Sony "Looking Into" Vita Pricing and Marketing

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

Sony "Looking Into" Vita Pricing and Marketing

On an earnings call to discuss Sony's disappointing third quarter, its CFO acknowledged its need to better promote the Vita.

The PlayStation Vita has been on the market almost a year now, and it's safe to say the handheld is off to a slow start. Sony "slow penetration" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120447-Sony-Lowers-Expectations-for-2012-Vita-PSP-Sales] as the reason its newest handheld wasn't selling as quickly as expected. One of Sony's top execs has another reason: the company needs to do a better job promoting its products.

On Sony's Q3 2012 earnings call, CFO and Executive Vice President Masaru Kato stated the obvious: "In terms of profitability, we have to do a better job in promoting the PlayStation Vita mobile product." He elaborated by discussing the need for more games, and said Sony was focusing on "not just first party, but also asking third parties to put out more attractive software." While Kato wouldn't extensively discuss the idea of a Vita price cut, he did briefly mention the elephant in the room by saying Sony was "looking into" the marketing and pricing of the Vita in order to "improve our profitability in the mobile handheld gaming business."

Sony now expects to move a total of seven million handheld units before the end of the fiscal year in April, though the company didn't clarify how close to that target it is. I'm sure Vita owners would agree with Kato's assertion that the handheld needs more software, and those on the fence would probably like to hear a little more about what Sony is "looking into" as far as the Vita's pricing is concerned.

Source: GamesRadar [http://seekingalpha.com/article/1163971-sony-management-discusses-q3-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single]

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[Akisa]

"Slow penetration" is not a quick sell for most guys, but women on the other hand...

Nah needs fasts and long lasting.

 

[Jameseh]

LocoRoco 3
inFamous: Generic Subtitle
Gran Turismo Portable
Killzone Liberation 2

Sony needs to make some games itself before expecting other developers to risk their money on it.

Hell, when I bought my 3DS there were already a good six games out for it that were must buy. Sony just needs to have more games release on it.

Guessing you didn't buy it at launch, that was depressing.

 

[ckam]

I have a friend who bought a used-Vita for $75, so I'm thinking about looking for that around that price in my local store.

 

[Lillowh]

On an earnings call to discuss Sony's disappointing third quarter, its CFO acknowledged its need to better promote the Vita.

No, really? You mean you didn't learn that poor or no advertising for your products is a bad idea from the PS3...and the PSP.........and the PSPGO? Was your plan that the Kevin Butler commercials you ran for a while would hold you over for all advertising for the next 5 years or something?

 

[Denamic]

Vita = 2590 SEK / 402 USD / 300 EUR
PS3 Slim = 1790 SEK / 277 USD / 207 EUR
Portability isn't worth that much.

 

[J Tyran]

How to fix the PS Vita,

1- Sort the price and size of the memory cards out. Sony have failed to understand this is hurting them in several ways, to start with it makes people wary of buying the system in the first place. Secondly it prevents people from buying content from the PS store, the cards capacity is to small and they are to expensive for people to want to buy many games because they buy small cards and don't want to have to keep backing them up and going through the awful process of deleting the specific content you want in order to make space for downloads. Finally the small card size kills the Vitas second function as a media player, sure movies on the go look awesome in HD on the 5" OLED screen but people wont be able to store many movies on the tiny overpriced cards. Nor will they be buying many from the PS store, most people would simply buy something else thats more flexiable reducing the amount of people that are buying the system in the first place.

2- More games. More attention grabbing games for marketing, big releases and exclusives will help but the fugging games have to be good. Anyone that bought a Vita to have a mobile HD version of Killzone or Call of Duty probably wept in their cornflakes, both of those games where really beyond bad. Uncharted and the Need for Speed titles where adequte, certainly fun but not outstanding, same goes for Assassins Creed: Liberation. That had a great story with a protaganist with huge potential but it fell short, free running across the roof tops hunting for targets is as fun as it is on the console releases though. More games in general, now one thing to mention here is that the Vita is superb at playing PS1 and PS2 classics and the prices from the PS store are pretty good (as low as £2 in some cases). This is where the memory card issue comes back to bite them in the ass however.

