http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/02/playstation-vita-failure/

7 Signs PlayStation Vita Is a Disaster

In late 2011, Sony launched a new handheld platform called PlayStation Vita, the successor to its PSP. PSP was the machine that was supposed to cement Sony’s dominance in the gaming world: When Sony launched it in 2004, it owned the home console business, and conventional wisdom said that this move into portable gaming would rip that audience away from Nintendo just as PlayStation had beaten it in the home.

What actually happened was that PSP stumbled at retail, getting steamrolled by Nintendo DS and becoming the ecosystem where software went to die. Things miraculously picked up in Japan off the success of Monster Hunter, but it was far too little and far too late. When Sony launched Vita a little over a year ago, it doubled down on the same strategy of amazing graphics and almost-console-like software.

But instead of improving on PSP’s performance, Vita’s first year has been much worse. Sony may have just announced that acclaimed indie game Hotline Miami (one of Wired’s top games of 2012) is headed to Vita, but it’s a lonely bright spot in an otherwise desolate situation.

Sales Are Way Below Expectations

The first and most obvious problem that’s facing Sony right now is the simple fact that the console itself just isn’t selling. You can blame smartphones or the still-warming recession, but the fact is that Sony is set to fall far, far short of its initial projections.

Not long after the console launched in North America, Sony projected about 10 million worldwide sales for the PlayStation Vita by March 2013. We don’t have access to exact figures, but it’s very obvious that they aren’t close to that number.

We do know the handheld sold just 2.2 million units worldwide by July 2012, five months after the worldwide release. In the six months since, Vita has had its worst sales yet, and seems to have added only a few hundred thousand sales during the holiday shopping season. To top it all off, it is often outsold week on week by its 7-year-old predecessor PSP — roughly the equivalent of the iPhone 5 getting outsold by the iPod Mini.

Massive Price Drops

This week, Sony finally slashed the price of Vita — by a lot. So far this is only for Japan, but it reduced the price of the 3G-enabled high-end Vita all the way from 30,000 yen to 20,000 yen, a difference of roughly $100. The Wi-Fi-only model was dropped from 25,000 yen to the same 20,000 yen price point. (We expect they’re clearing out the 3G model — does anyone really need 3G on their Vita?) At this price, Vita is still more expensive than the most expensive model of 3DS. We expect a similar price drop for the U.S., probably at tomorrow’s PlayStation Meeting.

The Games Are Non-Existent

Looking ahead to 2013, the current U.S. release list features precisely three games which will be exclusive to the system. Most of Vita’s games will be launching simultaneously on the PS3 as well. The three games that are coming out are pretty interesting: Tearaway, Soul Sacrifice, and Killzone Mercenary all look like high-quality titles, but gamers can smell a weak platform.

There will likely be more announced tomorrow and later in the year, but this is a crucial time when Sony needs to be building excitement rather than letting it wither. In the online presentation that Sony’s Japanese branch gave to announce the Vita’s price drop, it didn’t announce any exciting new software. The biggest announcement was that Square Enix is still working on the Vita remake of Final Fantasy X that it announced in 2011. Hooray.

Game consoles are a long-term investment, and customers get wary when the sales start dropping and the release list gets thin. It creates worry that the console won’t be widely supported in the future. Unfortunately for Sony, this has become a chicken/egg conundrum. They need higher sales to convince developers to create games for the platform, but they can’t stimulate sales without those games.

Illustration: Simon Lutrin/Wired

3DS Is Also Weak

Oddly, Vita’s sales woes might be more understandable if Sony was getting crushed by its biggest direct competition, Nintendo. Yes, the 3DS handheld is beating Vita in sales by a wide margin, but 3DS is underperforming as well, especially outside Japan.

If 3DS was booming, that would at least indicate that there was a highly engaged set of consumers for Vita to potentially woo in the future. The massive success of the original DS in Japan made portable gaming a much bigger deal, and this was followed by increased PSP sales. Right now, however, it looks like widespread apathy toward the idea of an expensive, specialized gaming handheld.

