Why is the Vita dying?

Run-down of the Playstation Vita's amazing success story. Parody of Sony apologists.

[NYC_Gamer]

I feel the PSV is being treated real bad by 3rd party studios when it comes to support..Yes,i understand 3DS has the market share advantage but that's no reason for studios to just ignore Vita.

[NewMonday]

It's the fanboy wars

Gamers are taking console favoritesm way to seriously , some think they are on a mission to take down the other side, some websites look for troll hits, few relise this is immature and killing a still niche medium they supposedly love.

Call me crazy but I remember a time when the press and community all celebrated gaming and the talk was about sharing the experience and expanding the gamer population, that is how I changed from a kid who buys the latest popular thing to game geek.

This generation of gamers is the worst

[guitarded77]

Agree x 10,000. Press has become more and more sensationalist over the past 10 years, and people have become more and more ignorant lapping up everything they read.

[Hufandpuf]

I don't see how game sites and fanboys are bringing the handheld down. They don't affect the sales. If it was "fanboys" fault, where were the playstation fans? Why didn't a huge majority of ps3 owners buy the Vita? It was Sony's bad marketing, huge price point, and lack of dev support that is killing the Vita.

[X-Alchemist]

what does fanboyism have to do with sales?

[ALLWRONG]

So... to you Nintendo fanboys are killing the Vita?

[guitarded77]

You guys really think negativity doesn't affect public opinion? That's why politicians run negative ad campaigns during elections. They know that the uninformed voters don't know much to begin with, so it's easy to influence them. There are marketing classes which focus directly on negative marketing and social media. Companies spend millions on lawyers to protect their product from being slandered. If you don't think there are people who slander products out of self interest (stocks) or out of pure naivety of really believing their favorite product loves them back, then you're missing the big picture. I'm not saying it's all conspiracy, but for the uninformed buyer of a product, websites offer them the information they are going to arm themselves with when they go to make a purchase.

[fredrikpedersen]

I am from this generation of gamers, and I hate them as well.-

PLAY GAMES, NOT CONSOLES.

That being said, the Vita is pretty darn awesome and I've bought probably 80% of the games released on it. Come to think of it, I've been more passionate about playing my Vita than my consoles because I've been out and about so much

[torchic]

so what you're saying is that fanboys are purposefully trying to sabbotage the Vita, trying to make it sell at low rates?

that's the most radical idea I've heard on this site yet.

and it's very disappointing that so many people agreed with you. I don't understand why people feel the need to turn this site into a safe haven for the Vita. Sony are having problems with the Vita and you people just have to stop being delusional and making up such ridiculous ideas. I love Sony and all but gee...

[X-Alchemist]

why are sony fans so delusional? Sorry to be blunt but this has to be said. I actually don't understand why 47 people agree with u?

A Blog websites negativity barely effects a console's sales. Look at the wii, every website was posting doom articles and a vast amount of people were saying it wouldn't be viable and look how that sold.

You guys would give any ridiculous excuse to to warrant the reason why this console is ever so slowly failing. High price and a small library of games is the only reason and so far it's competitor outclasses it with both.

[liquidgravity]

I a 32 year old gamer that started with the NES back in the day and i have to say...well said newmonday.....well said.

[NukaCola]

When the 3DS came out, it sold horribly, it had nothing good outside of a couple ports and the system lost a lot of support from developers. Then it dropped it's price and skyrocketed.

The Vita came out and other than the memory card issues with pricing, delivered. It had a great launch line up and tons of support. I think a big issue is price and Sony needs to just deal with the loss and do a price cut. They do it all the time as "bundles", but should just release a $200 model instead of a $250 bundle. It's about presentation to the consumer. The Vita is phenomenal, but needs to be marketed the right way. They are on the right steps. I really think they need to launch the PS4 as a bundle that includes a Vita and a crossover game that showcases the connectivity and interactivity on the go...
....maybe GranTurismo 6. That would be super smart.

[Gr81]

Didn't sell 'horribly'unless you were comparing it to the DS. 3DS wasn't lighting charts on fire absolutely true, the price cut helped but it was the software that gave it the sustainable push.

If you say the 3DS sold horribly at first, what would you call Vita's numbers, since launch? Dreamcast sold more than Vita has in a comparable amount of time.

