Anyways, I've yet to purchase a Vita, and probably never will at this rate, Sony has yet to entice me with a SINGLE game, considered by most to be it's "system seller". They have many IPs, but for some reason, the transition to the DUAL ANALOG STICK has been difficult.
As someone who purchased the PSP for it's power, and a person who enjoys any company who makes good games, I feel like Sony has put the wrong people in charge of some of these titles.
Personally, I'm pretty shocked that even launch titles have failed, (with the exception of Uncharted: Golden Abyss).
@RustedMan, then don't buy one. You don't own one so how do you know if it sucks? You can't just play it once or twice and call it a failure..... If you don't plan on buying one, then stop talking negative about it and just leave it alone.
So none of the current games interest you, okay. So you rather go support the crap phone market instead? Have fun playing knockoff Gameloft games and updating your phone every 6 months to play identical looking games to your current phone.
"Surprised launch games failed" how? They are selling fine, even Ubisoft said they were happy with Assassins Creed numbers. Its launch, not everyone has one, and launch titles never see mind blowing numbers....
I seriously dont get how 3million in 1 year is bad. Can someone seriously explain it to me.. and please dont say 3DS because compared to 3DS at this rate the 360 ps3 and wii should be considered "doomed" and I guess psp flopped too because it didnt sell as much as the ds? despite selling over 70million. seriously I need an explanation. It feels like PS3 2007 all over again.People claiming things with no real explanation just to tarnish the name.
@RustedMan If you'd asked me what I think of Vita 3 weeks ago, I would have agreed with your opinion but, as a ps+ subscriber for my PS3 and with the deals on Black Friday, it would've been stupid for me not to buy one... You already start with 6 games (3 of which are real and high ranking Vita games) on PS+, and the bundle I got was nothing short of amazing... I still agree tho that they need to develop more games, and fast (the "coming soon" list is not as enticing as I'd like, at least in the short run), but buy one and you will not regret it. It's just the most amazing handheld I've ever had.
@dmarc...because lets use the ps3 as example, it launched in 2006, at 3 million sales a year, it would be coming up on the big 20 million sold..not good. The sales have to pick up.
Just because I am not liking where the Vita is going doesn't mean I favor the smartphone market of games, or Nintendo, or a damned NeoGeo. I believe that mobile gaming is in flux right now, we don't know what we want. Are we going digital-only or not? are we using storage for game data or are we eventually switching over to streaming games over the internet? what imminent changes will immediately throw curve balls at the handheld market?
For some reason, I'm considered an outlandish fanboy who burns printed pages of Sony's logo but I'm not. Hell I've owned 3 ps3's because two of them have YLOD on me. I consider that to be a pretty damned loyal costumer.
If you guys feel satisfied with your Vita, that's fine, (and don't get me the, "well, don't comment on this article then" crap. Everyone has an opinion, and my opinion is worth the same as everyone else on here). I have never played the Persona series, I haven't been big into RPGs as of late.
But, I've owned every handheld, with the exception of the 3DS, and know that regardless of power, it's games that make the system, and why the "big boys" of Sony can't make their own portable adaptations of their franchises is beyond me.
Yes, it's very early, and I don't think the Vita is going to die anytime soon, (hence the needed clarification of my earlier post) but I am somewhat letdown by what I've seen. Yes, financially, it's damned difficult to settle for games with little replay value, (with the exception of the heralded Persona 4).
All I have to say is that the landscape is changing, and I despise Apple's self imposed monopoly as well as the idea that the five minute "flick the ball into the basket" style of App store flash game will seemingly conquer all handheld games.
I do have high hopes for the console, and developers like "Ready At Dawn" have shown that they are fully capable of making portable versions of their console counterparts, but I hope the trend doesn't go on for long.
history is gonna repeat itself. Sony will not abandon the Vita just like they didn't abandon the PS3 when all we got on N4G (back in 2006) were articles about its doomsday. But guess what... PS3 has the brightest future between the 3 consoles. =)
Gabe Newell [2007]: "I'd say, even at this late date, they (Sony) should just cancel it (the PS3) and do a do over. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it'."
wishingW3L, the vita is in a completely different situation to the PS3 though. The PS3 has only ever been competing against other consoles, whereas the Vita is competing for pocket space with increasingly powerful smart phones that do so much more than play games. I'm not arguing that a market doesn't exist for a dedicated handheld console, certainly "core" gamers will always prefer the physical controls, but Sony need the Vita to sell to more than just the core demographic.