Neither console has been able to make a compelling case for why the average gamer should go back to paying high prices for premium consoles when so many of us have smartphones in our pocket already.

Sony Is Just Repeating PSP’s Mistakes

After two bites at the apple, Sony may have to admit that gamers simply aren’t drawn in by the idea of almost-console-quality games in their pockets. The terrible battery life and bulky size make such devices pointless to take on the go, and you end up with a slightly dumbed-down version of a console game on a tiny screen that you play in your house while your actual console sits there just in view.

Most hardcore gamers would rather play a higher-quality console experience on the big screen, and most casual gamers would rather pay a small price for a bite-sized game on their phone. This puts Vita into the same no man’s land that PSP occupied.

Sony Has Lost Key Partnerships

PSP had a few hits that helped fuel the system’s prosperity in Japan. Brand new entries in the Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts series were all extremely popular with Japanese gamers during the PSP’s run. Fast forward to today, over one year later, and not one of them has been announced for Vita.

What could be worse? All three series moved to Nintendo’s 3DS. In other words, Sony’s strongest allies have abandoned ship.

Sony’s First-Party Games Are Weak

Sony’s fans won’t want to hear this, but the gaming public is getting less and less interested in its in-house games. Most of its best exclusives are based on genres (platforming, hack-n-slash) that have long since gone out of favor. Sorry Sony, but Mario is the only guy who can make a living platforming these days.

Sony does have a few series in popular genres, but Killzone and Resistance aren’t exactly retail superstars. The Uncharted series did reasonably well in its debut Vita release, Golden Abyss, but it obviously hasn’t spurred significant sales. One game alone won’t convince gamers to buy a new console.

That leaves Sony’s biggest series, God of War, which hasn’t yet been announced for Vita. We’d love to see it announced at tomorrow’s presentation, because Vita can’t wait until E3 for a savior.

Can Vita Recover?

Can an increased focus on indie games like Hotline Miami and a lower price help Vita find its footing? PSP did get things turned around (somewhat) (in one region of the world), so it’s possible Vita could too. But as of now, there doesn’t seem to be a clear pathway out of this pit of despair.

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Run wired run! save yourself from the angry masses!!

The vita can recover if sony starts doing something for the thing. It is a great piece of hardware, but has almost no games, and that is were naughty dog should com in, and santa monica and so on and so forth.

I'll never know if you don't told me lol.

Vita = Dead state.

LMAO ,

when sony is selling over 10 million xperia smart devices every three months i really don't think the PSVita is health is that much of a d@mn concern. Sony's level of viability is going to be in question from now on, can Sony even survive in any market at all right now, and that is not going to change in the media for quite some time. So I doubt very much Sony is going to be that upset about yet another one of the many articles that are and have been so popular about Sony and it's product's ability to survive in the market, the same was said about the PS1, The PS2, THE PSP, the PS3, the PSGo "hey the doom sayer's got one right! they are so hungry they wanted another. The PSVita!

Duh they can see the performance vs the mobile market, why do you think they made the PS Mobile suite? and talked about it day and date release with the PSVita?

Its because Sony knows what the smartphone does in markets, dedicated PDA's were Absorbed into smartphones except for very niche market now. they know where the large Lion's share of the market is going, do people really think selling maybe less than 100 million if your lucky in 6 to 7 year's is going to really matter in the larger mobile market when smartphones and tablets market for not only devices but software sales largely dominates this part of the market by a very wide margin anyway.

the PSP has always been about taking the living room console gaming on the go , that is always was and always will be a Niche market, and that has always been the PSP's and now the PSVita's Focus, Sony knows D@mn well that's going to be a smaller market focus. Sony would like nothing more than have more sales and increase install base, do they expect more at a faster pace, i doubt it..with the price of the PSVita and it's market focus its not gared toward the market like the 3DS because..there already is a Handheld games system dedicated to that dynamic of the market, its called a d@mn 3DS.

