John Koller, Sony’s head of hardware marketing, has spoken to Kotaku regarding the PlayStation Vita. We assume it’s the same conversation he had about the PS3, but split over two articles. Regardless, it’s a fascinating read, if only to be utterly astounded at what the guy is saying.
It’s clear that Koller believes his own spin, even if the sales figures hardly show a particularly healthy bunch of sales since the Vita launched.
“We knew there was a market,” he says of the cynics. “Our research pointed over the last four years of creating it that there was a market. We still absolutely believe that. Right now we’re on forecast to where we thought the platform would be.”
[drop2]According to the report, that’s with existing PS3 owners and an “over-indexing” in the “urban” populace, which Kotaku emphasise as “black and Latino gamers who live in cities,” apparently.With regards to the current line-up of games, Koller is keen to point out the PSP’s main flaw (trying to sell PSP gamers games that were too similar to console games) won’t be repeated with the Vita.
But, and here’s where we get confused – that’s exactly what they’re doing now, isn’t it? Especially with the first party titles: Uncharted, WipEout, Battle Royale, Sly – the list goes on.
And continues to do so for the rest of the year.
“Ports tended to be very difficult to message,” he said. “Consumers go, ‘I’ve got it on console. Why do I need it on this and spend $40 on this and spend $40 for exactly what I have on console? That doesn’t make any sense.’ I think that’s a very relevant position.”
And on those $40 (£40) games? “You have to have the experience that backs up that price point and on a platform-wide level we think—we’ve seen—there is an absolute demand for $30 and $40 games. Uncharted is $49 and it’s [sold to Vita owners] incredibly well.”
“I think that proves that if you have the right game and the right content and franchises, you can price the way you need to, and, by the way, once you get them in, you can start selling them the $5 to $10 games that you have on the Network.”
We love our Vitas here at TSA but this whole interview is confusing – the replies at least – and hardly fills us with confidence.
gazzagb
Piracy was what killed the PSP, it’s the lack of games and price which is killing Vita.
jikomanzoku
Sony should be praised for the technological leap they took in managing to create the first invisible console – it’s quite an achievement.
Lord_Gremlin
Well, I’ve tried Uncharted demo on vita – horrible piece of shit with touch screen where it never should have been. I do enjoy MK on Vita though, being huge MK fan PS3 version is not enough.
Problem is – there’s not yet enough games overall. I’ve started buying PSP stuff. Corpse Party is amazing BTW.
The Lone Steven
But what if people want games that are ports of console franchises or a Vita version of a console game? As some people may fancy playing UC whilst traveling on a long journey.
Sony really do need to up the marketing and support for the Vita as it barely has any at the moment, or at least in the EU region. Use big names to help draw in new customers and then pump out a huge variety of games.
Gadbury
Two comments in this post from people that sold their Vitas for tablets. Not a good sign. I love my Vita. There is a lull in content but I’m sitting tight as its a great bit of kit and I believe quite soon we’ll be spoilt for choice with new content. It’ll start rolling.
orimisac
IMHO the interview is completely messed up.
Apparently Sony execs are afraid to face some truths. The first and mostly obvious one is that Vita is overpriced. These execs do not understand that there is a difference between the cost of something (how much it is necessary to spend in order to build and market the stuff) and its price (the amount of money market is willing to spend on the stuff). In the ongoing economic situation, people want to be sure about the TCO (total cost of ownership) of goods they purchase. Vita TCO is high. And people don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps, when Chinese start to market “compatible memory modules” TCO goes towards consumers comfort point.
Then there is the problem of the game portfolio. AAA games are expensive. Wait. Not expensive to final user. Expensive to the developers. Some years of development, some hundreds in several staffs, marketing effort, etc. And, at the end, something like 30% of income reversed to console manufacturer. Thus, no studio will invest in an AAA game if initial sales cannot be measured in, at least, several hundred thousand copies sold at launch period (first three months…). Thus, unless Sony presents a significant sales prospect for Vita, few developers will risk real bucks in exchange of possible platform widespread adoption.
Foxhound_Solid
Being a black boy I think this interview is a little odd. Not offensite at all. Just odd. *goes back on PS3*