Sony has once again slashed their outlook for the PlayStation Vita and other handhelds in their PlayStation Portable lineup. Announced in the quarterly report, Sony cuts the projected sales total from 12 million in fiscal year 12, to 10 million sold bythe year’s close (March 31, 2013)
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I personally believe a price slash will give the platform a much needed boost, and put the vita in a competitive state. Also game releases dedicated to the Japanese, who are in fact the most supportive of the on the go gaming lifestyle.
As much as some wouldn't want to hear this. More user friendly casual experiences are long over due. Games that will appeal to the masses, not just the core gamer.
Vita's a bit of a slow burner, but Sony has proven that they can make a device with great games time and time again, so nothing to worry about imo.
vita needs games...here's a thought. Sony could open the flood gates that are the digital psp library and price the games half off.
That would add a crap load of playable titles to the vita real quick. Granted they would be psp titles but the idea that you have doubled or tripled the amount of playable games to your platform can be a huge selling point.
I know it was when PS2 came out. The whole BC idea was a big selling point for many because they already had a library of PS1 games that now they could play on the PS2 along with the PS2 games at the time.
Another idea would be for them to adopt the low blow tactic of cheap and disposable games on the vita marketplace. Essentially taking on the likes of tablet/phone users with the words with friends and other popular social games.
Consumers will generally buy into a product if they feel they are getting a great deal for their $$. Like i said, it would be a low blow tactic but it certainly could spark some interest.
the real downside is the portability of the unit itself. I mean lets face it. It is sexy tech but really isnt something that everyday people would tote around like a tablet.
If sony could take the best of the vita and pair it with the best of the xperia play then they would really have something to take on both the portable and mobile markets in one.
I'm personally thinking of picking up a Vita soon, although I am hoping a price cut is in the works - would not hurt its chances at all.
200$ tablets like kindle and the nexus 7 are making 250$ hard to swallow
PS3+PS2 - 8.8 million
360 - 4.2 million
Wii - 2.2 million
3DS+NDS - 8.6 million
PSP+Vita - 3.9 million
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...
Sweet post. According to neogaf...
"PS3 has been reliably selling 75+% of combined ps2/ps3 sales over the past year (over 85% during the holidays last year), and obviously going forward the ps3 will only increase that share as the ps2 slowly dies off. So using 75% as a minimum baseline, we get the following picture:
63.9 + .75*2.8 +.75*3.5 = ~68.6 million units sold globally after this quarter at a minimum.
Compare that to 360's 70 million and ps3 is now only trailing by 1.4 million units max.
It's pretty safe to say at this point that by the end of Sony's fiscal year the PS3 will be in second place globally, certainly before the next consoles come out."
Wow, if true.
The 3DS unfortunately seems to be struggling drastically. Hopefully its luck turns around...
I personally believe a price slash will give the platform a much needed boost, and put the vita in a competitive state. Also game releases dedicated to the Japanese, who are in fact the most supportive of the on the go gaming lifestyle.
As much as some wouldn't want to hear this. More user friendly casual experiences are long over due. Games that will appeal to the masses, not just the core gamer.
(i forgot to add)
"rated E for everyone"
>>200$ tablets like kindle and the nexus 7
And what should I play on those? Uncharted? Unit? Gravity Rush? Ragnarok? Assassin's Creed? MGS?
Why should I pay $200 for a device that doesn't have any sterling big game? I have my tablet for completly different purposes. Playing games on it, turned to be a pain because of lack of buttons or analog sticks and a waste of time because of overall quality of games.
There is only snag though in your argument. MS typically sells lots more Xbox 360s ever holiday than Sony does PS3.
Last holiday Xbox 360 sold almost twice the number PS3. From the top of my head, I think MS sold 7+ million consoles.
This year, MS got a price cut going into the holidays, while Sony essentially raised the price. You do the math!
And even then....
Straight mathematics for you
PS3 best selling console 2011 (despite MS claims even after the fact of knowing that Sony didn't release it numbers yet lol).
