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Forums - Sony Discussion - Why the PS Vita is not selling well?

deskpro2k3 on 12 December 2013

People are under the false assumption that it doesn't have games, when in fact it does have a lot of games. Its either that or it doesn't have games they like or know about.

Gravity Rush, and Ys series are games people should know about. Gravity Rush 2, Demon Gaze, and a new Legend of Heros game is coming too.



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tiffac on 12 December 2013
small44 said:
tiffac said:
Bad strategy altogether. Sony went with a western centric approach at launch instead of carrying over the strength of the PSP, which are Japanese games.

Continuing to support the PSP in Japan, essentially made the Vita compete with it predecessor. They tried to do another PS2 with PS3 life cycle but it backfired. No incentives at all for 3rd party devs to make games exclusively on the Vita.

The lack of localization of those most wanted PSP/PSV Japanese games is also a big elephant in the room.

Now we don't even know what Sony is planning with the VTV, it seems like they used Japan as a beta test country but without any hint of it coming over to the English speaking market.

Too many areas needs fixing. I'm still hopeful Gio and his localization Studio give us something.

Since when japanease game was system sellers in west except of some game like Final Fantasy,MGS and Kindoms Herts the rest of game are not system sellers in west it's don't even sold well

When one of those games is actually a Final Fantasy?  and do you really believe the fans of Valkyria Chronicles, Tales Of etc... won't give a handheld an extra push when its predecessor was successful because of them? and I said ENGLISH SPEAKING market, the west isn't the only market that speaks English.



Zax on 12 December 2013

It has a terrible line up of games, that's why.



small44 on 12 December 2013
ps3-sales! said:
small44 said:
ps3-sales! said:
sth88 said:
Yeah, they don't have a Vita-only system seller like Nintendo has Pokemon.

Also, price. People aren't willing to pay that high of a price for a handheld, and as a result developers aren't keen to put a lot of games on a platform that isn't selling. Sure, the graphics are way better than on the cheaper 3DS, but graphics don't really matter to people who buy handhelds. It's too small of a screen for it to really matter that much in terms of immersion.


Great explaination. Something I've said before. 

Pokemon is a game that'll sell reguardless if it's good or not (which it usually is very good anyway) based on name and popularity. It's up there with Call of Duty and Mario. Vita does not have those kinds of games. 

And don't try to use COD Declassified as a rebuttle. I'll laugh at you. You don't want to be laughed at, do you?

Even psp didn't had  a system sellers like Pokemon but it sold well


Sure the PSP sold 80 million units could be a success. But given that the DS sold over 150 million, it puts that into perspective. 
Plus the PSP had the benefit of being an Mp3/video/hack system as well as gaming. Similiar to people buying PS3's early on for a blu ray player.

People would not buy a console if they are not interested in any game even if it had a lot of multimedia function,psp 3rd party support is a lot better then psv ,psv had a awfull third party support that's why it sold so poorly.



PS4 - over 100 millions let's say 120m
Xbox One - 70m
Wii U - 25m

Vita - 15m if it will not get Final Fantasy Kingdoms Heart and Monster Hunter 20m otherwise
3DS - 80m

d21lewis on 12 December 2013

Because aviggo-77 keeps talking about buying one instead of buying one.



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tiffac on 12 December 2013
small44 said:
ps3-sales! said:
small44 said:
ps3-sales! said:
sth88 said:
Yeah, they don't have a Vita-only system seller like Nintendo has Pokemon.

Also, price. People aren't willing to pay that high of a price for a handheld, and as a result developers aren't keen to put a lot of games on a platform that isn't selling. Sure, the graphics are way better than on the cheaper 3DS, but graphics don't really matter to people who buy handhelds. It's too small of a screen for it to really matter that much in terms of immersion.


Great explaination. Something I've said before. 

Pokemon is a game that'll sell reguardless if it's good or not (which it usually is very good anyway) based on name and popularity. It's up there with Call of Duty and Mario. Vita does not have those kinds of games. 

And don't try to use COD Declassified as a rebuttle. I'll laugh at you. You don't want to be laughed at, do you?

Even psp didn't had  a system sellers like Pokemon but it sold well


Sure the PSP sold 80 million units could be a success. But given that the DS sold over 150 million, it puts that into perspective. 
Plus the PSP had the benefit of being an Mp3/video/hack system as well as gaming. Similiar to people buying PS3's early on for a blu ray player.

People would not buy a console if they are not interested in any game even if it had a lot of multimedia function,psp 3rd party support is a lot better then psv ,psv had a awfull third party support that's why it sold so poorly.

Exactly, especially when it comes to localization. This is why I said the lack of it is an elephant in the room.