The PSP is a niche device with a Niche Market focus, there are Many other devices that fit the other dynamics for the market, Sony is not blind they already see that. could the PSVita market performance be better, yes, but on the same token Sony knows what the focus on the device is, the media seem's it wants another Nintendo handheld in the market. Here is a d@mn hint the PSP is not a Nintendo Handheld!

the PSVita is it's own product..good or bad despite its poor performance in the market its still it's own Handheld game system. With it's own games. there is no Mario, no Link, No monster hunter except for past ver's.

And that's why it's not doing well because it's not Nintendo Right?
that's why it does not do well, because it's not every other company but Sony?

its not doing well because many think it has no place in the market?

its not doing well because it's priced too high?

it's not doing well because the memory cards are priced too high?

its not doing well because there is no real must have software for the PSVita?

its not doing well because it's just Sony's non ability to promote the product's ?

its not doing well because it does not have a better focus for it's product focus?

the point is you can go on and on about the product and no matter what people will find some reason to keep putting out the negatives of the product because they do not find enough +'s about the product to entertain them and it will never be enough to matter to them in the first place.

I say good for them. Keep putting it out there maybe Sony will be able to fix all it's fault's in time for you to finaly find a reason to purchase the product down the line right when Sony is going to get out of the dedicated Mobile gaming handhelds and just concentrate on smart devices becvause that is the clear message Gamer's seem to be sending. Good for Gamer's right?

this type of Diatribe have been said over and over and over and over again, its become a MEME of itself with every d@mn new product that get's released negative generates web hit's keep up the great work.

Only three games are coming? God of War is Sony's biggest franchise now? This Wired.com article is a failure.

3DS also weak? WTH are they talking about? Nonsense.

I'm glad they at least got the insight to assume it's the 3G model that is going to be phased out, not the Wi-fi only model. I think so too.

This is actually a good article (for gaming press standards...) but only because it gets some things right that are commonly ignored:

1) The PSP was supposed to crush the DS. Today people talk about the PSP like it was "the outsider" and say "who in their right mind would expect anyone to outsell Nintendo in the handheld market?" Well, in 2004 everyone thought the PSP would outsell the DS. The rumors and "suggestions" of Nintendo going third party caught fire with the PSP announcement. The most favorable prediction I saw back then was that both handhelds would sell 50m units. The rest was "Nintendo = doomed!"

2) The 3DS not selling hot outside Japan. Japanese sales are good but in the west the platform is selling worse than the GBA and the DS did by a good margin. The 3DS is selling below 200k units most weeks, the DS cracked 400k regularly.

3DS is super strong in Japan.

The sales in US and Europe are just ok.

3DS is selling weak outside Japan. It's currently on track to sell 15m this year (probably more due to the string line-up). The DS did 30m / year for three years straight. It regularly sold above 100k units in all three major regions. The 3DS is hardly doing half of that (outside Japan). (Not saying it will stay that low, btw. But currently it is.)

they can keep posting what ever negative talking point's they want to generate Hits the market dynamic is not going to change that drastic in a short point of time right now. and If Sony has to take the PSVita and Launch it as only a bundle with the PS3 so be it. they will still have some presence still in the dedicated Mobile game handheld space. just not outside of bundling the PSVita with the living room game system's and the Playstation Mobile platform. which may be an option for Sony's outlook anyway.I kept hearing PSVita should have been a smartphone, really? like people who already find that as a negative on the PSVita would buy a PSVita smartphone ..really? I highly doubt that is even the case, Right now the view on Sony as a whole is Lost market strength, Lost Mind share, Lost market viability not just in Gaming, but in every market they are in. I think one Talking about how poor performance the PSVita is doing in the market is not even topping Sony's top 10 priority list in what they need to fix right now in order to remain in business right now.

I mean at a certain point every thing Negative said is just beating a dead horse already at this point that's what it's at for Sony.

Many already have major doubt's about Sony future as a electronic's company let alone staying in the business of making any physical Electronic's at all!

So it's pretty much Moot at this point in hammering on and on about a product that many see has no viability in the market by many it seem's have already wrote it off anyway.

So making more and more thread's about the very same thing is kinda moot other than keeping the product in the lime light which only keep's it in the media attention. so i say keep it going. at a certain point every one ask's if its so dead why do you keep talking about it?