The PS Vita Has Seen Better Weeks. Now, It Looks Kind Of Screwed.

38 responses to “The PS Vita Has Seen Better Weeks. Now, It Looks Kind Of Screwed.”

1. 

   Lach

   April 13, 2012 at 10:22 pm

   Free PSP games for Vita owners. More free games. Do it. Do an ambassador program, but give me a tonne of psOne classics and some PS2 games as well. Do it.

   Reply
   1. 

      Asdfjuma

      April 28, 2012 at 4:36 pm

      Do it… DO IT NOOOW!!!

      Reply
2. 

   MikeZdoesit

   April 13, 2012 at 10:25 pm

   Sadly, I agree. After having owned the original gameboy, a game gear, gameboy advance a DS lite and a PSP at some point during the 29 years I’ve been on this earth, I now have an ipad 3 ordered online from the apple store. I Just can’t justify not buying a tablet this time (and this one will be my first). It is what it is unfortunately 🙁

   Reply
   1. 

      Sam

      April 13, 2012 at 10:47 pm

      How can you not justify spending a massive amount cash on a luxury item? 0_o
      I couldn’t justify getting an ipad even if I was extremely wealthy because I wouldn’t use it for anything

      Reply
      1. 

         Sam

         April 13, 2012 at 10:47 pm

         not not justify even*

         Reply
   2. 

      Steve

      April 13, 2012 at 10:57 pm

      Pretty much. As someone who’s owned every Nintendo handheld since the first Game Boy (except GB Light) and a PSP, I can’t find myself getting excited about the Vita at all.

      Possibly because it looks so similar to the PSP, or that PSP games still aren’t exactly ‘bad’ looking, any carrots Sony could have dangled in front of my face, like discounted PSP downloads never made it to Aus. The Vita has no niche. I’m never going to justify the extra bulk on top of my phone or iPad so it’ll never be played on the go and if I’m at home and want to play a twin-stick FPS, I’d just play a console…

      Reply
      1. 

         dmag87

         April 14, 2012 at 9:27 am

         You should totally pick up a GB Light! I scored one cheaply off eBay and it’s always fun to say, ‘this one wasn’t even released outside Japan’. I haven’t picked up a Vita yet either. There’s nothing truly compelling about it, but knowing me, I’ll buy it as soon as it comes down in price. At the moment only crazy people would buy it. They should know a price drop will happen sooner rather than later. Did Sony really think people would go out and spend over $400 on a handheld that doesn’t do anything really new? I known Nintendo have their gimmicks each console/handheld, but new gameplay experiences seems to beat the same old strategy of raw power every time.

         Reply
3. 

   warcroft

   April 13, 2012 at 10:39 pm

   C’mon, seriously. . . who didnt see this coming?

   Reply
4. 

   rikku45

   April 13, 2012 at 10:55 pm

   I havnt used my vita since the first week it came out, Waiting for some good games to come out for it, Like Persona 4

   Reply
   1. 

      Lachlan

      April 13, 2012 at 10:59 pm

      P3P is $20 if you haven’t played it yet.

      Reply
   2. 

      Tired Warrior

      April 14, 2012 at 2:54 am

      >Good games
      >Persona 4
      Pick one

      Reply
5. 

   Rosco

   April 13, 2012 at 11:06 pm

   Its funny how the article even mentions that the 3ds wasn’t selling last year but now is selling ok. This can’t happen also to the PSvita?

   Reply
6. 

   Lachlan

   April 13, 2012 at 11:10 pm

   I have a 3DS and a Vita, and the Vita is a much better system. Downloadable games are awesome, I have barely used any space on my 32Gigger and I can swap games really easily. The menus aren’t as pretty as the 3DS but they’re much faster, and you can multitask.

   Vita isn’t gonna die.

   Reply
7. 

   Ruen

   April 13, 2012 at 11:35 pm

   I have a question, does the Vita have that killer app, or the game people in Japan must have yet? Something like a Monster Hunter (yes I know Nintendo bought the rights to Monster Hunter 4, but Capcom would be stupid not to release a Monster Hunter game on the system) Right now the only 2 games people have unanimously said are worth getting are Wipeout, a game that has seen its fair share of iterations on various consoles, and Uncharted, a game which to my knowledge has never really sold well in Japan.

