NPD May 2012 (lol)

[Shifty Geezer]

PSP has done okay, with over 60 million or whatever it is sold. Only Nintendo has managed those sort of handheld sales before. But PSP had added value as a portable media device in the days before smartphones. Sony hoping to carry on with a PSP approach was a terrible mistake IMO.

 

[patsu]

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.

It is also possible that PSP underdelivered while the message was not completely wrong.

One of the problems is Vita *looks* similar to PSP. When in use, the dual sticks and touchscreen have completely transformed the PSP-like user experience. Playing PSP games on a Vita is very pleasant because of the OLED screen and intuitive controls. OTOH, I chugged my Peace Walker in the drawer after only 15 seconds on a PSP.

I didn't know PSP was marketed as a PS2 in my pocket. The portable PS2 message was not fulfilled because of bad implementation. At that time, PSP was more appealing because of its technical ability to play games, music and movies rather cheaply. Unfortunately, lack of software killed all these use cases. We had to write our own sync software. Sony Connect sucked big time. Plus Sony ignored PSP for a full 2 years while they focused on PS3.

Today on Vita, we have proper PSN integration, SEN together with mostly well-written apps. Games are much better implemented and we have a good selection just in 4 months (Thanks to PSP library and brave developers !). It's like day and night. There are still some Sony-ish rough edges, I hope Sony top execs use the apps themselves. The Twitter app is impressive even by iOS standard. I suspect that's because Shuhei is an avid Twitter user.

Development-wise, I think there are indeed open issues.

Playstation Mobile SDK is not launched yet, so low cost, cross-platform development is still being developed.

For exclusive Vita titles, until Sony port the Vita stack to other hardware, developers will have to rely on Sony's slow poke baseline forecast graph. Someone light a fire under Sony please~

 

[patsu]

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.

They are doing that in a haphazard way. At the same time they have to balance exclusive Vita games vs ported PS3 titles. A lot of people prefer to buy the technically superior PS3 version instead of the more comfortable Vita version. In addition, they also don't want to pay twice for the same game.

For now, the Vita sales pitch looks like a work-in-progress. We have sporadic Cross-Play Vita and PS3 games similar to your suggestions, we also have a handful of exclusive Vita games. They just sent out a survey asking people if they like the idea of "pay-once-play-on-Vita-and-PS3" titles. As usual they are very shy to talk about Vita, to the point of messing up all Vita presentations to-date. ^_^



I happen to think that they should not position Vita as a WiiU competitor or a remote control pad. For one, Vita is much more expensive than a WiiU pad. It also can't compete with an iPad in terms of general functionality.

It can do more in the event of bad connection. It is not uncommon for WiFi to drop in my second bedroom. For Vita Cross-Play titles, they work even without a connection since they are also standalone games in their own right. For other Vita mobile titles, they only rely on a connection for posting scores and stats.

Vita is also more personal than a WiiU pad. I keep stuff I don't want my kid to touch on my Vita, so the PS3 stays clean. This can be addressed by using a multi-user OS for the game console next gen, but for now I think Vita is a much more personal experience than a pad.

Also, what about a PS Home client for Vita?

They should revamp Home first. Was going to post about Miiverse.

Vita has integrated a 2D Home-like experience into the OS itself. It's called LiveArea. Before you launch an app, you always enter the LiveArea of that app first. The LiveArea keeps notifications, updates, help, shortcuts, friends info specific to each game. Developers can customize their own LiveArea fully, like deploying a custom Home space.

It also does more than PS3. You can create a party and jump from game to game. It is currently optimized for a power-saving mode. So all network traffic are connectionless. You have to wait for it to reconnect after the session times out quickly.

You can also play music while you game or surf, if you like that sort of things.

 

[RobertR1]

Sony should work to make PS mobile work on all platforms. Market it heavily and then focus on how vita is the best option for someone wanting the ideal PS Mobile experience. That's about the only thing I can think of that could inject life in the NA market for vita.

 

[patsu]

Sony should work to make PS mobile work on all platforms. Market it heavily and then focus on how vita is the best option for someone wanting the ideal PS Mobile experience. That's about the only thing I can think of that could inject life in the NA market for vita.

