Sure, a loser price will help but for the consoles, I'd say generational fatigue is a big factor.
If it was purely a money issue, then iDevices and smartphones wouldn't be selling at the rate they do.
For handhelds though, I'm quite convinced the NA market has peaked and the mindshare isn't coming back. You'll see blips with big releases and price cuts but I don't expect them to ramp up and maintain.
If it was purely a money issue, then iDevices and smartphones wouldn't be selling at the rate they do.
For handhelds though, I'm quite convinced the NA market has peaked and the mindshare isn't coming back. You'll see blips with big releases and price cuts but I don't expect them to ramp up and maintain.
It'll be interesting to see the software numbers, but I think the new consoles are going to sell poorly until the Christmas season starts, and after that they'll be pretty much dead. I'm surprised the new consoles haven't been announced already for Christmas 2013. I can't even imagine how dead this gen will be if it has to ride out until 2014.
PS Vita is not underperforming vs rest of the market actually at all. About 1/2 3DS. Handheld costs the same as PS3 + memorycard lulz
Should be lower than that. 3DS only up 17% compared to before pricecut last year is shocking for Nintendo. They cut the handheld margings for good and got only so much
Should be lower than that. 3DS only up 17% compared to before pricecut last year is shocking for Nintendo. They cut the handheld margings for good and got only so much
Last edited by a moderator:
There's absolute nothing on the horizon that will make it better in the NA market.
The people thinking CoD and Assassins Creed will kickstart it are in for a rude awakening. You'll see some holiday and price drops bumps but they'll fade quickly. This thing might get Lenny'd at the end of next year. It'll be interesting to see.
3DS will not see anywhere the success the DS did during it's peak.
The people thinking CoD and Assassins Creed will kickstart it are in for a rude awakening. You'll see some holiday and price drops bumps but they'll fade quickly. This thing might get Lenny'd at the end of next year. It'll be interesting to see.
3DS will not see anywhere the success the DS did during it's peak.
Prophecy2k
Veteran
If they price drop the console below the $150 mark then I can see a significant upswing in sales because a fair few existing console owners will also be rebuying consoles to replace faulty/old models.
I price drop will rescusitate the market. But it needs to be a significant one.
I price drop will rescusitate the market. But it needs to be a significant one.
Re
S Vita Sales
I think Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection and Persona 4 will have an impact in the short term and LittleBigPlanet along with AC III:Liberation and COD: Black Ops Declassified in the medium to long term.
Also, I have to agree with babybumb for a hand held to sell >10K per week at a higher price point than PS3 without any killer apps is remarkable.
S Vita SalesI think Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection and Persona 4 will have an impact in the short term and LittleBigPlanet along with AC III:Liberation and COD: Black Ops Declassified in the medium to long term.
Also, I have to agree with babybumb for a hand held to sell >10K per week at a higher price point than PS3 without any killer apps is remarkable.
It may be good numbers relatively, but its still a pretty dead platform. That userbase just isn't enough to attract developer interest, which means no games, which means no reason to buy the platform, especially when Vita is all about games. Sony need to demonstrate long term, signficant growth (or short term, massive growth) to stop the platform from fizzling out.
just hope that COD vita will turn out to be a decent game being handled by a decent developer, like Raven or Eurocom or something, Or Treyarch B team that ported all the wii cod. Weeping out a Wii black ops 2 doesn't make much sense, don't think the one out now even sell half as much as the other systems. Might as well get them to do the vita one, or 3ds. Sony really need to rethink their strategy for vita, PS mobile apps need to come sooner with not just games, but adding new functionality to the system like drop box, ereader, DLNA, etc to keep it in line with current smart phones and tablets. It got the hardware to do it, I think it just the matter of softwares now.
It's got a ways to go before it's beyond hope.
The Wii version of CD typically sells around 1m units. That's of course far less than any other platform, but a million sales on the Wii means profits, so there's no reason not to make them until they think they won't sell any more (I don't know how well MW3 is doing).
It's pretty hard to sell a million copies of a Vita game when the handheld is selling that slowly (worldwide sales hit 1.8 million in mid-May). And consider that making a Vita game is probably pretty expensive, because it has reasonable good hardware, demanding fairly high-quality games.