Vita's tech is awesome, but tech alone doesn't sell a gaming system, software does. And unfortunately Vita is trying to be a console on the go rather than a handheld gaming system. The software doesn't seem appealing, and with each subsequent release it becomes easier to ignore the Vita. CoD, AC, LBPK, what's next? PSABR? It's just one disappointing release after another.

I for one dont see how a system can sell so low and continue on the market before its pulled completely. It will end up like the Atari Lynx and Game Gear of decades past.

[rpd123]

@Arius Dion

Just saying, AC Liberation was awesome and LBPK isn't even on Vita. Haven't played CoD so can't comment on that. And PSABR looks to be anything but disappointing (not my kind of game but there are a lot of people who love it). And Killzone Mercenary and Tearaway are coming up, and they look good (from the little we've seen).

I do think that Sony needs to stop marketing it as a console on the go. It makes it sound like it's nothing but a portable PS3 when in reality they are completely different with different libraries. And it also sets everyone who isn't knowledgeable about the Vita up for disappointment when the graphics aren't up to par. It's the closest handhelds have ever gotten to console quality on the go, but it's not quite there yet.

I think sales will pick up. It took a while for the PS3 to start rolling as well, but it did well, and continues to do so. Sony just really sucks with marketing.

[Gr81]

Respectfully disagree. I think the marketing is fine. It shows vita for what it is a console experience on the go. And while you may like the idea the market is rejecting it. Vitas mission statement is all wrong.

And I don't remember the PS3 selling on par or below the dreamcast.

Vita software sales are as abysmal as its hardware sales. I'm not trying to be harsh just realistic. I wish there were something I could look at in the vita and hold up as a beacon to show a turnaround. But I don't.

However if you are enjoying the system more power to you.

[Anon1974]

Who said 3rd party studios are ignoring the Vita? The thing hasn't even been out a handful of months worldwide...it's not like 3rd party studios can just crank out quality titles overnight. We know plenty of mobile developers are currently focusing on other mobile platforms, but do we know how many 3rd party studios have Vita games in development? It's not like there's a list somewhere that we can reference and say "Look at that. 3rd party studios are ignoring the Vita." Really, we don't know what actual support is like, other than Sony saying they had hoped for better but a good chunk of them are making iPhone games now.

I know the only shortage I have when it comes to my Vita is a shortage of time to play all the games that interest me.

[Hdz54]

Can you list five third party games that are coming to the Vita in 2013? If COD and AC fail this holiday, don't expect to see any other third party publishers invest in the Vita.

[Jinkies]

Lets not forget the ones Sony does have with the PSV third party wise don't even seem to be trying when making their games.

It seems theres no passion for it.

[Neonridr]

How is it being treated real bad by developers? You think Developers are there to enrich our lives? They are making games to make money. And when the install base on the 3DS is 10x what it is on the Vita, where do you think the Developer is going to make more money??

You act all naive thinking that this isn't a business first.

[Hicken]

... so if there are no games, nobody buys the system. And if nobody buys the system, developers aren't going to make games for the system.

The thing is: SOMEBODY has to take that risk.

As it currently stands, it appears that few third party developers are willing to do so on the Vita. At the same time, few gamers seem to be willing to take that gamble. The irony is that more of each group were willing to stick their necks out for the 3DS.

Why?

Nintendo wasn't supporting the 3DS the way Sony's supporting the Vita. Arguably a better launch library, undeniably better features, and for not that much more money. The games you prefer may be subjective, but there's no arguing that the Vita currently has a rather nice stable of quality titles.

So what's the REAL difference?

guitarded, in a comment above, outlines a very plausible reason: http://n4g.com/comments/red...

Of course, as torchic immediately makes apparent, this theory will be categorically dismissed as "conspiracy," despite its plausibility. Anybody who considers this or any other reason- anybody who doesn't believe it's "doomed"- is just a "blind, fanboy drone," to paraphrase the very ridiculous pedroyamato.

There's an old, rather ghetto saying that applies:

Scared money don't make none.

In other words, you take a big risk to get big rewards. If anything, there's more 3rd party support for 3DS simply because it's a Nintendo handheld, and thus essentially assured big sales. On the other hand, the Vita, as a Sony handheld(and this makes even more sense if what guitarded said is true), represents a much higher risk at this point.

And we all know publishers are growing increasingly more afraid of taking risks; they're all about maximizing profit at minimum cost(and often while offering as little product as possible).

