Sony struggling to get third-parties on PS Vita

[garyopa]

Shuhei Yoshida admits it.



According to Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida, the PS Vita is 'having a more difficult time' securing publisher support.

During an interview with OPM, SCE Worldwide Studio president Shuhei Yoshida has admitted for the first time that they have difficulties in recruiting third-party publishers to create games for the PlayStation Vita.

“But that’s our job”, he said.

“We’re having a more difficult time than we had anticipated in terms of getting support from third-party publishers, but that’s our job...”

“We will continue to talk to development communities and publishing partners and tell them why Vita can provide a great experience for the IPs they have and I hope the Assassin’s Creed game will prove that.”

He added that Sony is “very happy with the hardware and platform” and described the PS Vita as “an amazing gaming experience”, but also noted that the market is always changing.

“Because of the growth of the social/mobile sector, lots of opportunities are being presented to publishers to choose from, and because the social/mobile side is the growing sector in terms of the business now, they are very quickly shifting their development resources to be part of that growing market...”

“It’s very easy to develop content on PS Vita. More content and more games is the number one priority that we have to realize Vita’s potential,” he said.

Yes, Sony chose to hide Vita sales figures in its last financial report, and it also revised its handheld sales forecast from 16 million to 12 million, which obviously suggests it hasn't performed as well as they expected.

NEWS SOURCE #1: Sony struggling to convince some publishers to back Vita (via) CVG
NEWS SOURCE #2: Sony admits difficulties getting third-parties on PS Vita (via) Gematsu

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!

[JonathanD]

Downgraded 25% (16-12) and in my opinion that 12 million number seems pretty optimistic too at this point in time.

I would say all the Vita needs is some games to start selling but there is that whole "convince publishers" thing going on.

Hate to say it, but this is where the downward spiral starts of No games = no system sales = no games.

Not sure what the way out of that process is short of investing heavily in the software end of things but I really didn't see Sony doing that when they where on top, instead they invested in buying a movie studio.

Not sure that winning the format war was a winning strategy at this point in time, I don't think the studio has made much of a profit in the last 5 years and BD sales/royalties don't seem to be enough to get Sony out of the red?

[Ichijoe]

It's simple, start translating all the Japanese ONLY Games into English, and release those, then I might actually bother to pick One up. If your gonna wait for the likes of EA to come along and help you.

1). You'll wait for an eternity for this to happen.

2). I'll have basically ZERO interest, 'cause western Ego-Shooters and ~most~ Sports Games SUCK A BAG OF D!CKS!!

3). As an owner of the Vitas' elder brother the PSP, and having been burned on that Platform to a large tune. I really have no interest in dropping more Cash on another useless device. With most of the quote "useful features" now being completed on my Cell Phone. (e.g. Music, Movies & Internet), all in better fashion then the PSP ever could.


S0NY need to ask themselves this simple question, sans piracy, (Like the majority of PSP's in Japan aren't cracked as well!); Why is it that the PSP seems to continue to have a pretty decent life over there, while the rest of the World had already moved on back in 2008? (And yeah I too think this is very generous).

Perhaps, just perhaps, S0NY could convince those Devs to either sell some licenses off to a 3'ed Company to do the translations, or they could just do so themselves.

But, why are they NOT DOING THIS!?!





P.s. Plus there's the little fact that Games like Ridge Racer on the Vita are little more then DRM App-Store Traps designed to take even more of Ones Cash away; And by that proxy let us not go on about S0NYs' Internet Security strategy. (Or, lack there of...)

[Diztructor]

neither linked site can link back to an official site, but i find this article odd considering we can see that the major devs are on board, we have

EA making fifa, need for speed etc
Ubisoft making assassins creed, rayman etc
activision with call of duty etc
capcom with marvel vs capcom and rumored resident evil title, lost planet etc
konami with silent hill (even tho its a turd game) metal gear, and a new metal gear etc
2k games with bio shock
sega with phantasy star online, jet set radio
square with final fantasy

so how can this be true when we have EA, UBISOFT, ACTIVISION, CAPCOM, KONAMI, KOJIMA, 2K, SEGA, SQUARE, and not even mentioning 3rd party studios.

all i can say is the vita has so far offered more games that i want to play and has more games coming out soon than the 3DS has (and its been out over a year).

