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Forums - Sony - Post your PS Vita emergency plan

We all know the Vita is doing bad, so why not have a thread like we had for the Wii U for the Vita? What do you think Sony needs to do to save the Vita, or at least make the best of the whole Vita situation?

My plan in no particular order:

- Realize the Vita has very limited market appeal in the west and that big western publishers have no financial reason to support the platform. Then cut cost, do not pay publishers to release their games on the Vita and cease all development on western first party Vita titles, have those developers do games for the PS4 instead. Try to get the production cost of the system down, while not cutting its price.

- Now they are pretty much already doing that but Sony needs to show indie developers that the Vita is a viable platform for them, easy, cheap and fast to develop for, and then get good and sustained indie support on the platform. Market the Vita as a mobile indie platform.

- Release the Vita TV in the west with DS4 support and market it right, not as a home Vita but more as a PS4 streamer, maybe even give it another name and a new design that looks more like a PS4. (honestly this is more of a wildcard, especially after the lukewarm japanese response)

- Either significantly cut the price of the proprietary memory cards or ditch them all together

- Japan is the only market where I can see a somehow decent future for the Vita but it all depends on the software support so work with third and first parties over there to put out good games that speak to the market. If possible try to somehow get MH back on the platform.

 

The aim of all this is not to beat out the competition but to maximize sales of the Vita in Japan and to help it find its niche in the west where it then can at least make some money for Sony. Also alot of this is probably already being done by Sony, but maybe someone else is more creative than me.



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+ games
+(any) high budget games
- price on memory cards

done.



Development is risky on the PSV as a platform just due to low adoption rates/low sales and a low user base. It almost feels like the Vita is just *there* to round out SCE's gaming hardware division, which is a shame, given that it's still one of the best portable devices for gaming. I know I'd rather play most of the types of games I like to play on the Vita than on my iPhone or iPad.

The biggest problem with the platform is that the buzz is completely gone and now developers and publishers have to look at the bottom line in terms of what types of ROI they can get for projects, the viability of the platform, etc. You just can't realistically expect big sales on the platform for most games. At any rate, making a choice to develop for the PSV is not the money chasing proposition that drives development on mobile platforms in general. It's not like SCE hasn't made the development kit tools publicly available; it's really just a question of whether it's worth the capital investment to new and independent developers looking for a platform for their ideas and games.

Dropping prices on the memory cards would actually go a long way in selling more software although it really looks like SCE is attempting to use them to increase margins on the platform, which I can't blame them for, but won't reward them for this strategy by buying overpriced memory chips.

We'll see where SCE is going with PS4 integration. The way I see it, that's really the best option for keeping the PSV platform relevant, seeing as how the PS4 has left the starting block as a huge success and is much desired by consumers. And while it would be great to sell a bunch of PSVs off the back of the PS4, they're going to have to do some really clever and useful things beyond remote play and second controller/tablet controller to really make PS4 owners really want a PSV to go along with it.



Something like this maybe?

 



“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.”

- George Orwell, ‘1984’

Redesign, rename, re-release. Like a PSP Go except make it not suck. Price cut and built in memory, too. Of course none of this means nothing without the games and, despite other users saying otherwise, the Vita ain't got none.



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I am happy with my Vita

I love getting Cross-Buy games on it and I love getting PS+ games on it. That in my mind helps to offset the incredibly high cost of decent storage options. I have 64GB on mine that I imported from play-asia.com

The types of games that I play on PS-Vita are generally also available on PS3 or PS4. I choose to play some of those games on PS-Vita and others on PS3/PS4. The Vita also has some notable games entirely exclusive to it like Uncharted Golden Abyss, Tearaway, and Killzone Mercenaries.

Killzone Mercenaries in particular was very good. Better in my opinion than Killzone Shadow Fall on PS4.

I don't think Sony should change strategy on it. I think what they are doing continues to make the Vita very good for me personally and that is all I or any other Vita owner should care about... the games support, and the really good value proposition with all the cross-buy and PS+ games.

...

They should have launched with SDXC as the storage instead of proprietary more limited more expensive storage of their own, but it may be too late to monkey around with hardware revisions of that nature. At the very least Sony needs to drive the cost of that memory down, or package free-games with those, like 32GB card with Killzone Mercenaries download code included to increase the "value" of the storage.

They also need some portable games that can be meaningful competition for the Nintendo games that do so well on 3DS. Games like Animal Crossing, Pokemon X/Y, Fire Emblem, Legend of Zelda, Mario 3D Land, New Mario, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Monster Hunter, and others (OMG, it really is staggering isn't it?). That software advantage is why 3DS outsells the Vita even while their retail costs are almost the same (compared to 3DS XL). The main cost differentiator is the Vita storage is too expensive, and the Vita library doesn't compare well with 3DS.



DerNebel said:

We all know the Vita is doing bad, so why not have a thread like we had for the Wii U for the Vita?


We've been having these threads since before the Wii U even came out. There were also a couple last week. I'd just refer back to them to see the same old "Vita needs games" "Vita is too expensive" responses.

With the exception of some big name exclusives heavily marketed, there's not really a lot left for Sony to do now. The main thing they need to do is dispell the myth that the system has no games and also convince people that the system has a future. A general lack of awareness of just how many great/excellent titles are on Vita is really hurting it. (there are still some baffling individuals who state there is only 1 game on Vita they'd even be remotely interested in)

Everyone who sees and uses Vita generally comes off positive and surprised, and the most common reaction I get from friends is "I didn't know that game was on this!" and how impressive the visuals are in comparison to smartphones.



RIP Dad 25/11/51 - 13/12/13. You will be missed but never forgotten.

MikeRox said:
DerNebel said:

We all know the Vita is doing bad, so why not have a thread like we had for the Wii U for the Vita?


We've been having these threads since before the Wii U even came out. There were also a couple last week. I'd just refer back to them to see the same old "Vita needs games" "Vita is too expensive" responses.

With the exception of some big name exclusives heavily marketed, there's not really a lot left for Sony to do now. The main thing they need to do is dispell the myth that the system has no games and also convince people that the system has a future. A general lack of awareness of just how many great/excellent titles are on Vita is really hurting it. (there are still some baffling individuals who state there is only 1 game on Vita they'd even be remotely interested in)

Everyone who sees and uses Vita generally comes off positive and surprised, and the most common reaction I get from friends is "I didn't know that game was on this!" and how impressive the visuals are in comparison to smartphones.


I dusted off the old Vita yesterday and played Welcome Park.  Fucking Welcome Park....and I spent a good hour on it, having a blast.  The system itself is of such high quality, it's crazy.  It deserved a better fate. 



Step 1. Panic.
Step 2. Stop manufacturing of Vitas.
Step 3. Recall all Vitas.
Step 4. Panic some more.
Step 5. Bury them in the outskirts of Albuquerque.
Step 6. Shutdown Sony.

Being serious. I ordered a Vita bundle off Amazon for Christmas. I certainly hope they continue to support it.



"On my business card I am a corporate president. In my mind I am a game developer. But in my heart I am a gamer." - Satoru Iwata

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Include 8gb memory card by default

I guess when people say they want games, they really want console games on it as it has a decent range already i think if you have an open mind

Man these kind of threads are getting boring, for both Vita and Wii U



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