| pokoko said: I've been arguing for years that Sony's absolute biggest mistake with their handheld division has been their failure to develop a kid-friendly IP. In Japan, they can get by without it. In the west, the handheld market depends on titles that appeal to a younger audience. Developing such an IP--and I mean the whole nine yards, including games, television, and toys--should have been a priority from the moment they launched the PSP. Even if it wasn't, it should have been one BEFORE they launched the Vita. The adult gamer market is not going to support dedicated handheld devices in North America. What makes this even more of a mistake is that Sony is in a good position with Sony Pictures to leverage kid-friendly properties. They could make it happen. If nothing else, they could have formed a partnership with someone that already had a popular media IP and offered to handle the video-game segment of the market. It's the same criticism I have with Nintendo: no one is going to do your job for you. If you wait for that, and it doesn't happen, it's your own fault. If you want a particular market to develop on your device, you go out and lay the groundwork yourself. |
It's just funny to see that Nintendo and Sony did the exact same mistake, selling 2 different products with 2 different markets with the same target audience in mind, family friendly for Nintendo and core gamers for Sony.
I don't think Sony Pictures has anything good to offer as gaming franchises goes though. Adaptations rarely do well. But they could definitely have tried to get a deal on an exclusive Rayman or even make LBP:Karting for Vita at launch. This would have definitely been a better investment than a handeld Killzone or Uncharted IMO.
