Speaking to Gamasutra, Sony’s Jack Tretton has downplayed the threat from devices like the iPad and iPhone, with reference to PS Vita.
[drop2]Tretton was asked whether 59p (and free) games represented a threat to Sony and the industry. “If I open a movie theater next door,” he said, “and start charging 50 cents per ticket, but I’m showing you things I filmed with my camcorder, I don’t think it’s a threat to the theater charging $13 per ticket.”“It’s about people having reasonable expectations. I don’t think we’re training people to pay $5 for games. The cream always rises to the top.”
Indeed, it appears he’s confident enough that although the games on the App Store are much cheaper than they’ll be on the PS Vita (presumably around £40) he sees such consumers as opportunities.
“For every consumer you lose to a tablet or smart phone, there are three consumers that became interested in gaming in a simple form,” he said.
“And those people might be able to be migrated into a sophisticated gamer. We look at that as being the opposite of a threat, but an opportunity.”
MrTwP
For me the PSV needs a store just like the app store with cheap addictive games
Forrest_01
Isn’t this what the likes of the PS store & minis are for?
JesseDeya
PS: Yes. The whole point of 3G on the PSV (love it) is that you’ll be able to buy games on the go, just like the iDevices.
MrTwP
Minis need trophies. The dev kit needs to be just like Xcode, the devs need to be able to control their own prices. But hey that’s just my opinion.
JesseDeya
You’re the very first person on the whole interwebz I have seen call it the PSV… and all of a sudden it makes perfect sense. I can scarcely believe this hasn’t become more common place already – PSV is much better than Vita.
Not only does “PSV” roll off the tongue like chocolate covered velvet, sounding uber levels of geek sexy along the way, but it conveniently rhymes with PSP.
Genius Sony, pure genius.
MrTwP
Haha yeah, PSV sounds much better… It’s a movement!
Gaztee
I did call it the PSV when the name was officially announced. Think it was on the e3 thing here? Anyhoo, I agree PSV sounds great ;0)
sparkyscrum
Does this mean they are going to give up on the mini’s then? I thought part of the plan was to produce good little games at low price points to attract an even wider audience?
Smallville2106
I think the Vita needs the best of both worlds. I think that games like Uncharted etc are going to be annotingly overpriced on the store which is to be expected when you look at the current PSN.
With this though I think that they also need the very cheap addictive games like Angry Birds etc and need them at the right prices as well.
I have just bought Sega Superstar Racing for my iPhone. It was £1.19.
Everything I have seen and read about the Vita has me excited. The pricing of games and downloads etc on the store will decide whether it will be a success on a large scale or not though IMO
nofi
“I have just bought Sega Superstar Racing for my iPhone. It was £1.19.”
Precisely. About £28 cheaper than the (almost identical) DS version.
hazelam
but i bet the ds version controls a hell of a lot better.
whether it’s 28 quids worth better is up to individual taste.
BrainDiver
Personally I think it would be the (3)DS which could lose out the most. I have a DS but only have 2 games for it, the ones it came with. The prices they try to flog off their games for is unbelievable in my opinion.
hol
I’m thinking Tretton needs to pull his head out of somewhere, as an iPhone owner, 59p isn’t going to break the bank if a game is rubbish but £40 is! Simple but extremely addictive games like angry birds are great fun & can be very time consuming. Hope Sony will be thinking very hard about competitive pricing for vita.
JesseDeya
Angry birds and the like are great, but ultimately they are exceptions to the rule. I don’t risk $1 on a shitty iPhone game when there are reviews that tell me what is worth my $1 or $5, and what isn’t. Just the same as I don’t impulse buy $40 PSP games without knowing beforehand if they are quality or not.
I’ve easily spent more on PSP games than iPhone games, but I can honestly say not a single iPhone game has grabbed me the way Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta did. As Tretton says, the cream will rise to the top.
I’m not arguing sales numbers, it’s hard to argue with the figures Angry Birds or PvZ have brought in, but as a gamer even these AAA iPhone games only hold my attention briefly and are far and few between.
colmshan1990
Angry Birds is also not a game that screams replayability, while games like God of War or Uncharted can be played time and again.
jayjay119
I get tired of repeating my stance on this topic, so I’m not going to.
All I will say is that I loved his camcorder-blockbuster movie metaphor.
GTRsannin
But PS Vita games will be real games not like the crappy cellphone games that you only play for a few seconds two completely different things these devices
CNWLshadow
What about some of the higher priced iOS games such as Real Racing 2 and then comparing the iOS version of GTA Chinatown; same game different price and arguably a better experience on iOS. I still consider the app store in its early days and we can expect to more of these “premium games”. Surely this proposes a threat? Yes sure you don’t have physical controls on an iOS device but that’s a compromise for the lower price point of games on iOS.
And personally I have no need for another portable device to carry about, my phone and iPod touch more than enough cover my needs.
hazelam
the thing is, there’s a hell of a lot more you can do gameswise with a system like the vita with all those control options that would simply be impossible on a touch only device.
and with the touchscreen on vita there’s no reason why Ios developers can’t port their games over relatively easily.
i agree with the last part, i think devices like the iphone will bring new people into gaming rather than take them away.
people who wouldn’t normally be into gaming might get interested after playing something on a mobile, and then want something more involving.
i just got a ipod touch last week, and there are some damn good games available, but for most of my gaming i prefer a proper console or gaming handheld.
as low as my opinion of the psp nub is, it’s still far better than any virtual stick on a touchscreen.
brillerment
iPads don’t have Nathan Drake.
CNWLshadow
Nor does Nintendo or Microsoft, yet there still seen as a threat.
hazelam
they have master chief and mario respectively.
MrTwP
Drake <3
dizwod
who cares.
iphone games suck, end off.. i had an iphone for 3 months and the games were poo, PSV will have proper decent games