Im getting rid of my 3DS today simply because it lacks the games i want, the games i like are sh1t to play using buttons to controll the camera, and i wont pay extra for a brick addon when nintendo should have thought about this when designing the 3DS, i wont be buying the XL because it has the same issue plus been ***** to pay extra for a charger.

so id rather stick with the vita, i have more games on this after a few months than ive ever had on the 3DS for over a year, plus the vita has dual analogues which makes games easier to control (plus better graphics and better quality screen)

[Battlefield]

A console can have 50 devs on board, but can still only get 50 games in its lifetime.

The major studios already tried, and the sales most likely sucked. This is why Sony cant convince them.

The second thing, is that making AAA games on Vita costs near the same as a PS3 game. Who wanna fork out 50 million$ on a game on a overpriced handheld that dont sell?

I know i wouldn't.

[DEDDOA]

If they can't push it as a games only console and sell it at the same price as the 3DS, then there should be no suprises that it's not getting support. Being a realist and an ex-PSP owner (UK launch day buyer as well), I have to say given Sonys track record, I would not touch a portable console of theirs any time soon as I am dountfull I will get a portable gaming experience that is designed for portable gaming, I will get a neutered atempt at home console gaming on a handheld which fails more oftent han it succeeds (given my PSP experience), which given the cost versus a 3DS is even more of a fail. If I was a developer or publisher I too would be sceptical about making aprofit on a Sony handheld until sony get with the program and start marketing and pricing it right.

I've said it many times before, Sony need to pull their head out of their backsides and genuinely compete with nintendo not try to make out they compete in another market like tablets or smart phones just to justify their consoles price (and I suspect as thats a market where whatt ey deliver actually looks better).

[Diztructor]

A console can have 50 devs on board, but can still only get 50 games in its lifetime.

The major studios already tried, and the sales most likely sucked. This is why Sony cant convince them.

The second thing, is that making AAA games on Vita costs near the same as a PS3 game. Who wanna fork out 50 million$ on a game on a overpriced handheld that dont sell?

I know i wouldn't.

ok big flaw here as the few names i mentions have a line up of games comming out soon to the vita.

also i cant see how making a vita game is going to be big budget like console games are, all i can suggest is, sales on the vita are slow, but you and other see this as a fail and you pray so hard and wish the vita to fail.

if you was a game dev im sure youd chose to avoid sony consoles simply to help feed your monkey to make it fail in your world, but what the vita sells over 2 million in japan, thats potentially 2 millions customers that are likely to buy your game thats retailing arround £30.

thing is, theres loads of devs on board making games for the vita, i only names a few of the BIG devs that i know of that are already on board, so how can this article suggest that its hard to get em on board, when you can see for yourself in the next year or so some of the biggest companies have games coming to the vita.

this article is kinda like saying nobody likes chocolate, but we can see people eat it.

im suprised billy aint commented yet, he loves to keep reminding people that sony products arent selling as well as nintendo in... JAPAN which makes me laugh, nintendo have allways dominated the japanese market.

all i can say is, ive now traded my 3ds and 5 games in... yup in over a year thats all the 3ds had that i wanted to play.

the vita, i own 8 games also that thers 3 more i havent got that i want to get, and the games coming out soon that i want.

so i cant get how this linked source that cant link to its source (sounds like someone basically says theyve spoken to them but they aint) if the vita is finding it hard to get devs on board, why is it so far devs have released more games on the vita that i want??

[Ichijoe]

If they can't push it as a games only console and sell it at the same price as the 3DS, then there should be no suprises that it's not getting support. Being a realist and an ex-PSP owner (UK launch day buyer as well), I have to say given Sonys track record, I would not touch a portable console of theirs any time soon as I am dountfull I will get a portable gaming experience that is designed for portable gaming, I will get a neutered atempt at home console gaming on a handheld which fails more oftent han it succeeds (given my PSP experience), which given the cost versus a 3DS is even more of a fail. If I was a developer or publisher I too would be sceptical about making aprofit on a Sony handheld until sony get with the program and start marketing and pricing it right.

