Sony struggling to get 3rd parties for PS Vita - encouraging fewer console ports

[CeeKay]

kinda surprising since they seemingly put together a great system.

Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studio president Shuhei Yoshida admits that the company has had trouble convincing publishers to create games for its struggling PS Vita handheld.

Launched just eight months ago, PS Vita has had little success gaining momentum -- its software rarely cracks the top sales charts, and the poor performance of its hardware recently forced Sony to slash its portable sales forecast for the fiscal year from 16 million units to 12 million.

A common criticism levied against PS Vita is that the system has few compelling games on the market. If lacking hardware sales and these difficulties recruiting third-party support continue, there seem to be few opportunities for Sony to turn around PS Vita's sales outside of a major price cut.

With the exception of Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed III: Liberation) and Activision (Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, for which there's little information about), hardly any major publishers have pledged to release potential blockbusters as exclusives for the handheld.

Maybe Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show will turn things around.

[EngineNo9]

I did see that there is a Need for Speed: Most Wanted for Vita scheduled, so there is token support from EA.  But yeah, one title from each of the major publishers is hardly rousing support.

I agree that it is a great little system, and it's a real shame that it hasn't gotten the support it needed.  The fact that Sony had ~25 Vita titles on the E3 show floor but didn't show them in their press conference shows that there is some internal conflict at best.

[Clanwolfer]

Yeah - EA declining to put their entire sports game lineup on the system is a huge disappointment, and definitely subtracts some of the value I was hoping to get (seriously, I have an iPhone, iPad, had a PSP before, and a Vita now, and there's not a single mobile hockey game I've yet found to be playable!).

[Harpua3]

kinda surprising since they seemingly put together a great system.

Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studio president Shuhei Yoshida admits that the company has had trouble convincing publishers to create games for its struggling PS Vita handheld.

Launched just eight months ago, PS Vita has had little success gaining momentum -- its software rarely cracks the top sales charts, and the poor performance of its hardware recently forced Sony to slash its portable sales forecast for the fiscal year from 16 million units to 12 million.

A common criticism levied against PS Vita is that the system has few compelling games on the market. If lacking hardware sales and these difficulties recruiting third-party support continue, there seem to be few opportunities for Sony to turn around PS Vita's sales outside of a major price cut.

With the exception of Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed III: Liberation) and Activision (Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, for which there's little information about), hardly any major publishers have pledged to release potential blockbusters as exclusives for the handheld.

Maybe Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show will turn things around.

Bottom line.

You predicted the future!!!

[Jumangi]

Liberation and CoD will probably decide wether it gains any traction in the US at least. If they can sell well maybe publishers will take another look. If not then a I see only games Sony supports like Killzone getting made and titles like the Vita version of Bioshock fading away to never be released.

[Pyperkub]

Because developing for it isn't worth it.  The thing isn't selling and handheld gaming has moved to the iPad and iPhone.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

[CeeKay]

Sony says they are still meeting targets, but are also behind in 'certain territories'.

[Ridah]

Because developing for it isn't worth it.  The thing isn't selling and handheld gaming has moved to the iPad and iPhone.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

In case you didn't know, the 3DS is selling really well too 

[CeeKay]

Sony avoids PSP's mistake by encouraging fewer home console ports

The main draw of the PSP, the big promise that was meant to separate it from Nintendo's portables and pull users away from the underpowered Nintendo DS, was that Sony's handheld could deliver console-like experiences on the go.

PSP's console-quality experiences, though, weren't enough to propel the system to the same heights as its competitors in the West -- so why hasn't Sony adjusted its strategy for its new portable, in light of PSP's past difficulties and PS Vita's current struggles?

Sony's marketing VP for handhelds and consoles John Koller admits that PS Vita's message of "console-like games on portables" is essentially the same as PSP's, but argues that there was a significant problem with how developers approached that idea before.

"The issue that happened with PSP is we got overrun with ports," he explains to Gamasutra. "It became very difficult for us to define what made PSP unique. The content development became a bit unstructured or decentralized, in that we got a lot of content that was on PlayStation 2 and got thrown over to the handheld."

[EngineNo9]

Wait, what?  Isn't that exactly what they are doing with the Vita?  

[Harpua3]

Wait, what?  Isn't that exactly what they are doing with the Vita?  