Source (Ps3, Xbox360, Wii official full numbers for 2011): http://www.neogaf.com/forum...
As a gamer myself, I love the Vita and all it has to offer but as a parent in these tough economic times, I'm hard-pressed to buy a Vita for my kids to go along with the 3DS's that they already have. A significant price cut would definitely help to make the decision easier.
Edit: But as Gaffy has also pointed out, I believe it's still too early to count the device out. To date, the PSP sold only about half of the DS worldwide but 75 Million is still nothing to sneeze at.
Anyway,,Sony definitely brought this on themselves with really poor decisions with the obscene price points for the machine and the no games from japan.
i had a vita for a while, awesome system, but the price point as it stands is too steep. you need a memory card for most games(which makes no freaking sense what so ever since the games are on flash cards like the 3DS), and no one is going to opt in for a 4gb or an 8gb...
what it most importantly needs is games. and not trashy games like that crap COD game. that wont help the system sell. it needs games that shows the power and the versatility of the system.
No HD in the Vita was a mistake.
edit: I think the device itself is priced just fine for what the system offers however.
Are you kidding?
MGS, Gravity Rush, Ragnarok, Project Diva, Blaz Blue, Persona to name a few.
@below
Price cut is the last thing Vita needs. What it need most is GAMES. A price cut will only provide a temporary boost.
@ritsuka666
Obscene price points? LMFAO! You do know that the PSP launched at $250 back then right? If you adjust for inflation, PS Vita is actually super cheap for the tech it has in there. Did you forget that the 3DS also launched at $250? That thing is nowhere near as powerful as the Vita.
Did you know the Vita is more powerful than an iPhone 5? In fact it may even be more powerful than the iPhone 6. Vita is years ahead of mobile phones in terms of tech. It is not over-priced.
But the fact is that the Vita is not selling through as expected and the current price is a big part of it. Yes, the 3DS launched at $250 but its sales didn't take off until they slashed the price dramatically. PSP sales also didn't see a dramatic rise until the prices came down. It may be too early for a price cut for the Vita from Sony's view but it will be necessary to see the sales pick up. Remember, the average and casual gamer may not be enticed by the machine's capabilities. Most only see the price tag.
Yes, availabilty of games is a factor and the Vita has a lot of games currently available, not counting ports. It may not have the killer titles that many 'hardcore' gamers are looking for but I'm sure there's something that anyone would enjoy playing.
"What it need most is GAMES."
You cannot be serious? The one thing the Vita doesn't lack in is GAMES! I really don't know what kind of games you are wanting to come come out on Vita that already hasn't been released but that is a lame reason.
Again, the Vita may be "years" ahead of the competition but that doesn't make it desireable to the average consumer which is way too obvious now.
But there's a lot of factors to consider as well..
The Iphone 5 can provide enough entertainment for the masses w/o extra unnecessary cost (of having to buy another device).. the phone plan is to be considered as well..
Most importantly, it has way more "practical" software (non gaming).
A vita is pretty much redundant for the average person (sales already back this up).
But as for games, I disagree with you. There are more than enough games on Vita, but most of you just turn a blind eye for this.
I've just finished MGS Collection and there will be LBP, Project Diva, NFS, Assassin's Creed, Ragnarok, Zero Escape, Retro City Rampage. And then ZoE Collection, Ratchet & Clank, Persona, Sly 4. And I still didn't play WipEout.
What lack of games are talking about? I don't even have enough time and money to buy and play all games that I want for Vita. The only game I finished on PS3 since spring was Batman AC - all other time I play on Vita.
