Sony to put an increased focus on its promotion of the Vita
2/9/13 9:22pm
It’s no secret Sony is having a more difficult time selling the Vita than it originally anticipated, which only became more apparent earlier this week when Sony once again reduced the handheld’s sales exceptions for the fiscal year. With this information in mind, the company has new strategy for increasing Vita sales.
Executive vice president and CEO Masaru Kato told investors during a conference call that this new strategy includes Sony doing a better job promoting the handheld.
What does this improved promotion entail? Well, Kato says the company is going to be putting its first party development/publishing muscle and its third party connections to good use with a new emphasis on software releases.
"How do we do that? Well, gaming business software is the name of the game. So as a fundamental measure, we are putting all - a lot of resources, not just first party, but also asking third parties to put out more attractive software."
He also said Sony is looking to increase its marketing focus (so expect to see more ads), as well as looking at the system’s pricing, so we very well could see a Vita price drop within the next year (maybe even the next few months).
This discussion should have happened a few months back but you know what? Better than late than never. It’s great to see Sony trying to save the handheld rather than just let its potential go to waste. Improved marketing would certainly be a good first step (did anyone remember that Sly Cooper come out this week?) and a decent price cut would certainly make the Vita more attractive. Not too mention there needs to be a wider variety of Vita exclusives so it’s more than just a “portable PS3”.
Hopefully this is the beginning of bigger and better things for the Vita because Sony isn’t in a good position to lose money at this point.
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
darkhyrulelord
Sony just needs to focus on getting more worthy games for the thing if they hope for it to succeed.
NODlike
I got my Vita for Christmas and agree with Anti_Hipster in that some of the games look amazing. MK looks nearly identical to the PS3 version. I thought what Sony has been doing to promote the Vita with Cross-Buy games has done a lot for it. There are also a lot of PSN titles that feature Cross-Buy that I didn't even know about before I got my Vita. If they do a better job promoting that and having Cross-Buy work day one (I'm looking at you, Ratchet & Clank FFA and Sly 4), I think it will do a lot for the system. The Vita can do things I didn't know about until I got one, like remote access to the PS3. Hopefully this new campaign will mean new Vita games and more people will buy them.
Anti_Hipster
This news disturbs me. The reason is for the timing. The fact that this is said less than two weeks away from a major Sony conference that will discuss the "future of Playstation" gives me the sinking feeling that the conference is going to be about the Vita. I'm a Vita owner as well and as much as it pains me to say this (around 500 dollars worth of pain), it has disappointed me. Don't get me wrong, It pulls off games that no other handheld can. My problems are that the online is slow as crap. Littlebigplanet vita which lives and dies by online is extremely slow and crashes constantly for example. Like others have said, the games that are there aren't bad, but most look like upscaled PSP games and suffer from a lot of issues that their ps3 counterparts don't.
Wipeout 2048 looks nearly indistinguishable from it's PS3 counterpart. This proves that most Vita developers are being lazy. Perhaps it was Sony's fault for rushing them to complete it within the launch window. That may apply to some, but Sonic and Racing Transformed is many times worse than the PS3 version and it came out about 2 months later. No excuse there. I'm only guessing that companies aren't pouring as many resources into the games for fear of not making a profit which creates a viscous cycle of bad quality that deters the consumers who would encourage the developers to make better quality.
Would I like the Vita to have a better plan that would allow it to succeed? Absolutely. However the chances of that happening aren't that great and I would rather them do that strategy in silence by just doing the actions that would lead the vita to that goal. Big, anticipated conferences like the one coming up on the 20th ought to be reserved for greener pastures such as the PS4. Focusing on the Vita will be boring and will make the hype machine lose steam instantly.
Sorry for the giant comment.
APPL3JU1C3
What the Vita needs is exclusive games. Shame they're not in fashion at the moment. -_-
MagnumMagnus
Please, I'm getting a 3DS for Pokemon X and Y alone. Do you really think I'm gonna waste more money on a handheld with little to nothing to offer me?
nerdman
well, if you do prefer 3DS then by all means. it's matter of opinions really... i have quite an amount of experience with both and honestly they are kind of equal...? but, i have to admit i have gotten more use out of my Vita because of Persona 4: Golden. that's not to say i have been neglecting the 3DS either... btw if you are getting a 3DS then i strongly recommend the OoT 3DS which is the best 3DS game at the moment...IMO anyways.
MagnumMagnus
See, I respect your response because it was well thought out, polite, and concise. Also, you didn't resort to personal insults to prove a point.
As to those points, I've never been able to get into the Persona series, so getting me to buy a $200+ handheld for a game I hear good things about but have little interest in myself is not much of an investment.
Most of the games Vita has either exist on the PS3 (All Stars) or are overly gimmicky, such that gravity game I played a demo of. Not bad, but nowere near enough to sell me on a new piece of hardware.
The 3DS can play all the DS games, and I already know the quality of its line-up. Which makes more sense from my perspective?
Ruzlok
Dude, if you're still one of those people who plays shitty pokemon, it's no wonder you think the vita has nothing to offer. You need to expand your horizons and play new games. Or at least stop trash talking something you know nothing about.
felixtheswordsman
"Sony to put a focus on its promotion of the Vita" That's how I feel it should read. I was an early adopter, and ever since then I feel like Sony hasn't really been putting any effort into the Vita. Look at the PS1 Classics support. They said "at launch" then "soon after launch" then "Hahaha! We announced this at E3 like it's new! Love us!" then it still took a while longer to get PS1 classics, and not all at once. The holiday season was essentially barren apart from the shiny port of a PS2 gem and the lackluster AC and CoD games... The next year, there's nothing much on the horizon... Please get on the damn ball, Sony. At least the PS3 had me waiting for MGS4.
P.Suzuki
You want to get my attention, Sony? Put some JRPGs on the Vita that; A.) I do not already have in PSP UMD form. B.) I do not already own on another system, like the 3DS.