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Forums - Sony Discussion - Forbes: It's a Rough Fall for the Playstation Vita

Forbes

This fall was supposed to be the time for the Playstation Vita to kick it into gear. Sony’s struggling handheld got two major versions of AAA releases recently – first, Assassin’s Creed: Liberation, and second, Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified.  Amongst a few other releases, those games could have been the keystones of a stronger Vita lineup and an answer to the oft-repeated call that there are just no games for the Vita. That hasn’t happened.

Reviews for Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified have come out recently, and the game is getting panned within an inch of its life. It’s currently got a 32 on Metacritic. Frequently appearing words include “mess,” “disappointing,” and “embarrassment.” Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation is fairing a bit better at 70, but it’s a far cry from the killer app that could finally juice lagging sales.

Liberation wasn’t a bad game – not great, just good. It had a brown color scheme that had a way of looking muddy on the small screen, and it contained a tiny, tiny fraction of the content in Assassin’s Creed 3, but the core experience was intact, if buggy. That’s not good enough for the Vita. The Vita needs to prove that a powerful, dedicated gaming handheld is not only adequate but necessary, and it’s still struggling to do that.

These two games reveal an uncomfortable fact about the Vita – it still doesn’t have games that can stand up to its older console brother, and yet it costs the same. Aside from the $250 system, the games cost less, but barely less – Black Ops Declassified is $10 less than Black Ops 2, but appears to have a small fraction of the content. Same goes for Liberation — smaller game, disproportionately big price. In a world where these games are at least theoretically competing with the best of the iPhone, making the argument that they are 40-50 times better than a $1 game becomes laughable.

I imagine that both of these games went into production long before the Vita started to put up the disappointing sales numbers that have characterized its short life so far. In the future, it could be even harder to get big name developers signing on to make new products for the handheld. Either Sony needs to swoop in with some serious first-party muscle, or this system is going to fizzle.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/11/16/its-a-rough-fall-for-the-playstation-vita/



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SONY have nobody but themselves to blame for this.



iPhone = Great gaming device. Don't agree? Who cares, because you're wrong.

Currently playing:

Final Fantasy VI (iOS), Final Fantasy: Record Keeper (iOS) & Dragon Quest V (iOS)     

    

Got a retro room? Post it here!

All of a sudden Gravity Rush and LBPV don't exist.



Does no one care about LBP Vita? That game is hands down better than the console versions. The article is right about these two games, just not the rest of the library.



Many called this before it happened, but the business model is flawed. What western 3rd party dev in their right minds would create a AAA experience to rival console offerings for IPs like COD and AC when the home console market is infinitely larger in comparison, with 2 main platforms to support it?



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So cod didn't go down well? I don't know what to make of it. People have said it has had one 'system seller' after another and nothing seems to be working. If call of duty hasn't worked it is looking desperate. Sony really made a mistake thinking japan would blindly buy the system. Assassin's creed and cod failing will scare off many third parties. I guess it needs a christmas miracle.



One more thing to complete my year = senran kagura localization =D

Vita failing would really solidify the fact that people want low quality sub-par handheld experience on mobile/3ds.

Vita success would obviously be good for the industry. I'm not sure developers love working on shovelware.

 

>User was moderated for this post [RH]



Vita will be fine. Holiday sales will boost the install base a bit and future software will sell better.
A price cut in 2013 will surely help as well.



WindyCityHeat said:
Vita failing would really solidify the fact that people want low quality sub-par handheld experience on mobile/3ds.

Vita success would obviously be good for the industry. I'm not sure developers love working on shovelware.


Sub par? 3ds? Tales? Metal gear? Resident evil? Tekken? Dead or alive? Street fighter? Kingdom hearts? The mario games? Ocarina? As far as I'm concerned 3ds does everything my psp did and combines it with ds. That is the reason I don't see a need in vita. Nintendo > sony.



One more thing to complete my year = senran kagura localization =D

If Sony doesn't do something to stimulate Vita sales soon *cough* massive price cut *cough* then third party support will dry up. Personally, I think much damage has already been done, they should have slashed the price months ago.