Vita is not doing bad. Vita is dead, move on with your life...

we had this thread a year ago.

..i like my vita and all but the thing is dead.  it had it's chance but it's too late know.   this time next year nintendo fans will proceed to the "acceptance phase" with wiiU too.   all i can do now is enjoy the games that do come.

I disagree that the device has limited appeal, I think it has more then the 3DS especially amongst the core. Its the games that have limited appeal, the 3DS has exploded because the number of 9/10 games its recieved and the franchises which those games belong to. I'm not saying that sony can conjure franchise like pokemon out of thin air but if they had games like Final Fantasy, Minecraft, morrorwind, Borderlands and Jack and Daxter (new) it would be selling alot better. We're seeing some of these games now but why so late? Sony wasted too much time/money releasing games which were never going to be big (KZ mercinaries, Sly Cooper, Unit 13, starhawk, Dust) or games that had potential but missed the mark Gravity rush, PS All stars, COD: Declassified (i believe sony funded it). Nintendo's had an amazing year because they set valuable resources aside for the 3DS and understood where to invest them. I still can't get over the fact that sony funded a 6month late port of Epic Mickey 2, a game that didn't sell on any platform. But that embodies my feeling about them and the Vita, they're a bit clueless.

The Vita could grow to do well in Europe, its already doing decent (outsold the 360 last week). Its not a race, the Vita hardware will be relevant for another 5 years, the only worry is maintaining a steady stream of releases, which I now think lays in the hand of localising desirable japanese games (Phantasy Star), keeping the indies happy and ensuring 2 or 3 western friendly AAA titles each year. Soon enough the Vita will be piss cheap and  with the aid of  PS3 games streaming, I think it will manage 30m in its lifetime.

If Sony threw money at the problem and convinced Rockstar to make a Vita version of GTA it would cause ripples. An actually good version of CoD would be another huge boost. Totally appreciate that a "good CoD" is a paradox for most people but the old crap Vita version sold 500k in the USA which is huge (for the Vita).

Releasing the new Vita 2000 would give a temporary boost, as it did in Japan, I think a bit of internal memory is really important because it's stupid that you can't even play cartridge games without a memory card in the current Vita. I don't see the value in pushing the Vita TV. Chromecast/Apple TV have the streaming market and with 80 million PS3s around, how many people need ANOTHER device that lets them watch Netflix (if the Vita TV even does this...).

Somehow changing the "it has no games" image that gamers have of it and increasing casual buyers of it's existence/relevance would help. I think it is under-advertised in the UK/Europe and Sony really should have made it a PS4 Parasite (catchy new name for the Vita??) and got a huge supply of PS4/Vita bundles out in the run-up to Christmas.

I love my Vita though and fully believe that Sony will continue to support it over the next few years. Yeah, the amount of support may go down but given its niche status I think it's fair to assume that a large amount of hardcore Playstation fans own a Vita and if Sony tank it then they would alienate their core base of support.

Include a memory card. The new model do have a little internal memory though. But when people are told to buy this and that for a console it creates additional unnecessary barriers which will put them off.

Then make some games that looks worthwhile to play, and could only be played on the Vita. Not just watered down Uncharteds and Killzones (I will buy that game someday, the demo was great). Make games that you can't play better with a home console alternative.

I, like all the others who bought a Vita, love the console. Same for Wii U fans, everyone who went and bought one, love it. So we can say it looks really good from an "inside" point of view.

But to get more consumers to buy one, it has to look good and interesting from an outsider perspective (people who hasn't bought one).

Is it too late to make a model that uses SD cards? Well if so, they should have done that from the start.

Not that this topic hasn't been done to tedium already. but....

-Honestly, Vita could be doing well if they just advertised it right. Pushing it as "Console on the Go" was the worst possible idea. It should have been advertised as A better tablet alternative for GAMING. It does most of the same things, but absolutely decimates tablets when it comes to gaming. You see the 3DS(and all Nintendo products) are pitched as Toys, seeing as they are high tech toys they easily look more appealing to THAT fanbase. Pitching Vita as an opposition to Consoles was a poor comparison as Console's are still better for most of many gamers gaming needs. Vita ends up falling short. Vita gaming against tablet gaming? Vita can only look good in that comparison. I feel like this could invigorate sales with that base similar to how LeapFrog did with their child tablet thingy. The device is pitched as a tablet for small children with learning games..........its not running iOS or Android, basically is a rudimentary game brick for 3yr olds. Yet that kind of marketing direction works. People are scouting everywhere for them, and their $5-15 games.

-To better facilitate the above, Vita needs to get more basic Apps. Calculator, Calender, Memo pad, All relavent plugins like Flash for Web Browser, etc. It already has Netflix but needs to pursue Hulu, Vudu, Amazon, and others like it.

-Games on handheld need to be aimed at $20 price tag, period. At 40bucks a pop, I and many other gamers are hesitant to buy unknown titles. Some just are NOT worth that much. Zero Escape, brilliant game, not worth 40bucks tho. At $20 is a total steal tho. And Lets not try to gouge the early buyers at the high price with the idea you can just decrease it later, by then the hype for your game is completely gone. Phone/tablet games debut at market reasonable prices. Games are the accessories to an already expensive device, Buying 2 of them whole sale should not overshadow the cost of the system themselves.

-Although I do not agree, many do not like the price of the Memory Cards, and just want the system to come with built in memory as well. While having it be cheaper and built in is obviously a plus, I never required that. PSP MCs cost just about the same when that first came out. It wasn't until recently that their prices plummeted so much. Everyone wants Vita cards to start out at the same.

i dont think the 3ds would be very successful with a $80 proprietary mem card. Sony screwed themselves. As far as my vita goes, I am not worried, I have owned a virtual boy, been there done that.

Realize you're just banging your head against a brick wall on this one. I think the Japanese game industry is in such dire straights, that a paradigm shift needs to occur.

There's only one company that can sell portable gaming hardware to any large degree, especially in these harsh conditions, and that's Nintendo. I'd seize on the opportunity to potentially make an alliance with them.

Nintendo + Sony branded phones/cell phones with physical game controls on them, based around the Vita chip, but upgraded for 2014/2015 with more RAM. This saves a lot of R&D money and Nintendo can provide the software to drive hardware sales, whereas Sony software just doesn't seem to fit handhelds well, and they always get too busy with consoles anyway.

Yes you would probably have to conceed the majority split of licensing fees to Nintendo, but it could help drive sales of your cell phone division and boost sales of your handheld properties. In the end you probably end up making more money riding shot gun with Nintendo than riding driver's seat on your own. 

I'd send out an olive branch anyway and have some sake with Mr. Iwata and see which way they seem to be leaning, because I think big changes could be inevitable for Nintendo as well after this fiscal year. Without Yamauchi there to protect him anymore I imagine Iwata may be under much more scrutiny from frustrated stockholders. If there's a stubborn no on their part, then you wish them well and move on, however if you sense there's some wiggle room there, keep sending overtures their way.

Do what Nintendo does when things get bad ... just put as many 1st party studios as you can working on the console releasing games.

Now, that probably won't really do much in terms of sales, but atleast make your hardcore fans happy.