Hirai: Vita Sales "On the Low End" of Expectations

[Andy Chalk]

Hirai: Vita Sales "On the Low End" of Expectations

Sony CEO Kaz Hirai acknowledges that the latest portable PlayStation hasn't exactly set the world on fire.

The PlayStation Vita may be a fine piece of hardware but it certainly hasn't thrown Sony's mobile gaming fortunes into a fast, squealing Bat-turn. Sales in Japan tailed off very quickly after the system was released, as they did following its launch in the rest of the world, and in some weeks it's actually been outsold by its much older predecessor, the PSP.

That in itself isn't necessarily the end of the world - the PS2 outsold the PlayStation 3 for ages - but the early days of the Vita aren't knocking anyone's socks off. "I would say it's on the low end of what we expected," Hirai told the Wall Street Journal. He added that it can take five or even ten years to determine the success of a gaming console, however, and pointed out that similar concerns were expressed about the PlayStation 3, which was also a slow starter. "Long term is what is important," he said.

One of the biggest challenges facing the Vita is the broadening of the mobile game space thanks to the advent of iPhones and Android devices, which bring impressive power and a huge range of low-cost games to people who would never even think about purchasing a dedicated mobile gaming system, and now Nvidia wants to crowd the field even further with its "Shield [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121364-Nvidia-Announces-Project-SHIELD-Portable-Gaming-Device]" portable gaming device. But Kirai said that the gaming business has always been very competitive and plenty of names have come and gone, warning, "It's not an easy business to get into."

Source: Wall Street Journal [http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/01/08/the-world-according-to-sony-ceo-kazuo-hirai/]


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[Korten12]

I will say it needs a price cut or something. I love my Vita but it needs more software, well more original software. Although I do have a decent amount of games for it.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Well of course not... I mean, PSP hadn't run its course before this Vita thing came in. I'm sure it's nice, but I'd just plunked down for a PSP before it came out and I feel a little burned about it, I'm sure I'm not the only one. Kinda turned me off the whole idea of buying dedicated hand held devices.

The puzzling thing is that I feel they should have known this. I mean, that's the console people's hang up - not wanting to have to replace systems and parts and things so often to keep using the hardware they buy. Handheld consoles aren't all that different. People get new phones frequently, they can stay on the cutting edge - are encouraged to. Handheld dedicated gaming devices should have long term life and use to be viable and pulling out a new model when the old one is still kicking isn't really following that model console buyers expect to see.

 

[Eri]

I will say it needs a price cut or something. I love my Vita but it needs more software, well more original software. Although I do have a decent amount of games for it.

Price cut? Nah, the price is fine. You know what needs an obscene price cut? The proprietary memory sticks. There's no excuse for them costing what they do.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Hey, guys, I know how to boost those sales. Release a game..... One that's name is two words... The first word begins with an M and ends in an R, the second word begins with an H and also ends with an R.

 

[Korten12]

I will say it needs a price cut or something. I love my Vita but it needs more software, well more original software. Although I do have a decent amount of games for it.

Price cut? Nah, the price is fine. You know what needs an obscene price cut? The proprietary memory sticks. There's no excuse for them costing what they do.

True, they need a price cut. Nothing at the moment can justify those obscene prices. I would love a 32gig memory card but it's just way goddamn much.

Although people were saying at first: "Oh the Vita price is fine," but as soon as the 3DS got the cut everyone said the Vita was too much. Maybe a $50 price cut? Bring the 3G version to 200 and the Wi-Fi one to 150. I think that will move some hardware.

 

[Something Amyss]

That sounds like a nice way of saying "even WE didn't expect it to sell well."

 

[Chaos James]

I just don't see a point in buying one when my PSP does everything I want already, which is play a bunch of good games, mainly ranging in the PSN market of PS1 titles (just got Tomba! but we still need Digimon World). Also, the Vita lacks Birth by Sleep and Crisis Core, and I can't use my same memory sticks.

 

[Sylveria]

I will say it needs a price cut or something. I love my Vita but it needs more software, well more original software. Although I do have a decent amount of games for it.

Price cut? Nah, the price is fine. You know what needs an obscene price cut? The proprietary memory sticks. There's no excuse for them costing what they do.

True, they need a price cut. Nothing at the moment can justify those obscene prices. I would love a 32gig memory card but it's just way goddamn much.