No, but there will reach a point when nobody is developing games for it anymore, and I suspect that will be sooner rather than later. People don't want it. It's not selling. It's not that hard to comprehend really.
Why would you say this without giving Vita even ONE holiday season? It's christmas soon you know....
I got my Vita a couple of weeks ago and joined ps+. Now I'm playing gravity rush and enjoying the hell out of it. Does someone have a problem with that?
@CG I highly doubt that the Vita will fail anytime soon. Sony are laying down some solid foundations with the Vita like Cross-Gaming and adding it to PS+. It's also easy to develop on and port games to, so little resources are needed to get games on the platform and should encourage developers to keep developing games on it because it's not too risky.
That said, 2012 was a bit of a rough year and Vita failed to reach Sony's expectations. We fully expect the PSV to come back fighting and continue to seep the message into people minds of the awesome feature that is Cross-Gaming. Big games will probably come next year along with a price cut to start some momentum. It also needs a Monster Hunter game because right now in Japan, PSP is more prefered and even outsells the PSV on a weekly basis. They will inevitably get the Japanese moving from the PSP to the PSV soon.
The PSV is no where near dead and I continue to use mine and will do for a long time.
agree 100% and I don't hate ps vita. I think vita has no great games. Not a single one. Only ps store psp games such as gta are worth playing. Vita is flop. Get over it
2 games hardly warrants a $300 (Australia) purchase. I would rather buy a PS3 with that money. Dont get me wrong, vita is a powerful device but it is not supported well by Sony.
I'm a huge Nintendo fan, and if I bought a Vita, which I will very soon, I'm just waiting for those stupid memory cards to drop in price (if they have somebody please tell me, I could've already been playing Persona), I could EASILY think of 10 games off the top of my head that I want for it. not in any specific order, but this is just off the top of my head: WipeOut 2048 Uncharted Golden Abyss Persona 4 Golden Mortal Kombat LBP Vita PlayStation Allstars Lumines Gravity Rush Rayman Origins Need for Speed Most Wanted
No one game alone is going to save the Vita. If COD couldn't even cause a spark, then GTA definitely won't. It's going to take a consistent wave of great titles combined with price cuts to turn things around.
@ specialguest... CoD on the Vita was rushed but i doubt R* will do that... there are several things Sony needs to change to have the Vita sell better but only time will tell if they will do them
If you haven't found a reason to buy Vita yet then there is only one reason.... You are poor! "Your family is POOR Kenny!!!" All joking aside :) There are several games for the Vita that warrant a purchase....having Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, Madden, MLB the Show, Call of Duty, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Unit 13,and several other titles that are out atm available on the go is just simply a dream come true .... If you can afford one and are truly interested in console quality in the palm of your hand....I truly recommend grabbing one.
sony has proven it again and again that its not race but a marathon so don't expect sony to drop Vita anytime soon. also with more games coming out in 2013 vita is actually looking good.
can't wait for the game from LBP developer can't wait to play that
and the new killzone could be great too
people just want Vita to fail, since day one its been all doom articles, Vita launched with 20 plus games and people forget that and call it a failure yet wii-u launched with 20 plus games and all of the sudden its great? double standard
swansong
i think sony rather sell a little less but make a profit, they are in no position to loose money. and the same goes for ps3 and when they launch ps4. Every system from sony will have to make a profit so days of sony loosing money are gone. their margin for error isn't that big now.
if you just lost all those billions would you take more loss? or would you sell let's say 2 million less but make a profit on each sold.
a really good monster hunter game would do wonders for the vita right now. the vita is a pretty impressive piece of tech and at a reasonable price too its a pitty there isn't much to get excited about as far as the games go. at this point i think its go big or go home for the vita.
I think Sony will do a sort of re-launch when they are ready for a decent price drop. They should at least drop the price next year around march too $179 bundle with a 8gb card and a voucher for a Vita psn game.Then advertise the heck out of it like it just launched for the first time.
