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Author Topic: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?  (Read 1289 times)

Trapezohedron

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Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« on: January 04, 2016, 02:09:02 am »

Yeah, I'm rather curious about the PS Vita's life cycle, and its seeming lack of non-Japanese games; which exact factors can cause a catastrophic venture such as this.
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DragonDePlatino

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2016, 02:18:44 am »

Having never owned a PS Vita, I can't speak from experience. But Extra Credits made a pretty good video on the subject.

TL;DW:
Due to high specs it was very risky and expensive to develop for. This led to a software drought, fewer sales, then a feedback loop as fewer developers flocked to the system.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2016, 02:24:58 am by DragonDePlatino »
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Emma

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2016, 02:33:51 am »

Having never owned a PS Vita, I can't speak from experience. But Extra Credits made a pretty good video on the subject.

TL;DW:
Due to high specs it was very risky and expensive to develop for. This led to a software drought, fewer sales, then a feedback loop as fewer developers flocked to the system.

That is a really good video that you should definitely watch if you're asking this question. It makes sense because the few friends I have that own a Vita actually really like them, although one of them is a JRPG junkie and only plays those types of games so I'd take that statement with a grain of salt.
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Trapezohedron

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2016, 02:53:17 am »

I actually have prior to making this topic.
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Shadowlord

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2016, 11:14:13 am »

I've watched their videos, but some of them were obvious bullshit, and that made me question whether their other videos might be bullshit too and whether I should be disregarding everything they've said.

For example:
Sesame Credit, where they take a tabloid-like approach and fearmonger about something with no basis in fact. To see what it's actually like, have a look at the Wikipedia talk page for it.

Or when they promoted Bartle's taxonomy, which is just an arbitrary categorization of what people like in games into four categories, with the claim that this arbitrary categorization is some kind of amazing discovery that can and should be used to gain insight into players and what they want.
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askovdk

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2016, 11:14:53 am »

I have a vita and am really happy with it.

On the market side a problem could be that the options available on it are somewhat unique (thouch sensitive on the screen AND the back, cameras front and back, motion sensors, ...) so titles utilizing all the options would have to be vita exclusive.
Little Big Plantet Vita is one that uses it all, and the creation kit is wonderful for making game experiments that uses these modern interactions.

What I have seen and enjoy with it is that alot of non-exclusive 'indie' or non-AAA games are also ported to it. (Binding of Isac, Counterspy, Terraria, Helldivers, Don't starve, ...).
So it saddens me that the vita seems to be dying in the stores, as there are great games released on it each month (even if these games doesn't utilize everything the vita has to offer).

A problem for the vita might also be smart phones. If you already carry a device that can be used for games, then it may seem excessive to also have a (superior for gaming) vita.
I wonder how the 3DSL is doing. Has smart phones become so common (even among kids) that portable devices are history?
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Shadowlord

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2016, 11:16:25 am »

I know a lot of people put games on their phone, but the battery on mine dies so fast just from web browsing that I run it in power-saving mode all the time and have never bothered to even install a single game on it.
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MrRoboto75

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2016, 11:37:49 am »

I'd rather not use my smartphone for games, as I prefer physical buttons over using a touchscreen.

Having the controls on the screen like most phone games often feels clumsy, and having my thumbs constantly covering parts of the screen just irritates me.
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Bouchart

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2016, 11:42:10 am »

Nintendo has always dominated handhelds from the beginning, thanks in large part to their strong franchises.  What major franchises were on the PSP and Vita?  Lots of quality indie titles, to be sure, but not the big names that move sales.

Sega never made much progress with the Game Gear either for the same reason.  They had a few Sonic games on it, but besides that, no household names.
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ZebioLizard2

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2016, 11:44:25 am »

Not just that for the Game Gear (Still beat out the Lynx and Turbopress though), it also had an awful battery life
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BigD145

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Re: Why exactly has the Vita failed to "click" with the market?
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2016, 12:02:59 pm »

Last I checked the expensive proprietary memory stick has not been replaced by microsd. There are very few games for the platform.
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