Vita could do better, but I'm actually surprised it moved 50K in retail given Sony's abssysal marketing and negative buzz. Reminds me of the early PS3 days.
I think Sony need to find a good product marketing guy/team for all its products. In Vita's case, Koller is "just" Playstation hardware marketing. All he cares about are unit sales. From his last interview, it seems that he can't see and communicate things from customers' perspective (e.g., Where is PS+ for Vita, a balanced and compelling view of exclusive Vita titles vs Cross-Play titles, simplifying Cross-Play, memory card should be part of every Vita package for at least first year, etc.). For letting all these happened, Koller's boss is to be blamed (Whoever he is), not just Koller. There is a gaping hole in Playstation Vita "platform" (hardware + software + experience + end user vision + business and pricing model) marketing.
I'm also interested to look at their DD sell-through. According to Sony, Vita DD sell through is several times higher than their expectation, and I do see Vita titles appearing in Sony's top X downloaded games despite the smaller base.
I think Sony need to find a good product marketing guy/team for all its products. In Vita's case, Koller is "just" Playstation hardware marketing. All he cares about are unit sales. From his last interview, it seems that he can't see and communicate things from customers' perspective (e.g., Where is PS+ for Vita, a balanced and compelling view of exclusive Vita titles vs Cross-Play titles, simplifying Cross-Play, memory card should be part of every Vita package for at least first year, etc.). For letting all these happened, Koller's boss is to be blamed (Whoever he is), not just Koller. There is a gaping hole in Playstation Vita "platform" (hardware + software + experience + end user vision + business and pricing model) marketing.
I'm also interested to look at their DD sell-through. According to Sony, Vita DD sell through is several times higher than their expectation, and I do see Vita titles appearing in Sony's top X downloaded games despite the smaller base.
Sony's marketing certainly isn't what it was in the previous decade or two. They did recover somewhat with PS3 marketing. Their big problem with Vita IMO is what exactly are they going to sell and do they believe in their product? they are going to have to confidently tell the world "awesome games here" and hope that's enough, because they have little else to offer.
I think they do believe in Vita based on their sunken and on-going investments. Whatever on Vita today is actually quite impressive. I am having lot's of fun with the little thing. You can check out the LBP GAF thread for some ideas, but there are other interesting, small contents here and there. And I do now carry Vita where ever I go, together with the iPhone 4S.
From outside, I suspect the key problem (if it's only one) is Sony top execs' management approach. Perhaps they are tied down by strict budget these days, or perhaps they do not want to take attention from the money-making PS3 and PSP, or perhaps they are tied up by other secret projects, the thing is they don't seem to have time to QA their staff's Vita marketing output.
They can't package and communicate the values. Their marketing people seem to be very numbers-oriented. The decisions are made solely based on a baseline unit numbers, and from Sony's hardware perspective. There is absolutely no attempt to simplify and deliver the "Vita" idea to perform even better. Once the sales tracks their conversative baseline, they sit back. I am not sure if they have buffers in that baseline numbers too. ^_^
What their marketing people do a lot are events, sponsorships and Internet marketing. But those are very tactical. Without a guiding vision for Vita, they tend to be fire-and-forget.
They don't necessarily have to drop price (Actually, they should not. Not yet). But there are many things they could do cheaply by just being able to see things from our perspectives instead of following that graph. 8^d Many times, they did things without much thoughts, that came out sabotaging Vita's image.
Naturally these are seen from the outside, I have no idea if any of these are true. But I don't think I'm alone here.
For a start, I think Sony needs to market the Vita as the "must have" accessory for PS3 owners. All top selling PS3 franchises should have a Vita companion app similar to DUST514. I can see a companion app for Starkhawk that allows players to use the Vita to control the building of battlements etc. to complete the whole build and battle gameplay.
Also, what about a PS Home client for Vita?
Also, what about a PS Home client for Vita?
The same gripes that consumers had about the PSP are the same issues that the Vita is having today. It is bulky along with development cost and third party not seeing a return. The same message for the Vita being a PS3 in your pocket was the same failed message about the PSP being a PS2 in your pocket.