Actually it is more on branding hating than anything else. When 3DS is out with a 250 price tag, what most people are complaining is lack of Mario games and games rather than the price tag itself. But with Sony's case, despite fact that when comparing hardware to hardware, it is very clear who is more superior. Yet people are complaining over the price tag. If we are to talk about no games on Vita. 3DS face the same shit at launch too. From an owner of both 3DS and Vita, people can disagree but from my perspective as well as my friends surrounding me who actually own both, we all felt that if comparing the first 6 mths of release between the 2 platforms. Vita actually did better in terms of games that they push out. It is quite unfair to compare today's state on both in terms of games. Since 3DS launch way ahead of Vita. It is just like in the past when people are complaining that PS3 has not games and 360 has more games when the fact is 360 release 1 year earlier. It is an obvious "DUH" thing to talk about. If 360 1 year head start still end up having less game, it should be thrown out of market by time PS3 is out. It is just like as of today, iTune Store still have more apps than Google Play Store. But Android is still conquering almost 20% more market share than iOS market as of today.
Some things are just hard that you wont know what people are thinking these days. Some things people say I might agree, but a lot of things are just unfair statement and comparison. Yet people are putting it as fact. Just like iPad, it does sell very well. But the fact is from tech standpoint, iPad may be pretty revolution when it first came out. But as of today, it is very clear that other makers are making better tablets than iPad (from tech standpoint). Yet iPad is still selling. Simply because why? It is Apple. Is this even logical? To me it is not. Especially for it's price tag. Always way higher than other tablets. Yet no one is complaining the price tag and went ahead and buy them. From technical standpoint, Vita is still more powerful than the 3rd iPad. Yet iPAd is way more expensive. When iPad is not being complain over price but Vita is. Is this logical? Maybe haters and apple lovers will find it logical. But not me. How about Apple to release a new iPad replacement within the same life cycle? Yet people will run out and buy for sure. And people can complain anything but never it's price tag, yet it is pretty confirm that it will cost more than most existing products. Again because it is Apple.
A lot of things really does not make sense today. But this is how people want to be. Also humans have the tendency of like being a sheep. If many say this is good, the rest will tend to follow blindly. Simply because people will think if I do not follow suit means I am lagging behind the society. So ti say, at least 1/3 of the community dont even know what they are talking when they comment something. They just follow the crowd. Unfortunately this is how the society is these days.
Whatever it is. I only can say from an own's perspective. I have nothing against the device. I personally find it priced ok. Not saying it is cheap. But not unreasonable as far as the launch price is. And it does return me the value that I have pay for. I enjoy owning the device. I think people really need more peace, learn to be more appreciative in life than to be so bashful.
Solid post, man. I can tell English isn't your first language, but you wrote eloquently and very clearly! And it was much more insightful than the majority of comments on here. Bubs+ for you my friend.
That's not to say that it couldn't do with better sales, because it could. It just amazes me how people pull numbers from thin air like that.
I personal think that 10 million combined sales is a little optimistic from Sony, UNLESS they know something we don't. I'd say this isn't the last revision. 8 million my March.
Was using it last night.
Still love it.
Why would I feel screwed? I bought it ages ago, and have used it extensively.
With PS3 sales only down 14% this quarter according to Sony, that puts the PS3 at about 68.8 million versus the 360’s 70 million. If this trend continues through the holidays, it looks like the PS3 will overtake 360’s all time sales by the end of Christmas, or the end of March at the latest.
And even with slowing PS3, PSP and slow Vita sales, the division turned a profit and is expecting to maintain their income levels with decreases in production costs washing out the impact of the slight sales decline. I’m sure the stabilizing FX markets helped.
It’s too bad we’ve seen PSP/Vita sales forecasts cut again but without a price cut and competing with half a billion smartphones/tablets out there it’s a wonder anyone is buying these. It’s a good thing they’re such a small part of the overall picture. Handheld gaming could disappear overnight and its impact to division would be negligible. The games division was never as reliant on the handheld market compared to the way it was Nintendo bread and butter for so long before DS sales disappeared and the Wii took over as the breadwinner. The 3DS has some pretty big shoes to fill from a revenue standpoint with Wii sales now pretty much non-existent and the Wii-U starting from square one.
