Alright, Sony should get to work on that PS One emulator, and watch the sales take off. Oh, and they should write, "PLAYS PS ONE GAMES!!!!" right on the front of the box.
Sony Q1 loss $312M, game division loses $45M
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Alright, Sony should get to work on that PS One emulator, and watch the sales take off. Oh, and they should write, "PLAYS PS ONE GAMES!!!!" right on the front of the box.
I honestly think that is the key to their success. They have to show that there is more to it than just a more powerful PSP, and Sony has more build content and services around it to make that happen.
I don't think this is the end of the PS Vita, but Sony has to make some good decisions around the device in the near future to avoid it.
Good decisions and do things QUICK is the key to success. They always do things super slow. How can PSOne emu take this long especially when it was rumor that it only using the PSOne emu withing the PSP emu.
An emulator running an emulator? That sounds like an absolutely horrible idea. They have bigger things to worry about than getting a PS One emulator running on the Vita.
Redesign with 4 or 8 GB of built-in storage for $99.
Drastic but it's got to be something that people see at the store and realize they can get out with just a $99 purchase.
Game prices will have to be driven down. Don't cut prices nominally but until sales pick up, offer incentives to publishers with lower license fees so they let retailers discount to $25 or $30. If sales pick up, remove those incentives.
Still unlikely to work. PSP "succeeded" because there was no other portable device out there with a nice screen, able to play gorgeous graphics and video. Now you get it with every phone.
Drastic but it's got to be something that people see at the store and realize they can get out with just a $99 purchase.
Game prices will have to be driven down. Don't cut prices nominally but until sales pick up, offer incentives to publishers with lower license fees so they let retailers discount to $25 or $30. If sales pick up, remove those incentives.
Still unlikely to work. PSP "succeeded" because there was no other portable device out there with a nice screen, able to play gorgeous graphics and video. Now you get it with every phone.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
You do realize that the goal is to make profit, not lose more money? 
I'm all for your idea but at 99$ they'd probably be losing quite a bit of money on the hardware and with $25 dollar software there isn't a whole lot of margin for Sony and, maybe worse, devs. If devs don't make (enough) money, why bother? If there are not games, why bother buying a vita?
I'm all for your idea but at 99$ they'd probably be losing quite a bit of money on the hardware and with $25 dollar software there isn't a whole lot of margin for Sony and, maybe worse, devs. If devs don't make (enough) money, why bother? If there are not games, why bother buying a vita?
Replace Vita with a Vita phone somehow. Maybe a headset for phonecalls? Maybe a phone that plugs into a Vita cradle to add the extra controls? But without the phone, I can't see this gaining general appeal. I do not believe the market for core games on the go is that large.
They either cut their losses now or if they're going to continue with a portable they have to change course.
If they can't produce something that is priced so attractively that people would make impulse purchase -- for instance it looks like Nexus 7 is getting a lot of impulse buys -- then they might as well stop now.
Most of their prospective customers have smart phones and many are getting tablets. Sony has to make it enticing to these people, many of whom are not inclined to buy another device.
If they can't produce something that is priced so attractively that people would make impulse purchase -- for instance it looks like Nexus 7 is getting a lot of impulse buys -- then they might as well stop now.
Most of their prospective customers have smart phones and many are getting tablets. Sony has to make it enticing to these people, many of whom are not inclined to buy another device.
Ooh, how casual those games are ... ahem.
When in the PSP's lifecycle did those games come out again?
If you look at the whole line-up (there are at least 51 games out even in the E.U.), I dare you to say that the majority of that is 'casual', or that that reflects Android or iOS. But you still see casual games rate very highly in the PSN Store. So if there is any lesson at all for Sony there, it is that there is also a demand for more casual games on their system.
At least until PSM is released.
But I would be - in fact am - slightly annoyed that this device I am carrying with me anyway because I want to play AAA games with good graphics etc. (and more importantly almost, controls) would be so much better at many of these casual games I also sometimes play (even just because it has sticks and a nice, big screen), but they're not on there. So personally I'm hoping PSM becomes a big hit in that space.
This is true, but Sony had trouble selling software last gen due to piracy, and the PSP was one of the best portable media devices. Now this is an area where it does get a lot of competition from Android and iOS, so it still matters. In addition, they also lost their console space domination, which helped them so much with the PSP, which they then partly blew.
Same response - it's early days.
True, not enough attention at E3.
I'm not going to have this discussion again, but security was their primary concern for the storage media, as piracy was their biggest problem for the PSP.
I think it is far to soon for everyone to cry foul at the Vita, for two reasons:
1. The game launched not six months ago in the two biggest markets. It has quite a stellar launch line-up all things considering.
