Such theorising would have been wrong if true though, because Nintendo has shown a portable gaming device has plenty of market potential despite everything carrying around iThings.
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Deleted member 13524
Guest
Nintendo went with plan a), but back in 2010 there was no way to know how the mobile gaming market would have progressed. Thankfully for Nintendo, the smartphone gaming market was invaded by touch-screen-only free-to-play titles monetized by microtransactions and that's very different from what Nintendo and Sony can provide.
But if Google and/or Apple had decided on a proper standard for gaming controllers (e.g. like this) and pushed for AA / AAA games supporting said standards back in ~2010, things could have gone completely different.
In the end, both made a good choice because Nintendo with the Wii U had a failed home console in their hands whereas Sony had a winner with the PS4.
Though we'll never really know how things could have gone if Sony had put for example Polyphony Digital working on a Vita Gran Turismo to release instead of the GT6 that released for the PS3 in 2013. Or Guerrilla making Killzone Mercenary to be a launch title in 2011 instead of Killzone 3 that released the same year for the PS3. Or if they had put Quantic Dream and Naughty Dog doing something for the Vita instead of Beyond Two Souls and Last of Us for the PS3. Or ordered Vita exclusives from 3rd parties, like they had done for the PSP with Metal Gear Portable Ops and FF7 Crisis Core.
That, and of course supporting regular SD cards that passed a performance benchmark, like Nintendo did with the 3DS.
That was sounding great up to ‘instead of Last of Us’ lol
The main issue Sony had was that Nintendo were already established in the handheld market so it was always an uphill struggle what with Sony losing money left right and centre they had to steady the ship.
I love the Vita, got more hours out of it than any other handheld....Killzone was awesome but it was also great for all the indie games and even the streaming function was pretty cool.
The main issue Sony had was that Nintendo were already established in the handheld market so it was always an uphill struggle what with Sony losing money left right and centre they had to steady the ship.
I love the Vita, got more hours out of it than any other handheld....Killzone was awesome but it was also great for all the indie games and even the streaming function was pretty cool.
Yes, the few people still willing to buy a dedicaded portable would have to be split between sony and nintendo, a battle in their rival's own turf, and sony probably thought, rightfully in my opinion, that this would be a battle not worth pursuing.
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Deleted member 13524
Guest
I was just giving out examples of different strategies Sony could have taken, and I didn't imply they shouldn't have launched TLoU but rather make it a later PS4-only game.
I know TLoU was a massive success on the PS3, but I wonder how many sales they lost on the PS4 by selling it on the PS3 first. Not many people are willing to double dip on the same cross-gen game after they upgrade to the newer generation.
"Few people"?
Over 70M people bought a 3DS/2DS.
That's almost twice as many sales as all the Xbox One combined, and the Switch is already being reported as a major success to Nintendo despite probably never reaching those numbers.
That's not the main problem as PSP had the Nintendo DS as the direct competitor. Vita lacked great exclusive games for the western market compared to PSP. In the era of the Vita you could play most indies elsewhere.
From the top off my head PSP had a Gran Turismo game (with the Monaco track not even on PS4), a Final Fantasy game, a Daxter game, 2 God of war games, a Grand theft auto game and a Metal gear solid game (and one of the best). Almost all of them being critically acclaimed.
Vita had what ? a Killzone game, gravity rush (2 good games but not system seller) and an average Uncharted game.
Tkumpathenurpahl
Veteran
As much as there are many valid points as to why the Vita failed, there is one thing that could've saved it: a Vita emulator for the PS4.
Were Vita games to have automatic compatibility with the PS4, the Vita would quickly become more of an accessory than a console of its own, but does that really matter in a world of subscription services?
Were Vita games to have automatic compatibility with the PS4, the Vita would quickly become more of an accessory than a console of its own, but does that really matter in a world of subscription services?
It's few when you have to split those 70M against a competitor that has historically been the defacto standard product of that segmant where everyone who atempted to compete against, including sony, managed to to nothing but lose money.
How many of those 70M will not settle for anything that can't give them the pokemons, animal crossings and mario lands?
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Deleted member 13524
Guest
Are you assuming the Vita sold 0 units?