I've said it many times before, Sony need to pull their head out of their backsides and genuinely compete with nintendo not try to make out they compete in another market like tablets or smart phones just to justify their consoles price (and I suspect as thats a market where whatt ey deliver actually looks better).

I too am also a proud owner of a German Launch Day PSP, (I even still have that nice Thank You Letter from SCEE somewhere). I couldn't agree with you more! But again why is it that the PSP seems to be doing well at Home, but is largely forgotten here? There is a reason, perhaps S0NY should look here instead and try to market those Games over here for a change. Fat lot of chance that will happen though.

Then if most Games are in fact gonna sell on price at PS3/XBOX360/Wii levels, and then try to then re-sell you 90% of that Game back to you. (I'm looking at you Namco), then I for One will not bother with it!

[billysastard]

neither linked site can link back to an official site, but i find this article odd

the big hint there should be "during an interview with OPM" part, official playstation magazine, not a website although reported by c&vg online and linked to here who happen to be owned by the same publisher.

Because of the growth of the social/mobile sector, lots of opportunities are being presented to publishers to choose from, and because the social/mobile side is the growing sector in terms of the business now, they are very quickly shifting their development resources to be part of that growing market...”

i wonder how nintendo manages to sell so many 3ds units and get every major developer writing for the system in the same marketplace? maybe he should have said the social / mobile / nintendo 3ds side of the market as being the places where developers are moving their focus to?

or, just an idea, why not try to compete in the handheld console market instead of the jack of all trades but not quite i-pod / i-pad market?

[Diztructor]

wonder how nintendo shift so many units, nintendo have allways been #1 handheld in sales, but its also the cheapest, and guess what, my iphone looks better than the 3DS, the new RAPING XL just makes games look even worse on its 90% bigger screen.

thing is, nintendo have released the 3DS and it fails to offer console quality games (unless you enjoy been ***** to buy the addon controller to play them as intended) where as sony offer a handheld that has its own hardware resources to push handheld gaming further.

who says handheld games have to be basic cr@p games, why cant you enjoy a console quality game on the go.

maybe sonys mistake is the price of the vita, but if you want cheap you cant have the hardware, the vita is an impressive handheld, it has great hardware spec, which offers great looking games.

but again how is it the vita finding it hard to get devs on board, when nearly all the major publishers are already on board

also a site owned by the same company as OPM yet OPM doesnt have anything on their site of this interview... odd

[Mr.Do!]

Everyone here brings up good points.

everyone can look at the almost failed launch of 3ds and see why vita is not doing so well right now.

Nintendo took some drastic measures to fix that. Everyone can ***** about the crappy ambassador games, price drop, etc. But it worked. Ontop of that.. behind the scenes, they did a decent job of getting 3rd parties FINALLY on board.

I dont think Vita is dead. PSP took a long time to get rolling. I think develpoment time is longer on the machine, so it takes time for devs to bring out the big guns. I think it just needs time. That is the nature of VITA because its such a powerhouse. Dev time takes just as long as it does for home consoles almost.

I highly doubt it will compete with 3ds. but i dont think it will die. There will probably be some really good games.

[Diztructor]

Everyone here brings up good points.

everyone can look at the almost failed launch of 3ds and see why vita is not doing so well right now.

Nintendo took some drastic measures to fix that. Everyone can ***** about the crappy ambassador games, price drop, etc. But it worked. Ontop of that.. behind the scenes, they did a decent job of getting 3rd parties FINALLY on board.

I dont think Vita is dead. PSP took a long time to get rolling. I think develpoment time is longer on the machine, so it takes time for devs to bring out the big guns. I think it just needs time. That is the nature of VITA because its such a powerhouse. Dev time takes just as long as it does for home consoles almost.

