Is it possible Sony's continued support of the PSP hurts the Vita?

[KHlover]

Chark said:

KHlover said:

Chark said:
Sony gives devs and publishers a lot of freedom. If they want to make PSP games, they can make PSP games. The Japanese publishers are the ones who have been doing that, holding off on Vita games because they want to make money on an already established install base. Vita sales in Japan have suffered for it.

Despite that Sony themselves have been heavily supporting the Vita with their own software. Just look at the list of games on Vita and you will see tons of Sony published games from various studios, along with upcoming studios. Hardware wise Sony is supporting Vita more as well, giving firmware updates and new features. The only real support they have given to PSP has been a price drop in Japan.

I don't think that's the sole reason. Hasn't it been stated that developing for Vita is much more expensive than for 3DS and PSP? So it would be more like they can't afford to risk a game bombing on the Vita as it would seriously hurt the studio. And although it's not 100% on topic: The 3DS is a far greater factor in Vita's devastating sales than the PSP. Almost all major japanese games moved from PSP to 3DS. That's the main reason, PSP is jut an additional pain in the ass.

Much more expensive? I don't think that's the case. Maybe if you are talking expense of developing a more graphically intense game like is so common with each gen. It's well known that development is easy on Vita, which helps with cost, and the kits are only $2,000 instead of the $20,000 they are use to when PS2 and PS3 came out. Some games like Oddworld HD only took one guy a few months to port, if I remember correctly. I've read people on here claiming it is expensive, but whenever I read developer comments they talk about the inexpense, and I haven't seen any data saying it is expensive.

Devs don't have to spend a ton of money on graphics is they don't want to. They could even use 2D. It's probably just not an ideal risk for publishers compare to PSP. That's why we see a lot of ports and multiplats, though there should be more given how easy it is to port to Vita. Seems WB gets it though. There are just so many platforms to develop games on right now.

No doubt 3DS is taking some software, but not much is it? 3DS isn't getting games hand over fist and plenty of PSP games are still releasing in Japan, topping the charts right along 3DS. It is only recently publsihers are starting to switch over to Vita, those games should start trickeling in over the next few months, then we will see larger name title announcements.

B1: I think this is only partially true. While devs don't HAVE to spend money on graphics, they are expected to. The capabilities of the Vita were a major marketing point, so unless they play an e-shop game or a port consumers will expect good graphics.

B2: The point isn't software alone, it's the franchise behind it. And THE PSP franchise (Monster Hunter) is now on the 3DS, not on the Vita. That's a loss the Vita will barely be able to compensate (if at all), since MH was what drove many people to a PSP (especially in Japan).