Fortunately, us Vita owners have a backup incase the console was left to die - the Plastation Store! That's right, there are 100s of PS1 and PSP games for you to enjoy for a bargain price (in general).
I agree somewhat, but I can get all the PsOne games on emulator/PsOne and all the PsP games on my PsP. If I didn't have a PsP with a huge library of games, then yeah that would be a good deal on it's own.
When it doesn't support a hater agenda, or a kid with no money, it's easy to ignore the fact that Vita already has great games on it and isn't expensive. Just another typical Sony hate article. After 6 years of the same recycled hate, you gotta wonder if there are scripts for these articles that get re-written over and over with minor changes.
A sensible person appeared! I think the Vita is rather cheap for what you're getting and I've yet to finish a lot of my games because there are so many...
The main reason why i didnt buy Uncharted Golden Abyss (which is a new game in the series and not a PS3 port like you are claiming) is because i really didn't want to shell out 50$ for a portable version of Uncharted. But ever since it got added to plus i manage to download it and several other games for free with my Vita.
But i do agree with you that the memory cards are expensive but N4G (contest) a while back gave me a free 32GB stick so im not really complaining.
@andibandit. In order for whatever you said to be true, you'd have to have had a PS3 to begin with. Plus, that $180 you mentioned was for a bundle THAT INCLUDES A 4GB MEMORY STICK! Failure troll is a failure.
Uncharted on the Vita was awesome, but if you want an experience you can't get anywhere else go for gravity rush. It might not be perfect, but the gameplay is insanely unique, nothing like it. Also, the 4 gb card isn't so bad, I'm carrying around Gravity Rush, FF tactics psp, Castelvania, velocity, and mutant blobs on my card right now, along with AC liberation as my physical game. That's a good bit of games to have on you at one time. It isn't like you have to have every game you own on the Vita at one time, I'm using my ps3 to copy games to my Vita.
Sony is doomed just look at their financial situation. Their TV's and the PS3 were and are the cause of their problems, they may be recovering now from the PS3 launch but it made a massive dent on the company and it's still stings them today.
Are you fanboys really this dumb or are you just trolling?
The Vita will be fine, some people just don't look at history. It takes time for consoles to get a bunch of good games, every console has gone through this.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, it was and is still far too early to be writing articles about its demise. Wait until after next years holiday season, then we will have a much better understanding how Vita is doing. Right now is the first holiday season so in 2013 we can expect more games since developers will then have more time with it.
I think next Holiday is too late... Vita sales need to pick up before developers fear they will not make money by making a game that will not sell well...
This isn't like an iPhone that has stiff competition and gets replaced on an annual basis. Vita is a product that will be around for years and it takes time to build a fanbase.
But history also teaches us that lack of games and a high price can kill a console, even if such console is more technically advanced than the competition.
Launching a console is never a certainty of success. And it's not because Sony is a big company that it won't pull the plug on Vita if it doesn't sell well.
@Ginsu - Yes Sony says Hi but thats one of the reason they are in the red and have been rated down.
Sony can not afford to bleed anymore money and what saved them with the PS3 was that the PS2 sold exremly well and Sony was using that money to support the PS3.
I love Sony as much as you but at some point they have to make huge profit and quick becuase Gaikai was not free and Sony had to shell out millions.
The PS Vita is DOMMED in my brutally honest, non-biased opinion.
Good article AMP!
a really good monster hunter game would do wonders for the vita right now. the vita is a pretty impressive piece of tech and at a reasonable price too its a pitty there isn't much to get excited about as far as the games go. at this point i think its go big or go home for the vita.
I think Sony will do a sort of re-launch when they are ready for a decent price drop. They should at least drop the price next year around march too $179 bundle with a 8gb card and a voucher for a Vita psn game.Then advertise the heck out of it like it just launched for the first time.
I think it's the price, if Sony drops it to $199.99 it will sell quick. I also think it needs to come with a 4gb memory card.
Bundles at $179-$199 seem to be irresistable. I hope they have a good plan, because I don't want my vita to be unsupported anytime soon.