Let's get all these out of the way shall we? All 3 Sony doom/gloom articles of the last couple days in one thread, for your enjoyment :)
Vita is doomed.
Recently, GoNintendo posted an article mentioning that everyone was happy to call the Nintendo 3DS an initial “failure” and were thrilled to write stories and blog posts about “Nintendo is Doomed” – but the article asked why there aren’t any “Vita is Doomed” articles.
I am answering the call.
The truth is - I’ve been writing negative press for the PSVita since it was announced and the details were solidified; which proves GoNintendo’s staff nor readers follow me on social networks or are members of my discussion forum
Now before the pitchforks come out and the torches are lit – followed by the chantings of “Nintendo Fanboy”, let me clarify my position with regards to the gaming industry.
Those that know me are clear that I was 100% anti-Nintendo until as recently as the GBA SP. Those that know me are also clear that I buy systems to play games on (not watch movies or consume media) – and when a system comes out, if a game or IP appears on it I want – I get the system. Hate the system, love the games. Something like that. I bought an Xbox 360 to play Pac-Man CE for crying out loud and a PSP to play God of War on.
Currently I own three Xbox 360s, a PS3, a Wii, three 3DS systems, three classic DS/DSi, three PSPs, several portable platforms like GP2X and of course a myriad of classic systems including PS1, Gamecube, Dreamcast and even more that go back further.
Do I sound like an anti-Sony or Nintendo Fanboy? I think my credentials are secure. I consider myself an eclectic gamer; a brilliant game is a brilliant game – regardless of genre or system. I’ve seen multi-million dollar Xbox 360 games that suck – and I’ve seen one-man-in-his-garage shareware games that rock.
Now that we have THAT out of the way, let’s talk about the PSVita and why it is doomed.
The simple answer isn’t that it is doomed; it arrived dead; and it did so because Sony learned nothing from the PSP’s outing in the handheld market. To better illustrate this, let’s talk about what lessons Sony failed to learn.
Lesson 1: Handhelds Aren’t For Console Gaming
Sony’s push with the PSP (and Vita for that matter) has been “The console experience in the palm of your hand”.
The concept is flawed for several reasons. Console games are specifically designed with a particular equipment, environment and time usage in mind. They are big screen affairs with multiple-hour story arcs chopped up into 30+ minute segments – featuring surround sound, large detailed graphics, on-line play/connectivity – with the game and assets being pushed from a fast storage mediums like a hard drive. They are power suckers too – even earning consoles “anti-Green” labels for their consumption (but who cares – it’s plugged into the wall).
Handhelds are designed for almost the exact opposite. Short, burst gaming with on the go in mind. Bite-sized entertainment chunks to be had before the movie starts or while waiting for the nurse to call you in. You’re probably playing alone – or with a co-worker on your lunch break; a friend on the bus maybe. Chances are, there isn’t an open wi-fi while you’re waiting to pick up your dry cleaning. Of course, battery life is king. It’s all about “gaming of opportunity”.
The PSP could have you waiting for four minutes plus before you could even start the game. The UMD was slow and clunky – eating away at battery life like a flesh-eating virus. The console experience had to be interrupted when your “twitch time” was over. The push was for “console games” – and as such, you had to pay the console price – even though it often didn’t make sense in a “handheld” situation.
Sony learned nothing from the PSP’s failure as a portable gaming device. Load times are still long. Games are STILL designed to be “console-like” in game play and execution. They put so much hardware into the unit in pursuit of that goal that the battery continues to take a hit on the Vita.
Lesson 2: Keep It Within the Reach of Mortals
When I say mortals, I mean those of us on a fixed budget. Not everyone has early adopter “F You” money. Nintendo got its first big wake up call in a long time; people won’t pay $250 for a portable gaming system. It doesn’t matter if it is “worth it” or how many internet hooks you put into it; $250 is simply not the impulse purchase anymore – and certainly not one that parents are going to put out for their kids.
Unfortunately, as with the PSP – Sony refuses to drop the price on the Vita during the time frame it could actually help them the most. The holidays are coming – and coming fast; by the day after Black Friday, big ticket purchases will be locked out of many people’s budgets – especially a $250 game system. The final nail in the mostly-dead (there is a big difference between mostly-dead and all-dead) Vita will come if they fail to drop the price to at least $199 before the end of summer last-minute vacation monies are spent on churros at Disneyland.
