It's almost been a year since the Vita has been released on Japanese shores and as many of you know, the performance of the Vita has been lackluster to say the least. Furthermore, it seems that the Vita is trailing behind Sega's Dreamcast - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-10-16-roundtable-saving-ps-vita
One of the main reasons is the unattractive price point and the lack of compelling software. Call of Duty Declassified and Assassin's Creed Liberation were an attempt to revitalize Vita’s underperforming sales; however, the reception of both titles has been dull to say the least. Call of Duty Declassified for example has earned a rating of 29 Metacritic and is named one of the worst games of 2012 according to Yahoo games - http://www.ibtimes.com/call-duty-black-ops-declassified-playstation-vita-deemed-embarrassment-884246 . As shown through its hardware sales, even with the release of AAA exclusives, the Vita is not selling accordingly.
The future does not bode well for the handheld and yet what scares me the most is that developers seem to have little reason to devote resources to the Vita. This does not paint a bright future for third party support for the Vita which could in turn affect software investments for the PS4 seeing as the Vita was not successful. As a result, publishers may overlook the PS4 due to Vita’s shortcomings and Sony’s neglect towards affordable pricing.
What do you guys think? Will Sony be able to save the Vita and entice third party publishers for developing games on the Vita and PS4? What is needed here.