PS Mobile on Vita and other hardware is already a work-in-progress. You can test your PS Mobile apps on a retail Vita today. FWIW, PS Mobile is only a defensive move. Sony will still need to build exclusive library batch by batch.

There are other interesting things Sony can do. e.g., They can also implement a PS+ subscription model for PS Mobile games.

Vita is actually doing rather well from a user perspective. So all Sony needs to do is to focus on marketing. 8^d

 

[RobertR1]

What im saying is that PS mobile should be the Trojan horse for the hardware. If PS movile takes off on different platforms, it actually makes the vita an easier sell to people. Like PSM but want the full blown, as intended experience? Get a vita. That's a very simple, straight forward message that has potential to resonate with the NA audience.

As it is, the vita will not be a success in NA. The whole user perspective thing is ridiculously subjective.

 

[patsu]

What im saying is that PS mobile should be the Trojan horse for the hardware. If PS movile takes off on different platforms, it actually makes the vita an easier sell to people. Like PSM but want the full blown, as intended experience? Get a vita. That's a very simple, straight forward message that has potential to resonate with the NA audience.

Yes, that's already in the cards; but still a defensive move because it's difficult to differentiate PS Mobile games vs native iOS games for example. Their strength is with the core gamers, and they should find a breakthrough there. Few people want a Vita just for playing small games, unless there are special sauce to tie back to core gaming.

As it is, the vita will not be a success in NA. The whole user perspective thing is ridiculously subjective.

Not quite. Usability can be measured, number of apps can be measured, games can be rated by users and panels to reduce the subjectivity, so on and so forth.

 

[Arwin]

What im saying is that PS mobile should be the Trojan horse for the hardware. If PS movile takes off on different platforms, it actually makes the vita an easier sell to people. Like PSM but want the full blown, as intended experience? Get a vita. That's a very simple, straight forward message that has potential to resonate with the NA audience.

As it is, the vita will not be a success in NA. The whole user perspective thing is ridiculously subjective.

I will definitely enjoy PS Mobile type stuff on Vita, particularly because it has such great controls and screen. Particularly controls gives it a big leg up vs any other platform. Native games are the main reason that I have a Vita however, the experience there far exceeds anything else.

Though I do hope media features get fleshed out more soon, as the Vita is much nicer for this than my phone, Video in particular. Youtube app should be coming next week, that's a big one for us as we use that a lot.

I'm not too worried. Most important is that they work on getting memory cards cheaper and include some. They said it's a priority, so that's good. The games are coming. Mobile is coming, though they still have catching up to do. Important that they get the trophies right however, their current system is still too slow. Connection time to PSN should speed up too (I think I saw a hint pf caching the connection the other day)

Already though for me Vita is the best games platform, and next week it will have been out over here for just 4 months. Of course Sony shouldn't become complacent and there's a risk again that PS4 will be a distraction, but they've said several times they've learnt that lesson.

 

[RobertR1]

When discussing overall sales performance in a region, how happy one is with their purchase really has no relevance so I'm not sure why it comes up every time.

I'm curious to see if Sony holds their forecast. If they hold it, it'll be interesting to see how they get there.

If they revise it, I expect their already historically low stock price, will take a hit and lose more investor confidence. Interesting times ahead.

btw, I don't expect great things for the 3DS, in comparison to the DS, in NA either but it will certainly outperform the VIta as the DS did against the PSP.

Handhelds in NA will continue to under perform against their predecessors.

 

[minimoke]

I happen to think that they should not position Vita as a WiiU competitor or a remote control pad. For one, Vita is much more expensive than a WiiU pad. It also can't compete with an iPad in terms of general functionality.

Agreed, It's a fine balance between making Vita just an extended gamepad and creating a dedicated companion app that extends the experience of the PS3 game. Another example would be taking your Dark Souls (or other RPG) character from the PS3 game into ad-hoc battles on the Vita.

They should revamp Home first. Was going to post about Miiverse.

Vita has integrated a 2D Home-like experience into the OS itself. It's called LiveArea. Before you launch an app, you always enter the LiveArea of that app first. The LiveArea keeps notifications, updates, help, shortcuts, friends info specific to each game. Developers can customize their own LiveArea fully, like deploying a custom Home space.