It was 70M 3DS plus 16M Vita. It's 86M total in a market where many didn't buy a Vita because it got dropped by Sony on release.
The PSP launched within an even worse competitive disadvantage against Nintendo (who had sold some 200M Gameboys until the NDS) and still sold 80M units.
The OG PSP came in an era sony was willing to bleed money for marketshare. Vita launched from a sony that had relearned to prioritise and take profitability seriously.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
It took roughly 8 years for the 3DS/2DS (6 different models) to sell ~74.81 million units.
The NSW sold ~36.87 million units in ~2.25 years (Mar. 2017 - July 2019). Those numbers are with just one model so far. I'd be surprised if Nintendo discontinued it before it surpasses the DS in sales.
The bigger question is how it'll compare with their historically better selling models.
- Nintendo DS family ~154.90 million units in ~9 years
- Game Boy ~118.69 million units in ~14 years
- Game Boy Advance ~81.51 million units in ~7 years
Of course, this isn't exactly an apples to apples comparison as the NSW (up to this point) isn't a purely handheld device. The upcoming NSW Lite puts a bit of a wrinkle in things though. I'm curious to see how a portable only NSW will do compared to the hybrid NSW.
Regards,
SB
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Deleted member 13524
Guest
The PSP was a very profitable console.
The mobile device market was mostly mobile consoles and a few palms / PocketPCs until the 3DS' release. Since then it's been accelerating like crazy, and each iteration will be shorter.
I don't think for a second the Switch with 2015 mobile performance will sell until 2024.
Was it? Most of the first party games got ported to PS2 or PS3 in a hurry because of low sales, IIRC.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
You say that but the only Nintendo portable console that sold faster than the NSW is selling is the Nintendo DS. The NSW is selling faster than all other Nintendo portable consoles except for the DS. And as I mentioned, sales for it still hasn't peaked.
It's likely that the NSW after 5 years on the market (2022) will have outsold the 3DS/2DS that took 8 years to reach ~75 million units sold.
Regards,
SB
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Isn't the switch lite dedicated, it's not a hybrid.
I'm sure they actually had more sales by releasing on PS3 first. In fact I doubt very much they would of got anywhere near the amount without coming on the PS3 first.
I'm positive Sony is going to do the same with The Last of Us 2. It will be glorious 4k and 60fps on PS5.
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Deleted member 13524
Guest
Which ones were ported in a hurry?
All I see is games that had a same-day PSP+PS2 release like the Jack&Daxters and Ratchet&Clanks, which makes sense because the PSP's hardware is very similar to the PS2 with MIPS cores, 32MB RAM and 4MB eDRAM for the GPU.
But the AA/AAA games like Killzone, Resistance and God of War sold a million copies for the PSP without a dual release. Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core sold over 3 million units, and the exclusive Gran Turismo sold over 4 million.
I agree that people will keep buying a Switch as long as it stays the only decent portable gaming device in the market.
I just don't think it'll stay as the only decent portable gaming device for long.
It sold 7 million on the PS3 and close to 12 million on the PS4.
Uncharted 4 is right now on >16 million units, and that should represent the peak market that Last of Us could achieve in the PS4, considering it's the same genre and developer.
And now there's the fact that as soon as the PS4 came out in November 2013 (5 months after TLoU's PS3 release), most PS3 games went right into the sales bin with massive discounts, so don't expect the PS3 version's average selling price to be the same as the PS4's version. Consider also that making TLoU for the PS3 probably demanded a massive optimization effort which cost time and money and wasn't used for any future titles. And on the PS4 the digital distribution got a lot more popular, and Sony gets the whole cake on those.
So could TLoU sell ~19 million units on the PS4? Probably not, it'd stay at ~15 million like Uncharted 4. But it might have made a lot more money for Sony though.
Vita had minecraft, wipeout, tearaway, LBP as well as some great PS3 games like MGS - but it also had great indie games like hotline Miami , stardust, sound shapes and don’t starve.
Personally I think many underestimate its library...and if you check the launch lineups they are pretty similar. I do think costs had a lot to do with it, the machine was already expensive, but those proprietary memory cards...ergh!
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