Still, it’s funny to me to see the Vita/PSP story making the headlines again considering how small a part of the big picture it is. Investors couldn’t care less if the Vita disappeared off the face of the earth any more than they cared the PSP Go didn’t catch on. It’s a tick on the rhino’s back. When you look at business sites, the Vita isn’t even mentioned in looking at this report. At best it’s a footnote, yet look at all these games sites getting whipped up into a frothing `Sony Doom` frenzy when the real story should be how well the PS3 is doing going into the final lap of this gen. I guess they’re just getting warmed up for the onslaught of `PS4 Doom` articles we’re already seeing cropping up.
Now all of a sudden the Vita is a flea on a dog's tip and we should all ignore the sales and focus more on the great selling PS3. You sir get a +bubble from just because I love the delusion you are under.
And I do remember you were in a few other articles in a frenzy letting posters know about a certain 40% drop.
The PS3 is in it's sixth year on the market, meaning the 14% drop in sales is from year five through year six. On the other hand, the 360 INCREASED it's sales between years five and six - even without a price cut. It's funny how people who love to talk about "aligning the launches" when comparing sales have no problem using different timeframes now.
Once a console begins it's decline, there's no stopping it. PS3 has now begun it's decline in year six. The 360 didn't begin declining until year seven. That's hardly a recipe for making a come-from-behind victory.
Thanks for confirming this...ONCE AGAIN :-D
Sony VP has said it many times a pre drop doesn't happen over night it's a long process to plan ahead. Also this talk of vita has no games well vita launched with so many games but people don't remember that and at gamescom Sony announced more stuff and actually I have seen a lot of advertisement for vita lately.
Right now let it sell slowly because I much rather Sony make 5-19 bucks on it than loose 100, Sony is in no position to loose more money so stop asking for a price drip it's not happening anytime soon. So instead of selling 16 million units in a year to 8-10 million if the 8-10 are profitable than its better than selling 16 million at $100 loss
I find it unbelievably moronic to still release a dedicated handheld gaming device in the age of the smartphone and tablet. If you are not the DS selling like hotcakes TO CHILDREN then what exactly are you doing in that market?
The whole games argument is becoming a little null at this point. There are plenty of games to keep you busy (not going to make a list, just look for yourself.)
Also, for the price, this is an amazing machine. And it sucks that Nintendo dropping the price of the 3DS to combat the Vita hurt it so much. Especially since people were praising the price of the Vita when it was announced. However I have to agree that a price cut would certainly help them in the sales department. I mean just look at that temporary Target sale that just happened. It sold out in only a couple of hours. Crazy stuff. Its obvious the demand is there. The price just needs to come down.
3DS 8,097,551 (-39%) 21,347,6 13
PS3 6,936,811 (-51%) 67,444,5 46
X360 5,323,834 (-61%) 69,093, 278
Wii 3,131,817 (-73%) 96,795,3 40
PSV 2,596,775 (+439%) 3,078,3 48
PSP 2,334,693 (-68%) 75,194,1 73
DS 1,915,952 (-78%) 152,225,1 75
This is the 2012 yearly sales from VGchartz, I think PSP still sells around 35k worldwide each week, same as PS Vita :/
they can stop vita manufacturing next year
Nintendo has a vast infrastructure of popular licensed characters and games which they leverage through their own programming houses and deals with third parties. By doing this, every hardware launch they have comes with the guarantee to the consumer of what they can expect -- at a minimum -- for the type of games that will be available on that system. This in turn drives sales, which then creates an install base large enough to attract 3rd party vendors to provide additional games (however it is worth noting that the best sellers on Nintendo's systems are dominated by their own licences).
Now, compare this to Sony. Sony doesn't have the same strength in IPs, although they do have their own programming houses and have been able to differentiate the PS3 though high quality first party games. This, coupled, with the brand strength garnered through the first two playstations, have made the PS3 a general success (even if they are 3rd in the market and lost North America, they are still producing a viable competitor in the gaming industry.) But the level of support given to the Vita is not quite the same, and there's no guarantee to the consumer that a set of high quality games will ever be available for the system like the case with Nintendo. The result, poor sales and a dark future.