Most are existing franchises, but not ports. At least from my catalog.

Rayman origins- port
Uncharted golden abyss- franchise
Mortal kombat- port
Little big planet- franchise
Wipeout- port
Hotshot golf- franchise
Gravity rush- New ip
Mutant blobs etc.- franchise
Escape Plan- new ip
Motorstorm- franchise with a vastly different approach.

I am missing one or two. Not to mention my psp or ps1 games.

That's one hell of a catalog, with new ips, existing franchises with new content, and a few great ports as well. I don't see what they are doing wrong with a handheld at this point. It's not even a year old!

Nothing to see folks, nothing to see.

[Eel Snave]

Here's the problem:

Rayman origins- Never a big seller
Uncharted golden abyss- Decent seller
Mortal kombat- Moderate seller
Little big planet- Moderate seller (LBP2 has sold less than one million copies)
Wipeout- Seen better days
Hotshot golf- It's golf
Gravity rush- Has decent reviews, but new IPs are hard to launch on a new system
Mutant blobs etc.- Never heard of it.
Escape Plan- Same here. 
Motorstorm- Wasn't sure how well this one sold, but it sold about 3 million for the PS3.

So, yes, they have franchises, but there aren't a whole lot of world-beaters in there. That's what's doing it. It's the games, it's the games, it's the games. With any system launch, it's the games.

[Harpua3]

Here's the problem:

Rayman origins- Never a big seller
Uncharted golden abyss- Decent seller
Mortal kombat- Moderate seller
Little big planet- Moderate seller (LBP2 has sold less than one million copies)
Wipeout- Seen better days
Hotshot golf- It's golf
Gravity rush- Has decent reviews, but new IPs are hard to launch on a new system
Mutant blobs etc.- Never heard of it.
Escape Plan- Same here. 
Motorstorm- Wasn't sure how well this one sold, but it sold about 3 million for the PS3.

So, yes, they have franchises, but there aren't a whole lot of world-beaters in there. That's what's doing it. It's the games, it's the games, it's the games. With any system launch, it's the games.

World beaters? Wtf? it kinda seems like those are all excuses... There is obviously "something" to what you are saying, but...that is a solid as hell list for a system still under a year old...

[Eel Snave]

What I'm saying is that there isn't anything in that list that's bringing everyone rushing to the stores. That's what I mean by "world-beaters." They're decent games, probably, but not EXCITING ones.

All I'm saying is that if a Rayman game is on the list of "best games for the system," you're in trouble with the public at large.

[Harpua3]

What I'm saying is that there isn't anything in that list that's bringing everyone rushing to the stores. That's what I mean by "world-beaters." They're decent games, probably, but not EXCITING ones.

All I'm saying is that if a Rayman game is on the list of "best games for the system," you're in trouble with the public at large.

Rayman is amazing, not sure what your implying. I guess we agree to disagree. I clearly see there is an issue with sales for this system, but that is a fucking awesome list of games for a young system. Is there a world beaters shirt, you know like the wife beater?  

[Dante Rising]

If the Vita dies, its because there are a couple hundred topics, across multiple forums, all lamenting the death of the Vita. This stops potential new customers from buying, and skittish publishers from getting on board. Self-fullfilling prophecy.

[Eel Snave]

If the Vita dies, its because there are a couple hundred topics, across multiple forums, all lamenting the death of the Vita. This stops potential new customers from buying, and skittish publishers from getting on board. Self-fullfilling prophecy.

Didn't kill the 3DS.

[Harpua3]

If the Vita dies, its because there are a couple hundred topics, across multiple forums, all lamenting the death of the Vita. This stops potential new customers from buying, and skittish publishers from getting on board. Self-fullfilling prophecy.

Didn't kill the 3DS.

No it didn't, that's being said my 3ds might as well be called mk7 handheld for me, that's all I ever play on it. Where are its good games still? There's a few, but not alot.

[EngineNo9]

Don't worry, Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable will save the day!   

Of course it won't, but it's kind of sad how excited I am for an update to a 6 year old game.  So happy they are bringing it to the US.

[The Grue]

If the Vita dies, its because there are a couple hundred topics, across multiple forums, all lamenting the death of the Vita. This stops potential new customers from buying, and skittish publishers from getting on board. Self-fullfilling prophecy.

Yep, the general public is always reading gaming forums.