   If I remember correctly wasn’t there also a time early in the 3DS’s lifespan that the DSi was beating it in sales in Japan? Nintendo turned themselves around with a decent price cut and releasing content people wanted, there is no reason Sony cannot do the same, maybe not the price cut (it is plausable though) but releasing content people want.

   I’m gonna take a guess and say the PS Vita’s first major killer app in Japan will be Phantasy Star Online 2, especially if Sega manage to get cross platform server connectivity between PC and Vita.

   Reply
   1. 

      NegativeZero

      April 14, 2012 at 3:02 am

      It doesn’t. The system hasn’t had a big high-profile game at all yet. The bulk of the launch lineup was very western-oriented. They’ve already had Gravity Rush since the start of March or so, and so far that’s been the only major game announced for it.

      The real problem they have though isn’t just the lack of any major titles at the moment, it’s the lack of anything in the future to get excited about. Surely there’s games in the pipeline for the system, but Sony’s playing their cards too close to the chest.

      Also, the PSP is amazingly strong in Japan and the system can’t run those games unless you buy them again. That’s having a much bigger impact than people realise. There are still heaps of high-profile PSP games down the line. The older system is cannibalizing sales of the younger one. Same as what happened with PS2 games early in PS3’s life.

      Reply
      1. 

         Ruen

         April 14, 2012 at 11:26 am

         While I agree with a lot of what you said, There is actually a way for people to export their PSP titles to the PS Vita, the reason many westerners don’t know about it is because at the moment it’s only available in Japan. Regardless the system isn’t perfect either, you register the PSP games on the PSN using an app you download on the PSP, then go to the Vita and said games are then heavily discounted for redownload. so they still need to pay somewhat for the PSP games they own, but not as much as Sony’s trying to slug westerners.

         Another thing to take into account is the fact that despite the Vita chugging along in Japan, the PSP is still doing relatively strong. At this point the console has to be close to a pure profit machine, and I highly doubt Sony is going to be putting any more money into the platform at this point unless it really has to, which means all the profit from PSP sales will most liekly go to building up the Vita.

         Reply
8. 

   N0NEoftheAB0VE

   April 13, 2012 at 11:56 pm

   I bought a 3DS late last year and here’s the thing, I only have three games for it – but two of them are killer apps, Zelda and Mario – two games that you really can’t get anywhere else. This year their release slate reads like a whos who of Nintendo gaming (Animal Crossing, Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong, Smash Bros, Luigi’s Mansion) compare this to Vita they have Uncharted which looks great and a whole lot of B games – I expect they’ll pick up when they release Little Big Planet maybe but Sony doesn’t have the kind of system selling exclusives that Nintendo does just by default.

   Also because the 3DS represents a return for Nintendo to the core (from the stylus/wiimote waving years just gone) as soon as they dropped the price to something realistic your old-school Nintendo fans jumped on board.

   Reply
9. 

   Al

   April 14, 2012 at 12:18 am

   How long did it take Nintendo to realise the 3DS cost too much? a month? People dont want to pay $400 for a hand held device.

   Lets see how long it takes Sony….

   Reply
10. 

    AerintheADEQUATE

    April 14, 2012 at 12:52 am

    Just wait till there’s a Monster Hunter on Vita 😛
    I know I’ll prolly be grabbing one when there’s a MGS-Vita game…

    Reply
11. 

    Chazz

    April 14, 2012 at 4:17 am

    Sony = the new Sega.

    /justsayin’

    Reply
    1. 

       Chazz

       April 14, 2012 at 4:22 am

       Also, does anyone know of any audio and/or visual companies that died in the arse in the last few decades?

       Cos Sony = the new them as well.

       Reply
       1. 

          Asdfjuma

          April 28, 2012 at 5:06 pm

          Yeah “Sony = the new them” as they probably literally are them after they’ve been bought out.

          Reply
    2. 

       Sam

       April 14, 2012 at 7:19 am

       Makes sense cos they do rather well in Europe with the PS3 😉

       Reply
12. 

    Justo11

    April 14, 2012 at 6:23 am

    I rate my vita. I use it every day, for five minutes or two hours. It will survive and do well – and sales won’t be a problem after cod launches lol

    Reply
    1. 

