funny because I enjoyed my Game Gear more than my Game Boy at the time...

Gr814004d ago

Yeah, your one of those 'hardcore' gamers I suppose. Because GameBoy became a staple which created the handheld market and every handheld since including the Vita is here as a result of the GameBoy. Game Gear, like Atari Lynxx, was beating the crap out of gameboy technically but the software and hardware sales of gameboy were just incredible.

Glad you enjoyed the 2 or 3 Game Gear games more than the GameBoy games. You are truly a great example of why N4G is out of touch with the mainstream gamer.

NYC_Gamer4005d ago

I doubt Sony will continue in the handheld business if Vita doesn't become successful

HyperBear4005d ago

I think if there's one problem with the Vita besides the somewhat initial high price and no quality games the Vita had at launch, it's the implementation of the proprietary memory cards.

I understand they did this for hacking/homebrew reasons, and to protect the developers from losing out on sales, but isn't that what made the original PSP so popular?? In this day and age, if they built a portable gaming machine with the intent of having digital distribution at the forefront of the Vita (with PSN, PS+, PS Store, Digital Downloads) and with only 4, 8, 16 and 32GB versions of memory cards (with the 32GB being $100), they should have designed a MicroSD card slot instead. it's just not economically feasible for the casual audience (even some of the hardcore audience, myself included, aren't buying Vita's) to spend that kind of money at this moment.

Great day for Sony.....Not-so much for the PlayStation side of things. The PS4 will change that!

Th4Freak4005d ago (Edited 4005d ago )

I agree with you except by the quality games, if you were a PSV owner you knew that most of the games have a excellent quality and lot of are console quality games, I can make you a list right now if you want.

HyperBear4005d ago

By quality, I meant a constant/steady release of games (more specifically in the retail side of things, not digital). Plus, it's more of a personal preference for me too. While some or all of Vita's games might be awesome quality to you, there's honestly only 2 or 3 games I would play on it right now, so for me at this point in time, it is not worth it.

Th4Freak4005d ago (Edited 4005d ago )

So you're saying that if the games don't follow your schedule and aren't of your taste they're low quality? Seriously...

KrisButtar4005d ago

Were you not around for the 1st year of the PSP and there memory cards?

Those 16GB memory cards were pretty fricking close to costing a $100, until others started making them after a year, then their prices dropped. Same thing will happen again with these Vita cards.

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150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos1d 8h ago (Edited 1d 8h ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers1d 4h ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken15h ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g1d ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing1d ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H91d ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola20h ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66923h ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle23h ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

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130°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg1d 16h ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos1d 15h ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion1d 15h ago (Edited 1d 15h ago )

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola1d 11h ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

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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
ChasterMies21d 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_looken21d ago

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

Cacabunga21d ago

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

just_looken21d 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-6421d 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_Long21d 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.

Einhander197221d 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.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d 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 21d ago
DivineHand12521d 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.

Joe91321d 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_Observer21d 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.

S2Killinit21d ago (Edited 21d 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.

Joe91321d 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.

S2Killinit21d 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.

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Christopher21d 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.

CrimsonWing6921d ago (Edited 21d 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.

S2Killinit21d 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_Mal21d ago (Edited 21d 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.

Christopher21d 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_looken21d 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

Einhander197221d ago (Edited 21d 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.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d 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.

romulus2321d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218321d 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.

S2Killinit21d ago (Edited 21d 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.

mastershredder21d 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.

crazyCoconuts21d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

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