Of course, the $250 price tag isn’t the real kick in the groin, is it? It is the $100 memory card REQUIRED by most games to be present in the system … which takes us to Lesson 3 …
More here
Does Sony understand gaming anymore?
Sony was once viewed as the world’s most successful gaming company. After it launched the original PlayStation, many wondered if it could take off until, well, it did. And as we all know, the PlayStation 2 was a gaming juggernaut.
But all of that changed with the PlayStation 3. The console launched at a price that was far too expensive for what customers were getting, and it lacked the uniqueness of Nintendo’s Wii, which caught on quickly. Microsoft’s Xbox 360, while not as popular as the Wii, benefited from a strong online-gaming component.
Sony, therefore, was in trouble. Its console wasn’t selling and its online featureset just couldn’t match its chief competitor.
After the PlayStation 3’s price started to fall and Sony offered up some redesigns, the console staged a comeback. Now, it’s succeeding to some degree, though it’s still far behind both of its competitors.
It’s a similar story on the mobile side where Sony’s PlayStation Portable appealed to some gamers, but eventually couldn’t quite match Nintendo’s DS. And with the PlayStation Vita on store shelves now, it appears Sony doesn’t have what it takes to match Nintendo anytime soon.
That Sony might not be able to match the Nintendo 3DS isn’t necessarily all that surprising. What is surprising is that Sony would want to jump into a gaming-handheld market that’s on the decline, due to the success of smartphones and tablets in that space. What’s even more surprising is that it took so long for Sony to even come somewhat close to matching Nintendo on motion gaming and Microsoft on online gaming in the console market.
If you look more deeply at what I just said, you might arrive at a question I’ve been asking about Sony for the last few years: does it really understand the gaming business anymore?
[aqupte]Sony can’t quite see that gaming handhelds is a lost cause[/aquote]
Honestly, I just don’t know. Sony’s mobile hopes are perhaps the most surprising to me. The company has for years evaluated divisions and made tough choices to ensure that it didn’t try to do too much in a market that was slipping away (just look at the Walkman). And yet, it can’t quite see that gaming handhelds is a lost cause.
Over the last few years, iOS and Android have secured an overwhelming portion of portable game revenue. Sony, meanwhile, has been left to pick up only scraps. Considering that was happening before the Vita launched, why would the company even consider spending all of that cash on hardware research and design? That cash could have been more effectively used elsewhere.
At what point will Sony finally see the writing on the wall and realize that it must get out of the handheld market?
Sony should in no way get out of consoles. But that it doesn’t have a more robust online-gaming offering that can match Xbox Live is puzzling to me. Sony must certainly know that online gaming and digital distribution is the future. Why wouldn’t Sony invest far more cash into that market to capitalize on the trend? After all, it’s the smart move.
But actually making the smart moves isn’t something that Sony has been doing much of in the gaming space lately. And the more we consider the moves it’s made, the more we might wonder if it truly understands the industry today.
High-powered consoles and handhelds are great and all. But success in the gaming space today takes much, much more than that. And at least so far, it doesn’t appear Sony gets that.
PSP/PS3 losing money.
Sony has not been doing well. It's suffered four straight years of financial losses and the results for the first quarter this financial year aren't any better. Game sales only added to the dirge this time out; PSP handheld, PS3, and game sales were all down. The PS Vita portable was the sole bright spot, but the money generated there was by no means enough to offset other gaming losses. Future game sales estimates have been revised downward, and according to a Sony spokesman "for the rest of the fiscal year we are taking a cautious view of the market."
During the August 2nd investor conference call, when asked directly whether the results had anything to with the Vita performing below expectations, the response from Sony's senior staff was that "currency movements" alone were to blame. It costs too much to buy Yen these days, which means that Sony's Japanese products - robust sellers though they may be - can't make the margins that had originally been forecast. When asked what changes would be made to offset this loss in future quarters the Sony men said research and development and marketing would take a hit, but refused to go into any great detail as to what cuts would be made. The Sony execs weren't at all keen to break down Vita sales comparisons against other Sony systems, and this reluctance might indicate that currency movements were not the only problem in the first quarter.
Sony's supporting documentation cites "lower sales of hardware and software of the PSP and PlayStation3" as the main reason for the game sales loss. All told, there was an operating loss of $45 million in the quarter, which represents a 14.5% year-on-year drop for their game sales. When Kaz Hirai was brought in as Sony's CEO it was hoped that he could turn things around, and he said at the time that "if we don't turn this around, we could be sitting in some serious trouble." Now he knows just how much trouble Sony is in.