Through this lens, its easy to see why the 3DS does well, when the Vita struggles. Having said all that, I own a Vita and I really like it. Believe it or not, I've been playing Madden and FIFA 13 and having a blast. I'm on Zero Escape now, and this game has completely sucked me in. I've got NFS and AC:Liberation in the queue, and based on my limited time playing each, I think I will enjoy both. So there's a lot of great games out there for the system. I just think, for most people, the value proposition isn't there, and barring stronger gaming support for Sony, who hasn't quite matched the effort they have put into the PS3, the Vita may just have a short life cycle after all.
I hope that is not the case, but with the games I got, I have no regrets of buying the system. I guess time will tell.
We are talking about near PS3 graphics here.
The only thing that costs too much are the memory cards, I see no reason as to why they are so expensive.
I never said it was as good as the best looking games on the PS3 did I?
Obviously I didn't mean that but if you look at games such as Gravity rush, Uncharted Golden Abyss, Playstation All Stars and Sly:thieves in time they are very close to console quality.
But it certainly is ahead the 3DS.
Apple games can at least produce illusions that are much better.. and that matters to a lot of people:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Sure it's not that complex or open world BUT:
-Clean geometry
-Clean lines (VITA's jaggy galore IMO)
-Sharp reflections
-High Textures
Hope VITA can up that even with a game with shallow gameplay.
>>Near PS3 graphics? Show me a game on it that have graphics half as good as Uncharted 3.
Vita is on the first year of it's life. Uncharted 3 came out on - what? - fifth year of PS3's life.
He also said _NEAR_ PS3, not equals PS3, because it's clearly impossible to put all the power of stationary device to a handheld. But Uncharted GA in many places looks more detailed than Uncharted 1 (and also GA has ambient occlusion, that appeared only in Uncharted 2).
And also the new NFS ofcourse:
http://n4g.com/news/1111874...
/s
It's like me saying Mitt Romney is a horrible candidate, and you try to prove me wrong by saying,
"Bu bu but everyone cheered for him at the Republican National Convention!"
You can't use a bubble like E3 to determine the opinions of ALL gamers, just like you can't use a bubble like the RNC to determine the opinions ALL voters.
Anyways the price isn't the problem. It's the lack of demand. Not very many people want to play PS3 quality titles outside of their home.
This may not make sense to the majority of N4G. But the current videogame marketplace shows this to be true.
I been thinking the same thing. A lot of Vita's titles would be much better served on home console.
<Anyways the price isn't the problem. It's the lack of demand. Not very many people want to play PS3 quality titles outside of their home.>
- People don't know it exists.
- Expensive.
- People don't know it exists.
- People don't know that it has games.
- People think it's another PSP (Seriously. People ask me if the Vita or the PSP Go is newer. EVERY DAY.)
- People don't know it exists...
The masses don't care about the Vita and never will. Its a niche product and if Sony can't forge a big enough consumer base for it then it will get nowhere.
Mom: How much is it?
Kid: $500
Mom: Alright. I'll get you an iPad.
Kid: Mommy... I want a PS Vita!
Mom: How much is it?
Kid: $250
Mom: That's too expensive, honey. We can't afford that.
Plus iPads don't require additional, expensive, proprietary memory cards. Plus apple has a store with THOUSANDS of apps/games (many free or $1-$2).
I have both and in the long run, I really think I've spent less on my iPad.
$500 for an ipad is Expensive.
250 for a PS VITA is cheap as Fuck.
At least that would give consumers an incentive to buy in rather than be put off by paying extra on something very important to the functionality of the device.
/sarcasm
ps. anyone know whats up with the 28 mb download app for the psn store?
I'm going to buy a regular PSP and mod the hell out of it instead (for all the holiday traveling I'll be doing), but I would have preferred to buy a vita if it wasn't sitting at the price of a new PS3.
lol