PS Vita: State of Decline?

Since its sale began almost two and a half years ago, the Playstation Vita has struggled to emulate the success of its predecessor, the Playstation Portable. Evidenced by the lack of coverage during the Sony E3 and Gamescom conferences, it seems that Sony has decided to abandon efforts to market the Vita entirely and instead focus on the already profitable that is the Playstation 4.

Indeed, when asked in a recent interview by Eurogamer about the lack of media coverage of the struggling Vita from Sony, President of Sony's Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida,  remarked, "PS Vita gamers are pretty core, dedicated gamers. They seek information, so we trust them to find out about the games coming out on PS Vita."

It's easy to extrapolate from this quote that the overall strategy and goals of the Vita have changed.

In the rest of this write-up, I will be exploring the context, that is the landscape that includes the Vita.

Precursor: The Playstation Portable

In order to understand the marketing strategy in regards to the PS Vita, it's important to consider the life of its predecessor, the PSP. The Playstation Portable was first unveiled in May of 2004. It was released later that year in Japan and in other territories early 2005. Despite having a higher price point than its main rival, the Nintendo DS, the system performed fairly well in sales during the first few months, and indeed the first years of its launch, likely because of its positive public reception and software offerings.

The PSP shipped nearly 25 million units by the end of 2006. It had a large install base with a number of titles from first-party studios like Naughty Dog and Guerrilla Games (maker of PSP version of Killzone).

Once the PS3 launched in late 2006, Sony had new challenges. For one, they had to try to promote projects on 3 different platforms (PS2, PS3 and PSP). On the other hand, blockbuster titles were still being made for the PS2 and the tech giant had to commit much of its resources to its new, but struggling product, the PS3.

The PSP was a success, especially if you compare it to the Vita along the same points in time. After over two and a half years since its release, the PS Vita has sold 8.7 million units worldwide. During a similar time frame, the PSP moved over 10 million units in the United States alone.

Why is the Vita struggling?

There's no one reason that can explain why the Vita is struggling. It's a complex problem with a host of different factors. Here are a few things to consider.

The rise of mobile gaming. There are a plethora of games that can be played for free or at a low cost on smartphones and tablets, not to mention that the devices are dedicated to more things than just playing video games.

Cost. If you spend let's say $200 on a PS Vita, you also have to buy the games and although there are games that will only cost you $2.50 on the store, the majority of content that's been designed specifically for the Playstation Vita is going to come at a more expensive premium.

Reception. I often see people comment online that there is a lack of content for the PS Vita, which is completely false. The PS Vita has an abundance of content, but what it lacks is a strong media presence. I think that Sony doesn't believe it has the right titles to market to a mass audience and they've perhaps refrained from marketing specifically for the Vita because of it.

Landscape. When the PSP released in America in 2005, Sony was high on its success of the Playstation 2. The good feelings of the PS2 era definitely had an effect on the release and reception of the PSP, but I would say that the difficulty of the PS3 launch sapped away at some of the sentiment and people returned to the PS2. When the Vita released in 2012 the market was very different. It was saturated with mobile devices and there wasn't an assured sense that content produced on the device could be profitable. 
 
Technology. Nowadays, our devices have to be all-in-one or else they're really not worth having. Think about it. If you had separate devices for calling, texting, Skyping, watching videos, taking notes, catching up on the news and so on, you'd have a million devices. Now I wish that Sony could just make a console that could just play video games, but in a world of variety and where all-in-one is the norm, that just isn't possible. Nintendo might have a few things to say about that statement, but I stick by it. Sony can't run the risk of making a platform that Just plays games because it's too risky.

Personally, I like the PS Vita. It's the first system that I actually pre-ordered. The Vita is the system for me because, although I do like keeping up with newer games, I want to play all of the games that I didn't play growing up like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and Valkyria Chronicles 2.

I'm not sure what this turn in Sony's strategy means for the PS Vita and for the future of Sony handhelds. Do they have something else in the works? Are they using some of the PS4 profits to develop a better handheld? Or are they stepping out of the handheld business and putting their efforts into strengthening the PS4 and Project Morpheus?

One thing I think is for sure. The Vita, which never really got off to a good start, is on the decline.

Sony's 'Share Play' -- Software Seller or Bad Business Decision?

Sony's Gamescom press conference was held last weekend and while there were no bombshell game announcements, there were more than a few interesting tidbits.

10 million PS4s sold thus far.

That number represents the units sold through to consumers, not shipped to retailers. That's a solid figure considering the console has only been on sale for 9 months. It also helps to bear in mind that in the previous generation of consoles, the PS3 and Xbox 360, sold roughly 5.5 million units each in their first year. Microsoft should also be pleased as the Xbox One has already outsold its predecessor with 3 months left before the one year mark.

The news that caught my eye was an announcement by Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. In system update 2.0, Sony is bringing long-awaited features to the PS4 like the ability to connect with real-world friends based on online usernames as well as to upload footage directly to YouTube. Up till now, players wishing to upload content had to store the videos externally and post them later or upload them to Facebook, limiting the options of gamers whose main outlet for sharing and interacting with their community is YouTube.