       Blackhawk

       April 14, 2012 at 9:42 am

       +1 haven’t got a PS3, but sprung for a Vita and I love it. Use it every day, be it a little or lengthy time. Creating a good track in Modnation can take a couple of hours for me.

       Reply
    2. 

       Pariah

       April 14, 2012 at 7:23 pm

       Exactly. Once Call of Duty launches on the Vita, you’ll be seeing a LOT more of them.

       Reply
13. 

    MJ

    April 14, 2012 at 7:26 am

    I will get one if more games (good games) come out. The amount that are available and will be available in the future is a worry for me.

    Reply
14. 

    Rowan

    April 14, 2012 at 7:51 am

    i brought a vita yesterday what it needs is a final fantasy game, a monster hunter game, a kingdom hearts game and some other decent games like persona 4, release something that will appeal to a larger audience

    Reply
15. 

    Zap

    April 14, 2012 at 7:52 am

    It’s disheartening to see articles every week treading the same ground – “PSV low on sales again despite no new games coming out in the last seven days!”. Even the article on MK Vita said nothing about the game – it was focused on a model’s panties riding up.

    It seems sad that all we seem to get is SONY IS DOOMED articles. If I wanted that, I’d visit /v/ or read Chazes comments.

    How about an article when something changes?

    (Repost)

    Reply
16. 

    LawfulSarcastic

    April 14, 2012 at 9:04 am

    I can’t help but feel that there are too many people jumping the gun. The reason the Vita isn’t selling is because the library for the system is currently minuscule. Resistance: Burning Sky comes out May sometime and Gravity Rush in June. That is a long time for many people to wait. Wait for some big releases to launch and then have a look at the sales. The 3DS is just beginning to hit its stride (it had nothing that interested me until Ocarina of Time 3D which launched around June of last year) and I’m sure that the Vita will be in a much better position this time next year.

    Reply
17. 

    impendingdoom

    April 14, 2012 at 9:32 am

    So whens the price drop, I might actually buy one then

    Reply
18. 

    Abe

    April 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    I love my psp because i can just copy and paste music over just my my android (Thats all i use it for nowadays). You cant even do that with the Vita.. So not buying it. Also if Sony just centeralised SEN, i would buy straight away. Why not look at google play? And give out SEN cards cheaper like Itune cards.

    Reply
19. 

    Davo

    April 14, 2012 at 12:13 pm

    Pfft. This Vita is no Atari Lynx

    Reply
20. 

    Excelsior

    April 14, 2012 at 1:13 pm

    Have they brought out any games for it in the last couple of weeks? Oh.

    Steady release of games = steady console sales

    Reply
21. 

    monkeyd_93

    April 14, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    Articles like this really make it sound more worse off than it really is, not to mention has the potential to cause more damage. We’ve seen it happen with all console launches were sales were very slow, so why is it any suprise the vita is selling slowly in Japan? There just isn’t much of a library at the moment to support sales, which will begin to pick up as the library becomes bigger and there are more games that appeal to everyone. Heck even right now the 3DS is beginning to pick up momentum after having lackluster titles last year (besides the big names). A month or so ago, there was an article that reported on Sony working on cardless AR tech, which looks promising, and there is still a lot of potential to come out of the vita. It’s too early to jump the gun and see doomsday of the Vita.

    And i’d think it would be better if journalists reported the facts without spinning in into a doomsday prophecy.

    Reply
22. 

    James

    April 16, 2012 at 9:55 am

    I love my Vita and I’m addicted to Fifa Football on it, which strangely is the first soccer game I’ve ever owned. I think once a steady stream of quality games start hitting shelves it will become a better value proposition. I think for all the hype about its launch library, things are really pretty thin on the ground in the games department, particularly for Japanese gamers.

    Reply
23. 

    Traeia

    April 18, 2012 at 8:38 am

    I’m enjoying it very much, but I’m mostly playing PSP games. I’m an RPG nut, so the Atlus sale helped a ton.

    When I reserved it back in October, however, it was with the understanding that I’d be able to play my PSOne Classics. Hell, I BOUGHT some for the purpose of playing them on Vita.

    I love the console, but at the same time, I haven’t gotten what I thought I paid for…

    Reply
24. 

    Gary

    May 4, 2012 at 10:36 am

    I think the big problem is two words seen too often associated with the Vita, “games” & “waiting”

    Reply