3- Once they have done that market the hell out of the PS+ service, TV adds everything. Having a subscription service like that is awesome, it covers both the PS Vita and the PS3, its cheaper than XBL Gold, you get a selection of games to download and play for free (as long as your subs going) and you get discounts on games and DLC you do buy. Theoretically you can buy a PS Vita or a PS3 (or both I did) and never have to buy a game and just play the instant game collection. This service is superb and Sony need to pump it harder, they are to owners with focused marketing but it needs to get out there as a reason to buy the hardware in the first place because of the huge benefits you get over anything else.

 

[Korten12]

LocoRoco 3
inFamous: Generic Subtitle
Gran Turismo Portable
Killzone Liberation 2

Sony needs to make some games itself before expecting other developers to risk their money on it.

Hell, when I bought my 3DS there were already a good six games out for it that were must buy. Sony just needs to have more games release on it.

Guessing you didn't buy it at launch, that was depressing.

Well they already announced Killzone Mercenary which looks good.

 

[Sylveria]

Slash the cost of the memory cards by about 75%, start wrangling up some decent third party support.

The vita itself isn't priced too badly all things considered, but the cards add another 10-33% cost increase.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Not many people are willing to spend $250 on the Vita, $30 for an 8 GB Vita Memory Card, and another $40 for a game. That's $320 before tax. Screw that. May as well buy a PS3 for $250 bundled with a game and spend another $70 to get a good collection of great games. Or get a Wii and all the good titles for that in even less than $250. Or a 360 with LIVE and some great games for about $250.

The Vita's price is the worst thing about it right now. The software isn't an a major issue due to the PSP/PSOne Classics.

 

[Tanis]

Three things to make me buy a PSV:
1) Cheaper memory cards.
-Holy CRAP those damn things are expensive!

2)MOAR ATLUS GAMES
-Hell, even some 3DS games on the PSV would be nice.

3) A reasonable price drop.
-Maybe 25-50USD

 

[J Tyran]

Not many people are willing to spend $250 on the Vita, $30 for an 8 GB Vita Memory Card, and another $40 for a game. That's $320 before tax. Screw that. May as well buy a PS3 for $250 bundled with a game and spend another $70 to get a good collection of great games. Or get a Wii and all the good titles for that in even less than $250. Or a 360 with LIVE and some great games for about $250.

The Vita's price is the worst thing about it right now. The software isn't an a major issue due to the PSP/PSOne Classics.

There is no denying that the Vita does cost a large chunk of money, but the fact is the hardware is pretty good value. You can pick up a PS3 cheaper but its oranges and apples, the Vita and PS3 are two different things. Chances are if you want a Vita it is because you want a mobile device and the Vita is firmly a mobile device and should be judged as so, even on its pricing.

Not many mobile devices pack the power (Quad core CPU & quad core GPU) with a large 5" OLED screen at a £200 price point. As mobile devices go its great value, its the memory cards that fall short hardware wise. Go up and look at the cost of a high end phone with a high end 5" screen with a single quad core processor, that should give you some perspective on the price of the Vita.

Sony's challenge isn't dropping the price point, its convincing people that you are getting a product with loads of services and features and a wealth of content. They need to help give the consumer reasons for buying the hardware.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

here is an idea sony.. make a freaking umd attachment for the vita and I will buy this system in heartbeat. Who else thinks this is great idea??

 

[snekadid]

All it would take is either a small price drop on the system and/or a MASSIVE drop on the cards for me to buy a VITA. I was actually looking into buying a VITA a few days ago, and then I saw the price on the cards and I just closed the page. Penalizing customers for buying your system is a terrible business practice.

 

[heroicbob]

i think by region locked they are referring to when you log in to a playstation network account your card becomes locked to that account and you have to format it to use a different account,

and man does the psvita like to randomly format your card i keep a backup of all my games and saves on my pc permanently
it happens so often