2. The Vita needs to benefit from aging and getting cheaper.
I do agree that the memory card thing is an issue, but only in terms of price. It needs to get cheaper and faster, and Sony has already expressed they are aware that this is a big bottleneck. As soon as they can get the Vita below $200 including a 16GB card, then things will start getting interesting, sales-wise. Then only software releases will become a bottleneck.
Certainly though, for Japan they need to do more, software wise. In that respect it made little sense for them to launch there first.
I'm quietly convinced that the Vita was relatively cheaply designed anyway, with low investment costs, and is going to do quite well, especially once PSM launches and we're into the console's second year. I would almost go so far as to say Vita is the least of Sony's worries, with Playstation doing relatively well overall, their primary concern is keeping a constant flow of support of the Vita (if CoD Vita is good enough, that'll help a lot) and not have the much more difficult launch of the PS4 detract too much attention from it. Because once the PS4 comes out, things will get much more complicated for them - they will have titles targetting the Vita and PS3 (which will possibly also run on PS4, but then not benefit graphically all that much) vs titles targetting the PS4 exclusively, have different PSN tiers possibly (just dropping may not be an option), etc.
Looks like PS3 outsold Wii+360 combined or PS2 outsold Wii this quarter Going for the earlier..
Making any money on gaming hardware will be extremely difficult going forward. You cant sell garbage HW with huge margins anymore. Nintendo is losing $250M this quarter because of HW and this is batshit insane because they only make HW to sell their own software mainly.
So either your mobilegaming HW will be too shitty vs smartphones/tablets for anyone to care or too expensive to sell any real numbers.
I´m not sure if Sony should have made Vita or not but it´s not a huge disaster if they pull the plug now. Its never going to make or lose too much. I doubt they will in the next few years though because they can cost cut it
Going for the earlier..Making any money on gaming hardware will be extremely difficult going forward. You cant sell garbage HW with huge margins anymore. Nintendo is losing $250M this quarter because of HW and this is batshit insane because they only make HW to sell their own software mainly.
So either your mobilegaming HW will be too shitty vs smartphones/tablets for anyone to care or too expensive to sell any real numbers.
I´m not sure if Sony should have made Vita or not but it´s not a huge disaster if they pull the plug now. Its never going to make or lose too much. I doubt they will in the next few years though because they can cost cut it
Why in god's name would pull the device after 6 months? Jeez the logic in here is terrible. They are selling the devices pretty much at cost the R&D is already a sunk cost. They continue you to sell the device with out insane moves like cutting the price well below cost and at worst they do is tread water which is exactly where they would be if they pull out.
Unsold inventory is a cost against the bottom line. Not to mention COGS and shipping out to the channel.
First Xbox had sunk R&D costs by the time MS pulled the plug. Why not continue to make and tread water?
Same thing with Wii. Why is Nintendo the first to jump to the next gen?
Yes it's early with Vita but does anyone honestly see the situation changing drastically for the better without a major change in pricing?
First Xbox had sunk R&D costs by the time MS pulled the plug. Why not continue to make and tread water?
Same thing with Wii. Why is Nintendo the first to jump to the next gen?
Yes it's early with Vita but does anyone honestly see the situation changing drastically for the better without a major change in pricing?
To me its a smiple mistake of timing.
They need to off set their development cycles. Launch Consoles - 3 years in launch handheld - 3 years in launch new console - 3 years in launch new hand held.
Right now they just launched the vita and they are prepearing to launch the ps4 within a year of each other , they simply don't have the development might behind them for the games.
They need to off set their development cycles. Launch Consoles - 3 years in launch handheld - 3 years in launch new console - 3 years in launch new hand held.
Right now they just launched the vita and they are prepearing to launch the ps4 within a year of each other , they simply don't have the development might behind them for the games.
upnorthsox
Veteran
They don't need a phone, just text messaging. That'll satisfy 97% of their prospective customers.
I don't know about that. Plus, how do you text without a phone number? Unless it's just Vita to Vita texting, in which case it would not really satisfy the average phone users texting demands.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
But most people these days are using whatsapp or line (well europa and asia anyway, dont know about the US) so you need a phone number.
You do realize that the goal is to make profit, not lose more money?
I'm all for your idea but at 99$ they'd probably be losing quite a bit of money on the hardware and with $25 dollar software there isn't a whole lot of margin for Sony and, maybe worse, devs. If devs don't make (enough) money, why bother? If there are not games, why bother buying a vita?
I think saying the Vita should be a phone is ridiculous. Being a phone wouldn't guarantee it's success and it wouldn't necessarily survive off just that plan alone.
Sony should go for the iPod Touch audience, those who can't afford (or don't want) the monthly smartphone payments, but still want a smartphone-like experience. Sony just needs the apps/services/content to make it happen, a $50 or more price cut should help on the introductory side of things.
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