If You Were In Sony's Position, How Would You Handle The Vita in 2013?

[Dodece]

I would focus on a out of the box strategy. Which means I would advocate for the device to be stand alone capable. So that I could combat sticker shock, and assuage consumer fears. My primary concern would be to make the Vita into a safe, and comfortable product for consumers. I can convince them to reinvest in the platform later. I would make my entire focus about getting them in the door. Before I even thought about follow up purchases. To do this I would focus on three initiatives that could be achieved at minimal cost, but would drive up demand enough initially to cover the losses.

The first initiative would be to redesign the device to have internal memory rather then a card reader. Removing the reader would offer up some savings to defer the cost of say 32 GB of internal memory. Which should be more then enough to take care of most apps, or a number of downloaded games. It costs the company a peripheral, but the peripheral is viewed with disdain by the target audience anyway, and discourages less dedicated buyers. The product needs to offer what just about every other competitor in this marketplace offers.

The second initiative would be to have the device come preloaded with a library of retro game titles, or in a included system game card. I would make it substantial, varied, and above all else I would list the preloaded games on the package. I wouldn't just use my companies greatest hits run through a emulator. I would also want some golden age classics, and some family games, and if the concept showed promise I would create custom packages. Perhaps genre heavy offerings.

The third initiative would be to refocus development priorities. The platform needs more games, more varied games, and cheaper games, and it needs them now rather then later. I would task a couple of studios, or contract a couple third party studios to port older games to the platform. Porting could deliver more games in a shorter amount of time to the Vita. Then could be accomplished through new game development. It would also allow for more casual popular fair to get to the platform with decreased risk.

In doing this I could potentially sustain the current price point a bit longer. While allowing the product to remain profitable. I could revisit the suggested retail price at a later date if these initiatives didn't pan out with consumers. I wouldn't want to over reach, and then get caught without a back up plan. These initiatives could be rescinded with yet another redesign later down the line. A reduction in the price point cannot be withdrawn. If you cut down the profit margins there, and they don't work. You are effectively cornered, because then the only responses are more price cuts, or more value adding. Both of which will result in probable loses.