Call of Duty for Vita? Update: N-Space not developing Black Ops 2 for handhelds!

[Chark]

RolStoppable said:

Chark said:

You're right Rol, that didn't come out right. Let me explain: Vita is a new market opportunity with few games available, Activision could take advantage of this situation not only to sel SW but to create a user base filled with their target audience. They already release a new CoD title every year with great success, they could do the same on Vita with expected growth year-to-year. They could go cheap and port something and though it would sell well anyway, it would be recieve mixed reviews and pale to a unique title. Not to mention fail to attract future customers to the Vita. A port should have already been made since this is a big company I doubt they would have waited so long to create a cheap title. I feel signs pointing towards a unique title as an investment for the future, despite the fact any CoD game is going to make money this would be a smarter route. If Sony is willing to assist in its development, even more reason.

When i was writing this I had a revelation. What if at E3 during Sony's presentation they call to the stage a higher up for CoD and he announces a new CoD releasing in December that will be free to download for all CoD Elite subscribers for the month of December! Imagine the sales boost. So many people would buy Vita, more people would subscribe to Elite. The Vita user base would be jammed packed full of CoD fans and after december the new CoD would have massive legs because of how many people are playing it already. It would attract those that didnt buy a vita downthe road through word of mouth and peer pressure. Then Activision's next title will have record sales. No need for a price this year because a ton of people will be getting their Vita between E3 and Christmas.

The first paragraph could have been applied just as well to the Wii. Western publishers have a certain ranking for gaming platforms, with Nintendo systems and handhelds being at the bottom of the barrel, so even below smartphones. Based on historic precedence you better don't get your hopes up.

As for the second paragraph, this would require Sony to pay Activision for the loss in revenue. At $50 a pop and two million copies (for ease of calculation), that would already be a $100 million money hat. At that point Sony could fund the development of an original Call of Duty game that isn't given away for free, plus a sizeable marketing campaign just for this game. Either way, it would be the biggest money hat in video game history and Sony has the least amount of money to throw around out of the big three.

First paragraph: There were plenty of CoD games on Wii and DS, releasing a unique title would just take some initiative and would make good use of the gyro and touch screen. Imagine disarming a bomb, having the screen zoom in and you had to entire the correct code on the number pad or cut a certain wire. Or operating a mounted gun and panning around to aim it, just like in real life. They could make a knock out game. History be damned too, even though the PSP wanted to provde home console quality games their controlls never let it happen. Handhelds are moving up.

Second paragraph: Come on Rol, you know better than that. Retailers and wholesallers take their cut out of the price tag, the cost per unit is much cheaper. Plus it would be digital, so no physical related costs. If it spurred "2 million" Vita purchases Sony would be more than happy to pay the ~20 per game that month, but the real benefit would be Sony's advertisement help. Compare this idea to what it would cost to have a price cut and it is petty cash.