As a PlayStation fan myself, I have no problem with Sony going third party. I've considered owning a Vita, but the prospect of Sony games on more interesting and innovative hardware is really appealing and exciting to me. On top of that, I would finally get the chance to try out some games that aren't available on Nintendo handhelds without the huge cost of buying a new console to do so. It seems like consumers would benefit from Sony as a third party publisher.

In terms of Sony as a company, they would definitely benefit from access to the far larger userbase the 3DS can offer. If Tearaway,  one of the biggest Vita games of the year, can't even make a mark on the sales charts, it shows that Sony isn't reaching a wide enough audience to maximise revenue at the moment. In the long term, the value of their IP's, new and old will diminish as well. The concept of Sony's various handheld series being even less relevant may be laughable now, but if sales remain poor over the long term, it could eventually be reality.

The business would also be able to rid itself of the costs and risk associated with console production. The string of operating losses experienced by Sony are largely due to the performance of the Vita, and removing this cost would definitely be beneficial and viewed favourably upon by shareholders. Being a handheld maker makes little sense when third parties aren't developing and selling units on your system, as the platform royalty income can't compensate the cost of production.

Sony would also benefit from business relationships with Nintendo. If Nintendo is willing to pay for Monster Hunter 4 as an exclusive, imagine what they'd pay for Killzone exclusitivity. Nintendo may be willing to forego platform royalty to bring Sony software to their platform.

The main argument against going third party I constantly hear is "look at what happened to Sega." This is completely incomparable to the situation Sony finds itself in. When Sega went third party they were in financial ruin and had to completely restructure their entire workforce and lay off a lot of employees. The quality of their releases declined as a result of this. If Sony were to go third party, their development teams wouldn't have to undergo such a massive turnover. They are in a financial position where first party studios can carry on work as usual without letting anyone go.

The other thing I have heard before is that Sony is able to create such masterpieces because they have such impressive hardware to work with compared to Nintendo handhelds. This is just patently false. Some of the best selling Vita games, like LittleBigPlanet and Hot Shots Golf, are perfectly capable of running on less powerful hardware, such as the 3DS.

So why are we so scared of Sony going third party?

You deserve a medal.

Agreed, here you go Salnax (and a little music to set the mood):

Sony should definetely drop the fiasco the Vita is and develop for 3DS, yes.

But something tells me, that like nintendo, they would rather not do it and just keep their other business.

Seriously - Its not like anything of major importance would be lost if Sony stopped supporting Vita. I would be all for them going 3DS. Would be great infact. Guaranteed bigger userbase to aim titles at and the possible partnership with Nintendo would be beyond anything.

That said though, great thread. I tip my hat to you. 9/10

I'm not sure about this. Sure, more games is always a good thing but the 3DS has a such a big catalog of excellent games already... how many more can a platform have ?

It's posts like this that make me wish Vgchartz had a downvote system. Edited or not.

As for the OP, the question pretty much answers itself. Blind fanboy hate of the purest kind.

Ah, I see.

I'm still going to give this a serious response, though, if that's okay.

Basically, this is a different situation than Nintendo software on Sony or Microsoft hardware because there are no compromises necessary when going from lower spec to higher spec. Killzone on the 3DS, though? You know as well as I do that it would be a serious downgrade from Mercenaries. Also, my apologies, but I'm in love with the Vita hardware, it really is a lot better than the 3DS hardware, and I'm not saying that to offend anyone or make some kind of fanboy stand--that's just how I honestly feel.

Quite honestly, though, aside from Sony's excellent LBP Vita game, there isn't a lot of value in their portable development franchises, though the games they've made in partnerships, like Soul Sacrifice, would probably do quite well on the 3DS.

Sony banked on the Vita hardware selling itself, like Nintendo did with the Wii U hardware, with the games as something of an afterthought, and both paid the price.

Personally, I'm not exactly opposed to Sony developing games for the 3DS, I just don't want to lose my lovely Vita. If the 3DS hardware was better, though, then that would be kind of awesome. It would be even better if Nintendo and Sony could partner for a P-DS device. That would be a monster.

link for the original video of your sig please.

school research....

Maybe next generation. I don't think they will make another handheld unless the Vita has some kind of mega comeback.