Although people were saying at first: "Oh the Vita price is fine," but as soon as the 3DS got the cut everyone said the Vita was too much. Maybe a $50 price cut? Bring the 3G version to 200 and the Wi-Fi one to 150. I think that will move some hardware.

Currently you can get one of the wifi "bundles" with a game, a 4gig stick, and a PSN plus membership (which nets you a load of free stuff) for about $250 if I recall. But, with that said, the game that comes with the device is either AC3, which if you care about AC you already have it on a console, or BLOPS2, which has the same issue. And that 4gig stick isn't going to get you very far.

That price isn't terrible now, its not good, but it's not terrible. If they tossed an 16gig stick in that bundle instead of a useless 4 or started slashing the prices of the memory sticks, they'd probably see the device moving.

But, as many people said, there's only a handful of games for it. I have 5 personally and really the only future release I could give any shits about is Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 +.. and that's only on the caveat that they put the blood back in which I don't know if they did or not.

 

[CyberAkuma]

There's is a reason why the VITA was voted as one of the last years biggest hardware flops by The Wall Street [http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-worst-product-flops-of-2012-160851675.html].

SONYs arrogance to use their propiertary format resulting in severely overpriced memorycards driving up the VITAs price even further is just mind blowing.

SONY was real happy about the $299 launch price but forgot to add the retarded memory cost to that driving it further up in around $400 total which is outright bonkers.

Terrible games for it, most companies being utter ludicrously idiotic letting mobile gaming companies such as Nihilistic Software porting AAA-titles and making them utter shit. In that sense the games on the VITA are *BARELY* better than mobile games on the market - they just happen to cost $40 instead of $0.99

They are few games worth purchasing for it and SONYs is too idiotic, blind and arrogant to do something about it.

Make a $100 pricedrop and fucking release OLD PS1 and PS2 games and the thing will sell like cupcakes in fatcamp. The day that happens though is when hell freezes over.

 

[Korten12]

Currently you can get one of the wifi "bundles" with a game, a 4gig stick, and a PSN plus membership (which nets you a load of free stuff) for about $250 if I recall. But, with that said, the game that comes with the device is either AC3, which if you care about AC you already have it on a console, or BLOPS2, which has the same issue. And that 4gig stick isn't going to get you very far.

That price isn't terrible now, its not good, but it's not terrible. If they tossed an 16gig stick in that bundle instead of a useless 4 or started slashing the prices of the memory sticks, they'd probably see the device moving.

But, as many people said, there's only a handful of games for it. I have 5 personally and really the only future release I could give any shits about is Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 +.. and that's only on the caveat that they put the blood back in which I don't know if they did or not.

Well to be fair, AC3: Liberation is it's own game. Similar to AC3 but it has some neat systems in there and is nice for the portable system with bite sized missions on the go.

Also how was Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1+ on the Vita? I was thinking of getting it since I never got NGS on the PS3.

 

[RaikuFA]

Hey, guys, I know how to boost those sales. Release a game..... One that's name is two words... The first word begins with an M and ends in an R, the second word begins with an H and also ends with an R.

You have Ragnarok Odyssey on there. Plus, you have toask Capcom and knowing their recent attitude towards non-fighters or zombies I'd say its a no.

 

[Beautiful End]

The Vita looks nice and it's cool to have a mini PS3 but, well, I don't know. I thought it was me getting older and cynical about gaming nowadays because most consoles don't excite me as much as they used to but...I guess its not just me.
Anyway, I was more interested in getting a PSP back when it came out.
Or maybe the Vita just needs more games?

 

[disgruntledgamer]

Leave it to Sony to state the obvious. The announced that sales are what they expected because everyone already knows.

 

[JasonKaotic]

Companies do seem to be a bit quick to point the finger at mobile gaming when stuff like this happens. Every time. It doesn't have anywhere near as big a foothold in the gaming market as people seem to think it does.
Casual gaming, yeah. But mobiles aren't exactly pulling people away from consoles/PCs.
If your console has good exclusives and is simple to use, it will sell well. If it doesn't, it won't. That's pretty much all there is to it. If the Vita gets more developer support it'll bump up the sales, otherwise the Vita will go nowhere.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

They really need more games, even ports would count. I mean, look at Persona 4: Golden, system seller right there, now we just need more of that.

