torok said:
The abandon of first party games was just a side-effect of abysmal sales. They did tried until Tearaway and KZ, and that was more than 2 years after launch. While these factors did impact it, the handheld market is just a shell of the former days. If 3DS had performed admirably, we could say that was just a problem with Vita, but it isn't even on 60M and will hardly do 70M. The full handheld market this gen is at less than 80M while last gen it was at 240M. It's a stark fall to simply ignore. Hell, GBA had only 3 years on the market before being prematurely killed by the DS and it still manages to outsell both handhelds this gen combined. Even Nintendo seems to realize it now that they are inded launching mobile games and are combining their handhelds with their home consoles to create a platform that does both things. The impact cell phones have is too big. It's not like the console vs PC fight, because to have a gaming PC you have to: - Have a desktop, everybody has laptops. Unless they build one just to game. - Buy hardware that you don't have: GPUs, etc. - Reserve a good space on your house to host a massive PC. The handheld vs smartphone fight is different. Because most phone games run well on mid-end devices and everyone already have a cell phone. Unlike a PC, where you either have to buy an entire desktop or simply upgrade it with parts that cost as much as an entire console. The space thing is reversed: with a handheld, you have to walk around with it plus your phone. Why not game on it? Of course, the games are simpler, but you just want something to kill time for some minutes. The time where you want a more substantial gaming experience, is when you are at home. So you go for your PS4, X1 or PC. I actually do prefer handhelds, but I understand why people would rather just game on their phones. You even have nice options for hardcore gamers such as Xcom, multipe GTAs and emulators. Get a controller for your phone and you're good to go. |
the 3DS may literally match Sony's best selling handheld of all time (PSP), so your argument is just silly.
The 3DS is still regularly selling 100,000 a week, that's pretty damn solid. The market isn't dead, the PS Vita library is garbage, just full of (as others have mentioned) niche titles