Assuming Sony and its handheld can overcome the negativity surrounding them, perhaps the Vita will see the sort of developer support it took time for the 3DS to get.

Yeah, that's right. There wasn't always all this massive 3rd party support for the 3DS. But those developers jumped onboard for Nintendo; is it that hard to imagine that, if the Vita can survive its current plight(which isn't ALL Sony-made), those same developers will take a risk on the most powerful, most versatile handheld ever?

[Neonridr]

Don't get me wrong, I agree with a lot of what you are saying. Sure the Vita is powerful, nobody is denying that. But is it powerful for all the right reasons? The 3DS is different enough to attract mobile gamers, Nintendo has always understood the mobile market and always seem to hit the nail on the head (excluding Virtual Boy of course). The Vita is trying to flex its muscles in a world where the latest smartphones are rivaling it in terms of specs.

Couple that with games that have questionably short development times (Black Ops Declassified was built in 5 months), and you have gamers who are wondering if there is quality in the software they would be getting for the handheld.

Look how bad it is in Japan, I mean the 3DS sold like 180,000 last week to the Vita's 4,000. Even the PSP moved like 12,000 units. How insulting is it that your predecessor that has like 1/4 the specs is moving 3 times as many units as your new flagship device?

As the DS, Wii and 3DS have shown us in the past several years, it isn't always the strongest system that wins.

I am sure the Vita will start to pick up in sales as more quality games show up. Here's hoping they can have a somewhat positive holiday season.

[FriedGoat]

the 3ds is different enough? Do you own a 3ds? I do, owned it from launch and its hardly different from it predecessors. I was actually pretty angry at how dire the first year of owning a 3DS was. The vita however kept me well entertained with high quality launch titles with lots of content yet the media and all the ninty fanboys are telling me it has no games. The vita is a big step up. It also has titles that give you much more bang for your buck.

[joeorc]

" The Vita is trying to flex its muscles in a world where the latest smartphones are rivaling it in terms of specs. "

and what you and pretty much everyone are overlooking is that very fact it was built for that very reason the way it was designed for such is the market now going forward it may be slow to take off but that is aside from the point!

"The Vita is trying to flex its muscles in a world where the latest smartphones are rivaling it in terms of specs"

this has more truth you you think, the PSVita is not trying to it is in that market it has to be the reason being that is where most of the 3rd party developers are going.

You do know the very same chipsets these ultra high end smartphones have, the PSVita has also, right? if you did not know why sony put that in there, its not mainly about the PSVita vs' the 3ds.

It was never about that it was the fact that smartphone's just like the Dedicated PDA market the smartphone has absorbed the handheld market and is now the leader in handhelds.

Not only in sales of the hardware but in the software sales also. while Nintendo and sony have dedicated game handheld systems that are fantastic, make no mistake about this this is not up for debate because it is 100% a fact the smartphone market dwarfs many times over the sales of dedicated game handheld systems in market share many times over.

That is the blunt truth. even though the Nintendo 3ds sales are fantastic and so is its software sales it pales vs the Smartphone sales of even Sonys xperia brand smartphones! and Sony is not even anywhere near the leader in that market Samsung, apple is far greater and larger, but even still Sony is selling over 7.8 million xperia smartphones per sales quarter!

the real truth of the matter is the PSVita was set and positioned and set for the smartphone market not the dedicated handheld game market, that is what people are overlooking

and the reason being is the very fact it is using the same high end SGX GPU and Arm cortex processors that the smartphones are using. Sony unlike Nintendo have been in the handheld market in other ways aside from gaming, that is the dedicated PDA market, they know 1st hand experience what happens.

This is not about upfront sales with such a platform because right now that is almost a moot point to try to compete in the market the way you use to be able to if your brand strength is not as strong as other brands that is what Sony is facing right now, and that is also exactly what they are positioned to have the greater chance of being able to overcome these hard challenges.

its not a shocker that Sony made the Playstation suite and that it runs on the xperia and PSVita also. its also not out of the bundling of the PSVita with the PS3 as a package to be sold as one bundle soon.