 

[VanQ]

I was baffled about the whole PSP outselling the Vita thing until last month when I went to Japan and had a chance to check out their game stores and... well... lets just say if you think PS2 was the king of games librarys you'd be dead wrong. The developer support for the PSP there is insane, there was not a single store where the PSP new release section wasn't several times larger than every other console. Combined.

Where there would be a few slots per isle for new releases on PS3 or DS, PSP had 2 aisles of new release games alone. There was a store in Akihabara devoted entirely to PSP games. Japan loves the PSP, I'm sure they'll move up to the Vita eventually but I don't see why most would bother while the PSP still has that much support.

And they aren't all shovelware crap like the DS and 3DS rely on to build a library. Admittedly a lot of it is VNs and Eroge but they're all quality titles and pretty inexpensive too.

So yeah, currently the only thing holding back Vita sales right now is the massive developer support for PSP. The Vita section there is growing rapidly with plenty of quality titles and the preorder section for the Vita was bigger than even the PS3 one, however, most of those titles either will never make it here or will only make it long after they're relevant.

It's sad to say but unless you plan to learn Japanese you can never actually experience what the PSP and Vita library can actually offer. The best you can hope for is a trickle of what titles that localization companies think have a high chance to sell enough to recuperate the cost of translation and a bit more.

Wow, that turned out to be a wall of text and I didn't even say everything I wanted to, guess I should stop here for now.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I will say it needs a price cut or something. I love my Vita but it needs more software, well more original software. Although I do have a decent amount of games for it.

I would go a little bit further and say that the Vita would need not only a price cut but it would need to bundle itself with a good memory stick. I think the 3DS is sold with a 2 or 4GB SD card as a standard thing so if the Vita could be coupled with a 4 or 8 that would be something. Otherwise I really, REALLY want to own and want to want a Vita. I love how it's region free so once I do get one I look forward to importing the Hatsune games on it and whatever else Japan has that we in the US don't/won't have. At the moment though it just doesn't seem worth it to get a PSV when most of the games on it are games that I could have more fun with on the PS3.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

Just, first:

Currently you can get one of the wifi "bundles" with a game, a 4gig stick, and a PSN plus membership (which nets you a load of free stuff) for about $250 if I recall. But, with that said, the game that comes with the device is either AC3, which if you care about AC you already have it on a console, or BLOPS2, which has the same issue. And that 4gig stick isn't going to get you very far.

The Assassin's Creed game is Assassin's Creed: Liberations, which is its own beast. Depending on who you talk to, though, it may or may not be worth your time and money. Some reviews are kinder to it than others. And the Call of Duty game is actually Black Ops: Declassified, an absolutely horrendous title designed by the guys who threw together the mediocre, but infinitely superior (to Declassified) Resistance: Burning Skies. It is absolutely not a good game, and why Sony felt the need to market that bundle before the reviews came in is nothing short of ridiculous. They're hoping to cash in on the Call of Duty brand with a title so poorly made that anyone who picks up that bundle is likely going to sell it back immediately afterward.

Though you're right about the 4 GB memory stick: that's what mine came with, and I'm constantly deleting and re-downloading stuff as I go. Unfortunately, I don't really have the money to drop on a larger card, so I'm stuck with it. It isn't so bad, I guess.

OT (finally):

Price-cuts, reducing the price of the proprietary memory sticks, continuously working on the convenience of the software (your constant updates do nothing but piss me off, Sony. I'm not hacker, but if I was going to hack your Vita, I can almost guarantee I could find a way around that), all that would help. But even before all that, what Sony needs is software that justifies the purchase.

Right now, the system has absolutely no 'system selling' titles. There are titles that you absolutely must try if you own the system, like Persona 4: The Golden or Gravity Rush (which, incidentally, is now free on PS+, I'm pretty sure), but those are only good if you already have the system. They aren't enough to justify the purchase in and of themselves. You have to already want the system, first. Fix that, Sony, then fix your pricing, and you might have some luck.

I really do love my Vita, though, and I want the handheld to do well. But, my God, it's like the lads there just don't learn. You had some similar problems with the PS3 when it launched. It's 'slow start' was because it took you guys a while to open your eyes. So, please, hurry up and open 'em. You'll be all the better for it, I swear.