User Editorial: Sony and The Vita: Where's The Hunger?

Sony and The Vita: Where's The Hunger?

On 04/19/2013 at 04:00 PM by gigantor21

So I was watching the Nintendo Direct, right?

The first-party lineup alone is quite heavy. A new Mario Party, a sequel to LoZ: A Link to The Past, Donkey Country Returns 3D, Mario and Luigi: Dream Team, the Western release of Animal Crossing, a sequel to Yoshi's Island, and so on. All of those are coming out this year, if not in the next couple of months.

My first thought after the Direct was over was "man, I really wish they had this much stuff lined up for the Wii U." But today, I was thinking more about how this compared to Sony's handling of the Vita.

I don't sense any hunger from Sony. Even though Nintendo is outselling them 5:1, they are the ones going full stop with software support and the like. Sony, meanwhile, has seemed all but content to leave the Vita six feet under in the West, with the market adding more dirt to the grave site with each passing month. It bothers me that I own a Vita myself, but have gotten so used to it selling like dogshit and getting little support that I don't even think about it anymore.

While Nintendo has been going hand-over-foot to make sure there's plenty of first-party representation, Sony's handling of it's own IPs has been lacking to say the least. Where's God of War? Infamous? Gran Turismo? None of those have even been announced yet, even though they should be out already or on their way. Nor have we heard anything about Gravity Rush 2 or a proper Golden Abyss sequel. Meanwhile, of the few big games coming out in the States this year, several are ports (Jak and Daxter Collection, Muramasa, Dragon's Crown)--which is exactly what Sony said they wanted to avoid after what happened with the PSP.

As far as I can tell, Sony has given up on the Vita outside Japan, where dedicated handhelds are far more popular. The software line-up has been spotty in the US for a while, and they've shown little drive to turn that around. Even if they do cut the price, without a steady stream of games it won't be worth much long-term.

They can reassure us that they understand our frustration and are committed to supporting their handheld, but until I see it in practice I'm not convinced. Right now, they're handling the Vita like they've already thrown in the towel but don't want to admit it.

Cary Woodham

04/19/2013 at 07:18 PM

Yeah I don't have a Vita. Only games I'd want for it are Touch My Katamari, Gravity Rush, and the upcoming Ys Seven. Maybe Dragon's Crown, but since it's coming out on PS3 I may not get the Vita version if I ever get a Vita.

gigantor21

04/19/2013 at 09:45 PM

You aren't going to be missing out on much for the next few months, believe me. -_-

BrokenH

04/19/2013 at 07:43 PM

It's strange because I know Sony can be competitive and motivated when it wants to be. Of course I have only recently got my psp so I'm happy to fill out that library before moving to the Vita.

I've been spending as much time with my PSP games as my Vita stuff ever since I got it. That's...not a good sign.

asrealasitgets

04/19/2013 at 08:23 PM

As a fellow Vita owner I totally understand this. Vita doesn not have that regular game release flow as 3DS which makes it look worse in comparison. I play 3DS far more than anything, so that ratio is lilke 10:1 or 10 times play more 3DS than Vita. I still need to play gravity rush and assasins creed as they were built from the ground up specially for vita. If the 3DS game release dries up for a spell, then I'll switch over to Vita, but for now...I here guacamelee is good?

04/19/2013 at 09:46 PM

I don't know how Sony expects to get anyone interested in the Vita without more consistent support on their end. The system needed a full-court press on the first-party front a while ago.

jgusw

04/19/2013 at 08:50 PM

Sony is treating the Vita just like they did the PSP in the beginning. I'm sure the Vita will pick up next year.

04/19/2013 at 09:48 PM

The Vita is doing WAY worse than the PSP did, though. And the market is most likely going to be much smaller; I'll be surprised if the two handhelds combined match the DS's sales.

If Sony isn't already too late, they don't have much time.

04/20/2013 at 09:59 AM

I didn't think it was that bad, but now that I think more about it, I can't recall any games I really want on the Vita. A few weeks ago I bought Persona 4 Golden and I that's the only game I want on the system. I'm still waiting on the next game.

Super Step Contributing Writer

04/22/2013 at 01:46 AM

That's too bad; while I never had one, I always thought the way PSPs/Vitas were similar in graphic capability to the systems out at the time was cool.

04/25/2013 at 01:53 PM

Me too. Doesn't seem like the market cares, though. :(

Caesar

04/24/2013 at 08:58 PM

I don't think it's just a lack of initiative holding back the Vita. Keep in mind that Sony's fighting an uphill battle with the system: the handheld market's been Nintendo's turf for the past 20 years and the 3DS still struggles against the boom from mobile/smartphone games. It was a hard market to break into from the start and has only gotten more difficult; even in Japan, which is regarded as being big on portable gaming, the Vita's done pretty poorly.

The price of the system isn't exactly appealing, either; the aforementioned mobile gaming scene (which is dirt cheap) combined with a sluggish global economy doesn't speak well for a $300 system with a small/subpar software library.

As for Sony themselves, I'm never really sure what to think. No company invests so much in something (namely a piece of hardware) with the belief that it'll do poorly. However, their strategy with the system isn't clear and it almost seems as if they've lost interest in their own product. Having not owned a PSP, I didn't follow their strategies in regards to it too closely, but from a distance it looked like there was a pretty noticeable dropoff where Sony just stopped caring about it. I know piracy had become really rampant with the system (to the point where that was damn near the reason to own a PSP), and that combined with a lack of first-party support turned it into a kind of "software ghetto" pretty quickly.

E3's just around the corner, so Sony will surely have something to say about the Vita there (definitely software titles, maybe even another price cut and/or package deals). But considering their victory from the PS4 announcement in February, I think that says more about what their bread-and-butter really is.

04/24/2013 at 09:34 PM

More and more, I get the sense that they've just sort of accepted that they screwed up with the Vita. I don't get the sense that they think it's possible to turn things around anymore.

I wish they'd either show proof that they're 100% committed, or just accept that the Vita was nothing more than a failed experiment and forget about it. This limbo the system is currently in infuriates me as an owner.

PixlBit

Sony and The Vita: Where's The Hunger?

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