Vita’s fight for life: After almost a year, has Sony’s handheld managed to distinguish itself?

[JoeTheBro]

S.Peelman said:

CCFanboy said:

S.Peelman said:

Because that's the clue.

When Nintendo makes a console like game like Mario 3D and Zelda, they use their main teams for them. The same team that made Twilight Princess made Spirit Tracks. Instead of them being watered down and developed by B-teams, the console-like games on Nintendo handhelds are always full-on entries in their respective series. They are their 'own' games. It has been so since GameBoy.

People notice this, it pays off.

Isn't there a vita game in development by media molecule though? Are they not a a-team at sony or something?

My knowledge about the upcoming Vita games isn't very good. I know that up until now, the games that are supposed to be the system sellers were made by secondary teams (or at least a different developer than their console counterparts). This nearly always shows in the quality of the game, and thus their subsequent sales.

Media Molecule is making TearAway, which actually looks like it's fun and should bring in some sales. Media Molecule also made the LittleBigPlanet games in PS3 and PSP* which were all three successful. The Vita version was apparently outsourced to a different developer (didn't know this last part, just checked on Wikipedia ). Made by another developer, LittleBigPlanet Vita now appears to be flopping, is it a coincidence? Too early to tell, but it should raise some eyebrows.

Wipeout 2048 was made by the console dev team yet it didn't set the sales books on fire. It is much more complicated than just who made what.

For example LBP Vita was made by Tarsier and Double 11 with help from Media Molecule. Almost every single review clearly states it is the best in the series and the optimal way to play (yet somehow they rate it lower?). Uncharted Golden Abyss was made by Sony Bend with a ton of help from Naughty Dog and is better than the first Uncharted. Both these games were outsourced to incredible teams resulting in great products yet they are doing just as good as Wipeout (or just as bad depending on how you look at it).

In the future we have Killzone: Mercenery coming and it is developed by the console team using the console engine. If this game doesn't outsell Uncharted and LBP then I think it will be safe to say the developer doesn't matter as long as the game is good.

 

*LBP PSP was outsourced.