Perhaps the most interesting announcement of update 2.0 is 'Share Play.' This feature, a 'virtual couch' according to the EU Playstation blog, will allow you to invite another player to join in on your gaming session, even if the other player doesn't own a copy of the game. Also a part of this feature is the ability to let another player take over your controller, seemingly essential for those difficult sections of a game.

There are still plenty of unknowns about the feature however. Sony has said that the feature is enabled by default on all PS4 games and it is up to the developers to turn the feature off. One question I have is how many developers will elect to turn this feature off. About ten minutes before the 2.0 announcement, Alex Hutchinson, Creative Director of Ubisoft's Far Cry 4, showed off a demo of the game. Following the demo he announced that each copy of the game would include a limited number virtual 'keys' that would allow players the ability to invite their friends to join their game for 2 hours.

It seems that the Sony's system update 2.0 and Far Cry 4's virtual key concept are at odds. This likely stems from a lack of communication between Sony and Ubisoft. I imagine that Sony would wanted to keep the details of their system update private as give it shock value when they announced it last week. I suppose the real question from this incident is whether or not Ubisoft will choose to keep the virtual key concept or abandon it by the time of the game's release.

Another key question in my mind is how Share Play will work in general. If I join a player in-game, I'm curious as to whether I'm sharing player 1's identity as a guest or if I'm playing on my account and simply joining a friend in-game? Furthermore, if it happens that case 2 is true, does the game save my progress, or will it be erased every time I quit my session? Saved progress sort of important to me for games where character progression is important like Destiny or Call of Duty. I would really love to be able to join a friend online, see if I like the game, have the game save my progress, and then have the ability to pick up where I left off if I end up getting the game.

Unfortunately, it would mean that game companies would have to set aside extra server space for people who may never end up actually buying the game which would negatively impact game sales. I could also envision a problem with the trophy (achievement) system. Specifically, if I have a join a friend's game with my unique account, will I be able to earn trophies? The amount of trophies could explode if that were the case, simply by being present in a friend's game. While it would be nice to think that data storage from joined Share Play sessions could happen, chances are it likely won't.

Here's what I imagine the system will be designed like.

Share Play will allow players the opportunity to join a friend's gaming session. When they join, they will be listed as a guest, duplicating the player 1's identity and essentially restricting the amount of content that the guest could access. All data of the guest is deleted once the session ends. Achievements can only be earned by player 1 (otherwise you could hypothetically earn achievements twice as fast).

In a massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game where a character's class presumably impacts the way the game plays, I could see my proposed system being a software seller. Share Play would give the players access to the content that their friend has unlocked, but in order to create a unique experience, that person would have to get the games for themselves. And that is where I think Share Play is ultimately aiming for. It will give people a taste of a game that they will hopefully end up buying.

All in all, I think that Sony's heart is in the right place. Maybe Sony hopes that money will be made through Share Play, and that's motivating their decision to include the feature, but I'd like to think that they have the best of intentions: bringing people together through games.

Welcome to Wayne's World of Gaming

Welcome to Wayne's World of Gaming, your shoe into the world of video games and my forum for talking about some of my favorite games and the video game industry. I'm really excited to be starting this and hope you'll join me on this journey.

My hope is that by sharing my thoughts about video games, I can not only come to a greater understanding about videos games, but also be a part of the gaming community and maybe even inspire people who don't game to try them out.

I've been in love with video games for as long as I can remember. What I have always been amazed about is the power of a video game to pluck you from reality, inject you into another space, and allow you to immerse yourself in a unique world. The interactive experience of video games gives us the means to manipulate a game's virtual reality and those experiences often influence our perception and handling of reality.

For example, I saw firsthand the effects of the introduction of a new product on the price of its component parts in the massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game Guild Wars 2. An update introduced a new backpack into the game. One of the supplies needed to manufacture the new accessory could be found while collecting wood. Rather than gather the necessary supplies independently, an activity that could easily take tens of hours, players instead rush to buy one of the supplies, the foxfire cluster, from the in-game trading post, a forum that gives players the opportunity to buy and sell commodities that they have acquired. The cluster, which used to be sold for about 1 gold piece, dropped down to 80 silver pieces because people kept undercutting the price of their competitors (80 silver = 1 gold for reference). Money can be fairly hard to come by early on in Guild Wars 2 and so what was once an easily lucrative method of earning money became less profitable in only a span of a few days. Update: the price has fallen even further to about 70 silver pieces per cluster.

With the recent technology boom of the past few decades, video games have risen to the forefront, gaining mainstream recognition with examples like the rise of E-sports, and popular franchises like the Call of Duty series as well as games like Angry Birds and Candy Crush. Video games have exploded in popularity and will only come to play a greater role in our lives as time goes on.

I'm excited to start writing. My first topic will be Sony's new 'Share Play' PS4 feature! Check back soon.