Sony is not going to drop the PSVita like many seem to think, the reason being they cannot afford too, the PSVita is going to be supported by sony's first party efforts one way or the other, too much investment, good or bad Sony is not going to drop the PSVita anytime soon the reason being is the few profitable parts of Sony as a whole in their company is the playstation part of their company, and less than 10,000 unit sales per week is not very much for some but it is sales, and it will provide profit.Sony will package it with the PS3 before long anyway and that so happens to be the trends in game console hubs being the main option for gameing in the next generation anyway. Nintendo with the WiiU and Microsoft with Smartglass and Windows surface and windows Phone. Sony already is set for such a movement shift. with the PS3 or PS4 and with the PSVita and Xperia line as the mobile connection to the Hub.

[TGR]

Sony's pathetic marketing is killing vita. Nothing else.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

The system is far from dead.

Sure, it wouldn't hurt if Sony bought a little more ad space for the vita.

But if you make a list of all the rumored vita projects and games already in development you'll clearly see the system has a long life ahead of it.

And I'm sure we all remember when people said "the ps3 is dead, the ps3 has no games." We'll 6 years later, 3 hardware revisions, and tons of software later the system is still alive and well.

[kesvalk]

gonna quote scatman on this one:

"those thing you call dead didn't yet have a chance to be born..."

really, give it time, i am sure it will not do worse than the PSP.

[firefly69]

price cut!!!!

[belac09]

this is literally the stupidest article i have ever read.

[Godchild1020]

I said it once before and I'm going to say it again. My vita is dying because the charger is not plugged in and I'm playing games on it.

Next year we should see better support and I'm sure Sony knows that the Vita needs more third party support. Sony first party titles are great, but not enough.

For those saying the Vita is already dead, why not try it out and then come back and say that it's dead. I did it when it came to the 3DS and only have one complaint; the wait for Luigi's mansion?

[HeavenlySnipes]

Sony needs to change their strategy for mobile gaming imo. They should go away from making a system that can *almost* rival a console experience to one that provides unique simple entertaining games.

As much as I loved my PSP, the VITA doesn't look appealing to me because developers are trying to fit console experiences onto the handheld and that takes a lot of time and it won't come out as nice as it would if the game was just made for the PS3/360

That is why I think Nintendo has been successful in that area. They have simple games that you can just pickup and play and put it down in 10-30 minutes. Pokemon, Dragonquest, the Kirby games on the gameboy etc.. all provided simple, fun experiences. Why pay to play an Uncharted game that is ony half as good as the console counterpart? Or any game attempting to be a console game when there are console games that perform and play better.

[grassyknoll]

I think the Vita has an amazing line up (although niche) & is great value for money (personally), but price is really hurting it with the general public. Once manufacturing costs come down it needs a significant price cut.

[majiebeast]

We shall see in 2 years. Everyone said that the ps3 was DOA now it has the most diverse criticaly acclaimed games of the 3 console's. 3DS only started getting good games in january febuari of this year.

[PeZuS]

This author is guilty of exactly what he's accusing "cows" of; being a fanboy.

[ronin4life]

It is a joke article.
-_- It was written as a parody .

[Gr81]

Did the same thing for Wii U a few days ago.

[ronin4life]

Yeah. A negative view of the wiiu from the view of a Sony fanboy. They also did a Xbox fanboy one too about the wiiu.

And then there was the "wiiu rounded disks are the next great innovation" Nintendo fanboy one as well... I don't know how old this website is but I wish I'd discovered it sooner ^,^

[Clarence]

No dragon warrior games, no monster hunter games, the vita is clunky and the price hurts it. Make these 2 games and it will sell.

[Hazmat13]

still need to get mine i must play all uncharted games! and the killzone game looks badass!

[Kingthrash360]

The vita is less than a year old, and just like the 3ds or ps3 or Xbox or wii or xbox360 or anything under a year old. Numbers will be bad. They always are until a price cut comes along then the numbers games should begin. 'Gotta crawl before u walk, but before u crawl, u gotta watch people walking'. Is the saying for this.

Playing the numbers game this early is just an example of the negativity that has grown in our gaming world. I never heard of snes numbers being compared to Genesis .... Ahhhh How I miss thos days...

[josephayal]

I hope they can fix it and give me back the $300 usd

[etowntwo]

i tried it out ... its just too big to be portable.

and no game right now warrants a purchase. I'm sure i'll buy when GOW comes out, but till then. Good luck Sony.

[KingOptimusAscend111]

They need a price cut that is all.

[tubers]

Good.. but not enough.. unless we're talking 200 dollars with a free 16 GB card here.