I highly doubt it will compete with 3ds. but i dont think it will die. There will probably be some really good games.

but welcome to this forum when you see people allways stating japan sales figures for nintendo consoles then sit and say that sony products suck, and that sony violates consumer rights, when all they did was act upon a hacker, which all systems frown upon hacks on their consoles.

things is, mainly its the PS3, which jailbreaking has lead to something all consoles again dont want, the excuse that saying it increases console sales is BS, theres a BIG difference in jailbreaking phones, mainly the iPhone, as a owner of a iPhone i hate how it was limited to iTunes to do anything, using a jailbreak opened my phone up to new things, things that even apple implemented in firmware updates or newer models.

i dont care how many consoles sell, i care about the games, nintendo sell sh1t loads yes, but theyre the cheapest system, but it simply lacks the games i want to play.

[JonathanD]

the vita sells over 2 million in japan, thats potentially 2 millions customers that are likely to buy your game thats retailing around £30.

Just a quick note here.

If a system sells 2 million units in a market thats a huge huge failure, a big hit tends to sell to ~10-15% of consoles.

10% of 2 million is 200,000 and that sounds like a huge amount! but its terrible with the cost of developing and publishing a game. That 200K at $60 a pop is 12 million dollars!!!! woot woot! wait but how much did it cost to develop the game? How much is the stores cut of that $60? The publisher gets a good sized cut... hmmm yeah totally worth spending a few million dollars creating the latest AAA game... if the game is a flop and sells about .01% your studio is now out millions of dollars and it will take a long time to take another stab at making a game. Thats the risk in developing for a console with a small install base. Most games will fall into that sub 1%.... So that means most games will not make a dime on such a small market. Game companies are not charities they make these games to make a profit.

This is why console sales numbers matter so very very much, with the cost of developing games constantly getting more and more expensive those AAA games need a giant base of console sales to turn a profit on.

You like the Vita thats great, enjoy it and be sure to support the dev's and buy all the games for it (they will need every sale they can get to convince them that it's worth staying on the platform.)

[billysastard]

Just a quick note here.

If a system sells 2 million units in a market thats a huge huge failure, a big hit tends to sell to ~10-15% of consoles.

10% of 2 million is 200,000 and that sounds like a huge amount! but its terrible with the cost of developing and publishing a game. That 200K at $60 a pop is 12 million dollars!!!! woot woot! wait but how much did it cost to develop the game? How much is the stores cut of that $60? The publisher gets a good sized cut... hmmm yeah totally worth spending a few million dollars creating the latest AAA game... if the game is a flop and sells about .01% your studio is now out millions of dollars and it will take a long time to take another stab at making a game. Thats the risk in developing for a console with a small install base. Most games will fall into that sub 1%.... So that means most games will not make a dime on such a small market. Game companies are not charities they make these games to make a profit.

This is why console sales numbers matter so very very much, with the cost of developing games constantly getting more and more expensive those AAA games need a giant base of console sales to turn a profit on.

You like the Vita thats great, enjoy it and be sure to support the dev's and buy all the games for it (they will need every sale they can get to convince them that it's worth staying on the platform.)

therein lies the problem, the shittiest of wii shovelware will sell 200k and cost feck all to make so where is the incentive to make an expensive AAA title for a machine with such a small userbase.

[JonathanD]

therein lies the problem, the shittiest of wii shovelware will sell 200k and cost feck all to make so where is the incentive to make an expensive AAA title for a machine with such a small userbase.

This is exactly why the console that has the most unit sales also has the most shovelware, pick any system that "won" that generations sales race and that will be the one that has the most crap games on it. Before some one we all know and love says "But the PS1 and PS2 had the best games ever!!!" Every console has some of the best games ever, but take off the rose tinted glasses for a moment and look a little deeper into the Barbie Horse Adventures for the PS1 and discover what the true meaning of shovelware is.... lol For every awesome game the PS1 and PS2 had there was at least 3 shitty ass games that no one ever even heard of (well except maybe me and my lists....)

Thats just the price of being number 1.

http://gameratio.cheatcodesgalore.co...worstgames.php <--- PS1

http://gameratio.cheatcodesgalore.co...worstgames.php <--- PS2

http://www.mywiinews.com/worst-wii-games-updated/ <--- Wii

The lists look identical when it comes to the crap being produced for them.