Sony insists Vita sales 'are not a problem'

moogiesboy on 3 Feb '12 said:

Sony needs to do 3 things to make the Vita a success. First Sony needs to make an amazing piece of kit that will make the hardcore gamer "NEED" one. IMO, they've done that - the the next phase isn't down to them.
For Japan they need a monster hunter game and for the west, they need a call of duty.

Regardless of those games; I think vita will do ok.
Whether it goes from just ok to mega success, I think, will depend on what the MH & COD strategy is.
If, monster hunter and COD are released and they turn out to be ports I think people are going to be dissapointed. Why would a gamer or a casual invest, lets face it, a large amount of money, when he/she can just play it on ps3/360/wii?
If however, Sony can work with Capcom and Acti to ensure those games are differant and exclusive to vita, then those machines will fly from the shelves.

Lastly remote play of your PS3 games is a must in my opinion. This one worries me a bit though.
When the Wii-u info 1st came out, Sony execs started leaping around the E3 show shouting "Vita can do that too!".
Many people were excited about this, I know I was, but where are those execs now? The answer is - in hiding.
Now, for some reason, Sony has gone dark on the remote play. I've been thinking about why and my guess is there are 4 possible reasons.
1. Its unfunctional - we've seen the laggy vids on the net. But Sony might have a way round this.
2. Publishers are up in arms over remote play and want a cut for there games now running on 2 formats. (If so Sony, why not charge a pound or two for the update on each game to enable RP and share with publisher? Could work)
3. Sony itself is worried it wont sell the kind of number of actual vita games it needs if RP comes along. FALSE IMO
4. The are working night and day to get it right and details are icoming (oh please be this one)

Probally all balls - but ther it is, my opinion.

JBoo on 3 Feb '12 said:

I think its doing ok. Not sure why people think it would sell 400K every week in Japan for Anything over say 10K a week is good i think;)

RandyChimp on 3 Feb '12 said:

This is the problem with the western view of Japanese sales. Jap sales will never be as impressive as US sales or Europe sales. So far, it's doing well. Not amazingly well, just well. When it releases in the West, it should do better, but reporting that it's selling poorly in the East isn't going to help it sales over here.

B_G_G on 3 Feb '12 said:

I think its doing ok. Not sure why people think it would sell 400K every week in Japan for Anything over say 10K a week is good i think;)

Its not so much the number, but that in the last month more people in Japan have bought PSPs than Vitas.

Hard to argue that's a good sign.

Barca Azul on 3 Feb '12 said:

I think its doing ok. Not sure why people think it would sell 400K every week in Japan for Anything over say 10K a week is good i think;)

Its not so much the number, but that in the last month more people in Japan have bought PSPs than Vitas.

Hard to argue that's a good sign.

Its not, although i imagine that you can pick up PSP's very cheap there now.

i agree with the above also, the games, the potetial funcionality need to be clear when?

i bought the first PSP early and then got frustrated when later models added funcionality, TV out, Skype, that I couldnt use. I think this will put doubts in others minds too.

Its a great bit of kit and ill get one, just not sure when!

gmcb007 on 3 Feb '12 said:

@Barca

I know the feeling. Got the first model too at the price of £200+ only to find out not so long after that the newer ones where cheaper and contained more. It really did make you feel ripped off.

@moogiesboy

I agree that a massive game such as Cod would dramatically boost sales in the west. The whole CoD multiplayer on the go would be a massive seller alone. It was GTA LCS on the last PSP that helped boost sales for the same reason; a whole GTA in the palm of your hands.

@Jboo

Just shut up and go to school. It's pretty evident that you need it "LOL "

havoc33 on 3 Feb '12 said:

Remember that the PS2 outsold the PS3 in huge quantites as well. In the end, the Vita will be a success just as the PSP before it.

laslowoodbine on 3 Feb '12 said:

@Barca

I had the original PSP model and the only additional option the newer PSP models had was the TV out (hardly worth getting upset about), as for the Skype functionality it was a software update for all PSP models not a hardware difference (Skype though was subsequently removed from all PSP's in a later update).

Beyond that yes future PSP's were cheaper and lighter but also felt cheaper and lighter, I have two PSP's (my original and a PSP3000) and the build quality of the original is by far more plush. Just the same sort of difference between the Fat PS3 and a slim, the slim although quieter and having less power consumption is missing two USB ports, has a less expensive power switch (no biggie), backward compatibility and memory card slots, but overall the original PS3 has a more quality finish.

roland82 on 3 Feb '12 said:

Sony needs to do 3 things to make the Vita a success. First Sony needs to make an amazing piece of kit that will make the hardcore gamer "NEED" one. IMO, they've done that - the the next phase isn't down to them.
For Japan they need a monster hunter game and for the west, they need a call of duty.

Regardless of those games; I think vita will do ok.
Whether it goes from just ok to mega success, I think, will depend on what the MH & COD strategy is.
If, monster hunter and COD are released and they turn out to be ports I think people are going to be dissapointed. Why would a gamer or a casual invest, lets face it, a large amount of money, when he/she can just play it on ps3/360/wii?
If however, Sony can work with Capcom and Acti to ensure those games are differant and exclusive to vita, then those machines will fly from the shelves.

Lastly remote play of your PS3 games is a must in my opinion. This one worries me a bit though.
When the Wii-u info 1st came out, Sony execs started leaping around the E3 show shouting "Vita can do that too!".
Many people were excited about this, I know I was, but where are those execs now? The answer is - in hiding.
Now, for some reason, Sony has gone dark on the remote play. I've been thinking about why and my guess is there are 4 possible reasons.
1. Its unfunctional - we've seen the laggy vids on the net. But Sony might have a way round this.
2. Publishers are up in arms over remote play and want a cut for there games now running on 2 formats. (If so Sony, why not charge a pound or two for the update on each game to enable RP and share with publisher? Could work)
3. Sony itself is worried it wont sell the kind of number of actual vita games it needs if RP comes along. FALSE IMO
4. The are working night and day to get it right and details are icoming (oh please be this one)

Probally all balls - but ther it is, my opinion.

I agree on Monster hunter and COD

Remote play functionality would be great but doesnt kind of go against your first point of the Vita needing original games and not just console ports?

I just think we've got to a time where consumers will just hold out and try to force companies into price cuts. Add to that the 'patch and fix later' that some companies have, I think the smart customer now waits.

Also you could argue that 10k sales is ok for Japan but when your yearish old rival is selling four to five times that it puts things in perspective.

jeffery6803 on 3 Feb '12 said:

In the handheld market Sony needs third parties to produce must get games while Nintendo only needs itself.There will always be a place for a second dedicated portable console but Nintendo will always be number 1#. Nintendo games lend themselves more to the handheld market a market which it helped create

Barrick on 3 Feb '12 said:

As some one who has always bought Sony consoles, I kinda think we are just sick of the first gen model being top dollar, then six months, to a year later (just an example) it's half the price and looks better? I feel us people who have always spent that crazy price on new consoles, always get ripped of in the end. And the people who waited it out, pay less and get a better looking console, I just don't see any benefits in the short term, so in this case I'm out.

Dalaeck on 3 Feb '12 said:

I don't see anything here that I would play on my morning commute. Seriously, that's what a lot of people use portables for. It's like they re-packaged the ps3 in portable format - who the @# wants that?

KippDynamite on 4 Feb '12 said:

Well I've pre-ordered mine and am very much looking forward to it!