[Plagasx]

It's simple. No games.

[TotalHitman]

The Vita has no games that appeal to people. I'm kinda wishing I never bought a Vita. It needs more exclusive games like a Vita only MGS title.

[BitbyDeath]

It's just a flesh wound

[Flewid638]

There was a time when "tech" itself was cool. You werent buying a new piece of tech necessarily because it provided a useful tool, but moreso because it is....well.....new tech.

The iPad is the perfect example. Truth be known it does everything a smartphone does, minus calls, but with a bigger screen. It doesn't serve a purpose (I use this phrase loosely as it serves, obviously, many purposes) other than being cool...mainly.

Now....tech doesnt necessarily mean cool, but rather useful. Useful at a friendly cost. The Vita is a luxury device. It doesnt produce Mass Market tech at a Mass Market price.

So although the tech is superb, there are other handhelds and mobile devices that offer a similar experience for less of the cost (hardware and software). Sure, pixel for pixel the Vita out-performs, but not enough for the cost of it's usefulness to outweigh that of lets say, a 3DS or similar mobile platform.

Handheld gaming in and of itself isn't a luxury experience anymore. Everyone's got SOMETHING that can play games/do apps on the go. SO since the experience is no longer luxury, the platforms that offer them shouldn't be either.

Especially not in this global economy.

[tubers]

LOL at the author:

"About the author: The Cow is an avid lifelong fanboy of all things Playstation. "

He can't even defend the overpriced "hidden costs" well.

[MegaLagann]

Own a Vita, love it, can't wait for Persona 4 Golden and Ys Celceta, but I really don't see how Sony can save the Vita.

[tubers]

Some more time and continued support.

I hope they don't end its life cycle abruptly.

[mister_zolos]

the psvita is not dying...and now is geting psn plus ^^ long live the king

[izumo_lee]

7 years ago people were saying the same thing about the PS3, saying it had no games, it was too expensive, etc.

Fast forward 7 years & with the report that the PS3 has reached 70 million sales it has proved all those naysayers wrong. Where are those people now who thought the PS3 was dead.

The same can be said about the Vita. Maybe 7 years from now we will probably say the same thing about it as well. This is a marathon not a sprint, the Vita is going to be fine & i believe those underestimating & disregarding it now will be eating their words.

[Hdz54]

That is not an apples to apples comparison. Despite the PS3's struggles, the home console market's outlook was still positive. Additionally, the PS3 had plenty of 3rd party support and games in the pipeline. When you look at the Vita, the situation is much more dire. The handheld console market is shrinking fast and 3rd party support is basically non-existent.

[unicronic]

People forget that PS3 didn't get off to the best start with several high profile false starts with games like Lair and Haze falling well short of expectations.

Sony get things right the hard way. Vita will come good eventually.

[Vickistheman]

The PS3 was "dying" 7 years ago too. Now it's tied with the 360.

I'm sure sales will pick up(especially in Japan) once more software comes out and a price cut(system and memory cards)

I don't know why people keep on doubting Sony. Sony has shown they can handle adversity, competition, their own mistakes, market shifts etc and still find a way to succeed.

The Vita is a machine built to last. While the 3DS is beating it handily in sales, don't be surprised if the current Vita and the 3DS's successor compete head to head because of the tech inside the VITA.

[NirvanaInChains]

Because like every other Japanese developer/company they just cant grasp the concept of listening to there fans. Vita is cool but haves no good games. Just like square, all the fans wanna play ffv13 or a Remake of 7 or something besides ff13. Then they release ff13 2 in like a years time. NO ONE asked for that. Sad when the current best games for both vita and 3DS are remakes of old games.

[fr3d0]

I use mine all the time. Playing FFIX and ACIII: Liberation. Watching full tv episodes on YouTube.

Of course it's portable, but it's not meant to be an iphone. Its a portable console basically so stop whining.

[Ima9er4Life]

I love my Vita, who ever wrote this must be on Microsoft nuts. Cuz ain't nobody ever thought that most people who have Xbox360 have a couple of them, wether they 360 broke down or just plain upgrading. Think about it, I love sports, cars and adventure games, so I play on ps3. I hate kids on xbox, ain't nobody no shit bout sports and cars.......xbox just know shooters and immature kids who ain't never seen no scratch by the end of the day.