Yes, the LiveArea feature is not prompted enough I think.

 

[Arwin]

When discussing overall sales performance in a region, how happy one is with their purchase really has no relevance so I'm not sure why it comes up every time.

It is our autistic way of projecting future performance when the library expands, pricing goes down, word of mouth spreads, etc.

 

[patsu]

When discussing overall sales performance in a region, how happy one is with their purchase really has no relevance so I'm not sure why it comes up every time.

Why not ? It depends on how the evaluation is done. It helps to understand where the potential issues are. ^_^

Handhelds in NA will continue to under perform against their predecessors.

Too early to tell. I don't even know what structure to measure them against. Vita has digital sales, which means a bigger cut. They can also repurpose Vita OS for something else since it's modular. We may not have enough info to judge just yet. Unit sales lifecycle is really just 1 aspect of it.

 

[patsu]

Agreed, It's a fine balance between making Vita just an extended gamepad and creating a dedicated companion app that extends the experience of the PS3 game. Another example would be taking your Dark Souls (or other RPG) character from the PS3 game into ad-hoc battles on the Vita.

Yeah... I reckon the key is innovation. Core gaming seems boring these days because people are busy refining old ideas. Or they released stuff for casuals.

For Dark Souls and Demon's Souls, I would love it if they expand the PvP and co-op angle. I dream of the day where we can design our own monsters and throw them at the enemies.

Yes, the LiveArea feature is not prompted enough I think.

Yap. Near and LiveArea need more refinement on Vita.

Near should be simplified greatly.

LiveArea needs more umph.

The Vita UI should be less chatty. It has too many dialog now. Even the upcoming RemotePlay has too many dialogs and progress screens. Should learn from Apple. Bam ! AirPlay transfers over without any dialog.

 

[dlm]

Why not ? It depends on how the evaluation is done. It helps to understand where the potential issues are. ^_^

More specifically, people who are not happy with something they have purchased are unlikely to recommend it, or possible likely to recommend that people *do not* buy it.

Word of mouth is an enormously powerful factor in brand image these days.


Obviously a few people's experience is unlikely to be indicative of society as a whole, but I think a measurement of "how many users actually *like* their -insert device here-" is something that manufacturers should care about.

 

[patsu]

Yes, me think one potentially interesting datapoint is:
How many US Vita owners buy PSP games, and is the proportion higher than PSP at its peak for say, the entire year ?

In other words, did US gamers ignored PSP and games because it was not good enough for high end games. And has Vita delivered on that promise ?

The landscape is changing quickly. If Sony follow the same old h/w forecast, they will miss out on a lot of opportunities. The short term h/w unit lost should be their smallest concern.

 

[patsu]

Heh heh, after playing P3P, I suspected Persona (4) will help Vita sales in Japan. It's an interesting little series for seasoned gamers...

Media Create Sales: Week 24, 2012 (Jun 11 - Jun 17)
01./00. [PSV] Persona 4: The Golden (Atlus Co.) - 137,076 / NEW

System | This Week | Last Week
------------------------------------------------------------------
| PSV | 34,459 | 13,383

If only more people try Vita... it is very different from PSP.

 

[mrcorbo]

When discussing overall sales performance in a region, how happy one is with their purchase really has no relevance so I'm not sure why it comes up every time.

It also skews positive making it even less useful, unless you adjust for that factor.

 

[wco81]

Is anybody really surprised by the for sales of the Vita?

The problem isn't marketing, the problem is the facts on the ground have changed.

Nobody is ever paying $40 or $50 for mobile games again, period. In fact, there may not be too many people willing to pay $60 for console games either

 

[Nesh]

Is anybody really surprised by the for sales of the Vita?

The problem isn't marketing, the problem is the facts on the ground have changed.

Nobody is ever paying $40 or $50 for mobile games again, period. In fact, there may not be too many people willing to pay $60 for console games either

How much do 3Ds games cost?

 

[wco81]

I don't know, are they selling as well as DS games used to?

Or as well as mobile games are selling?

A lot of people who used to buy handheld games are realizing that they can get enough entertainment from cheap or 99 cent games.