But if the Vita has a Tales of, a Final Fantasy, a Valkyria Chronicles, a Suikoden. Well known titles localized. Then it won't look as negative as it is now. Not getting them localized hurts confidence but having them over can help. May not be a game changer but it would be light years better than what we have now. 



small44 on 12 December 2013
tiffac said:
small44 said:
tiffac said:
Bad strategy altogether. Sony went with a western centric approach at launch instead of carrying over the strength of the PSP, which are Japanese games.

Continuing to support the PSP in Japan, essentially made the Vita compete with it predecessor. They tried to do another PS2 with PS3 life cycle but it backfired. No incentives at all for 3rd party devs to make games exclusively on the Vita.

The lack of localization of those most wanted PSP/PSV Japanese games is also a big elephant in the room.

Now we don't even know what Sony is planning with the VTV, it seems like they used Japan as a beta test country but without any hint of it coming over to the English speaking market.

Too many areas needs fixing. I'm still hopeful Gio and his localization Studio give us something.

Since when japanease game was system sellers in west except of some game like Final Fantasy,MGS and Kindoms Herts the rest of game are not system sellers in west it's don't even sold well

When one of those games is actually a Final Fantasy?  and do you really believe the fans of Valkyria Chronicles, Tales Of etc... won't give a handheld an extra push when its predecessor was successful because of them? and I said ENGLISH SPEAKING market, the west isn't the only market that speaks English.

Are all people who buy a game is consider a fans of this games idon't think so,sure fans will buy a console for it's prefered games but other peoples would not
I think Valkyria Chronicles and Tale sold 100k on psp,if we consider all of them are big fans and will buy a console for those game psv will only  have sold 200 k more sales,psv will still be a big fail.



PS4 - over 100 millions let's say 120m
Xbox One - 70m
Wii U - 25m

Vita - 15m if it will not get Final Fantasy Kingdoms Heart and Monster Hunter 20m otherwise
3DS - 80m

NeoRatt on 12 December 2013

Why is the Vita not selling well?

When it comes to handheld consoles it is all about handheld games...

If it was all the other features then people say "why would I buy a handheld rather than a tablet or smart phone"... Sure handhelds are generally cheaper, but tablets and smart phones have the plethora of app support.

So, when it comes to games... Nintendo is associated with handheld franchises such as Pokémon, Mario, etc. While Sony's name is associated with console franchises such as God of War, Unchartered, Killzone, etc... The Nintendo games are well suited to handheld devices while the Sony franchises are strong with full fledged controllers. (Although I do really love the God of War games on Sony Handhelds)...

I think the Vita devices are better than the DS devices. But, there are not many very good handheld franchises in the Sony world. While Nintendo's name is almost synonymous with handheld franchises.



0815user on 12 December 2013

PS Vita have games, I would really like to play them but not on the Vita.

i more and more prefere playing games on my vita than on ps3. let's assume i would have the choice of playing something like gravity rush or soul sacrifice on ps3, i'd still choose vita. and i bet if sony would make a device that somehow connects ps4 controller and vita (similar to nvida shield), i'd probably play every future ps4 game on my vita too. somehow i prefere to have the possibility to move around freely over being stuck to a big screen.



riecsou on 12 December 2013
small44 said:
riecsou said:

I have been wondering why isn't the Vita selling. I look at the library and even the video on youtube. They have very nice games and nice graphics. But while watching those videos I keept having the same feeling for almost every games: "Man if they had made this game on PS3 I would bought it".

And I went to look at the top 10 best selling Vita games: Uncharted, COD, Assassin's Creed, Persona, LittleBigPlanet, Need For Speed, Fifa, Hot shots, Mortal Kombat, Soul Sacrifice. It seems to me that the Vita library is actually competing against the PS3 library.

I see those names and I am like, I can play them better on my PS3, or I would buy those if they were on the PS3. Let us not fool ourselves, handheld market are the kids. Whenever you go to a family home, you will see those kids on Tablet or cell phone playing kid's game. And the 3DS actually offer those games to the kids. Those game that you would play for like 10 minutes and go do something else, than open your handled again for another 20 minutes... Those PS vita games look like games you need to sit (just like a home console), be focus and serious (just like a home console), make sure you have time cause this is going to take a while (just like a home console). PS vita library seems to be competing with the PS3 libraries...

PS Vita have games, I would really like to play them but not on the Vita. Vita doesn't have the games for the market they should pursue.

Terraway is a handheld like game and it's for kids but it's is a big fail, Uncharted, COD, Assassin's Creed are the best selling games despite being a console like game you fool yourself all Sony console are not for casuals,hardcore game always sold better then casual on Sony homeconsole and handheld.

And you are proving my point. It's a handled, it was not supposed to be targeted for hardcore gamers. Why do you think Nintendo is dominating the handheld market??? I have both PS3 and PS4, the only motivation I have to buy a Vita is the PS4 remoteplay.

About the mention of Terraway, I just saw the trailer, I can't believe Sony didn't campain the hell out of this game.