The message coming out of E3 2014 last month was that Sony’s slowly moving on from the PlayStation Vita, but Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has clarified that that’s not the case at all. As part of an interview with Game Reactor, the affable executive put to bed reports that it was abandoning the handheld – and also came up with some compelling examples to back up his point.
“The question that I was asked was, ‘Going forward, [will] the number of first-party [titles] be smaller?’, and I said, ‘Yes, the number of projects will be smaller.’ I never said, ‘We won’t make any games on the Vita,’” he clarified. “We’re continuing to make games on the Vita... we just launched a game called Freedom Wars in Japan, [which] is a big title that we’ll bring to Europe and North America as well.”
He continued: “And we’re making that JRPG... a very, very beautiful JRPG called Oreshika. And games made in Europe – Murasaki Baby is a dedicated title that got many awards at E3. And we’re continuing to make cross-platform games like Helldivers or CounterSpy. [There are] many, many games that we have in development for the Vita from first-party as well.”
It’s a compelling lineup, but it obviously lacks those Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Killzone: Mercenary-esque heavy hitters with serious commercial clout. Alas, we reckon that people are sleeping on Minecraft, which, if handled properly, could become the handheld’s so-called killer app – especially if the manufacturer comes up with an attractive hardware bundle at a reasonable price.
[source gamereactor.eu, via playstationlifestyle.net]
Comments 36
That did nothing to assuage the feelings of PS Mortem, imo.
I see neither Freedom Wars or Oreshika being high profile enough to be system sellers, and Murasaki, Helldivers, and Counterspy are basically indies with no physical presence on shelves.
Of course there may be one or two big unannounced titles in the works, which he can't talk about.
Thats damage control. He might have gotten misunderstood, but his colleagues were definitively clear in their message (s).
This changes nothing. Its phased out now and at somepoint Japan Studio will have to save PS4. Localisations, ports and indies, thats it. I could accept that, if the ports were working.
@ThreadShadow I agree. Minecraft could be a system seller, though.
helldivers and Counterspy look awesome and I honestly think the already existing games are system seller but not promoted enough ( I mean casual gamers probably have no idea of the Vita games they get with PS+ for example)
Anyway people will hear what they want to hear
@ThreadShadow yep, what you said. What a Flimsy response from Sony.
So is Yoshida lying or were the other two lying? They can't all be telling the truth...
Yeah that just seemed like a lame attempt at damage controlling, he listed games that we've known about for months as an example if they have games in production why weren't any of them announced at E3.
@Jazzer94 Why do they have to be announced at E3?
@N711 I agree
@AeroZeppelin E3 was a good time to announce one or two new Vita games for two reasons.
1) Exposure for the console at the biggest gaming event of the year instead of a small forgettable highlight reel.
2) Show that they are actually still supporting it rather then just depend on indies and a few localisation jobs.
@Jazzer94 I don't think E3 is the be all end all of gameing events anymore also think those games would have been lost in the noise of E3 maybe e3 wasn't the right place for them
Man I'd so love Tearaway 2 but doubt that'll ever happen considering the titles poor sales...
@get2sammyb - Has anybody ever officially stated what version of Minecraft the Vits is getting? If its the $6.99 app version that might not go over well. I know it wont be the PS4 version, but youll be able to remote play it
@rjejr The Minecraft vita version is the one like PS3. I think it is cross-buy between the 3 playstation systems. Not sure about cross play though.
@Enobmah_Shards @rjejr Yeah, it's the PS3 version, not the mobile app.
I think most of Sony's Japanese first party games will be on Vita while most of their western first party games will be on PS4.
Meanwhile NA doesn't even get a release date for the new ratchet and clank collection that just came out. I can see maybe one last major first party release like infamous, but if it doesn't sell I can't see em trying again. Not unless they get a cheap engine
I thought unity meant tons of awesome cell games would show up like the nova, modern combat, and dead space games
Yes, there will be Sony games for the Vita, but less than before, and their most important games will be the ones coming to PS4.
I hope that at least with smaller budgets they make interesting, innovative games. That, along with indies, could help the Vita, I think.
Memory cards Sony, memory cards. There's still that big, fast glaring problem that's hurting Vita's chances.
@get2sammyb @Enobmah_Shards - Well, my kids like the PS3 version a whole lot better than the app version so that's good. But if you could play the PS4 version remotely what's the point in the PS3 version?
Why do I have this feeling the Vita will be bundled w/ the PS4 long before the camera ever is?
I don't care about first-party, just give me a lot of TRPGs =).
Having the most complete portable version of Minecraft on the market is something the Vita can easily sell itself on.
Im going to have to completely disagree that Minecraft will be a system seller.
Who do you think are the majority of Minecraft players? Im betting its the type of people who are not going to buy (or be bought) a new $200 dedicated gaming machine. I personally know no one that would do that.
This is most certainly good news coming from Sony's biggest voice which is very reassuring. Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, Murasaki Baby and Freedom Wars are definitely video games that I'm looking forward to putting inside my PS Vita and giving a go. I've got a feeling that we might even see a Jak and Daxter reboot on the PS Vita or maybe MediEvil.
I basically gave up on the Vita and won't be supporting anymore Sony portables. I sold it and put the money towards a Xbox One
@AeroZeppelin They don't "have" to be announced at E3, but the fact none were speaks volumes, and even more about where their priorities lie.
And sure, Minecraft is great and all, but Minecraft does nothing to satisfy our gaming needs. Who cares if it sells a few Vitas or not.
Freedom Wars. THAT'S what's up. More of that please (even if it is subtitled). I'm just curious to see how much more of that we're gonna get, if any at all.
Just give us Gravity Rush 2 before you go and all is OK.
@AVahne
Exactly! I refuse to buy the Vita & be railroaded into paying ridiculous memory card prices for what? Indy & quirky Japanese titles? No thx. I love my PS3 but Sony blew it with the Vita.
And as others have said, this was pure damage control at it's most obvious. For ex., why hasn't the Vita got a God Of War game? The PSP got 2. It's bc Sony isn't putting any more $ making big AAA titles for a dying system.
@JaxonH If it sells Vitas, that means a larger userbase. A larger user base means more people to buy games on the Vita. More people like that means more support. More support means more games that satisfy our gamer needs. It indirectly helps satisfy our needs.
@Jaz007
All that sounds great in theory, but practically speaking, how many units do you think Minecraft will move? 20k? 50k? 100k? Let's go out on a really wild limb and say it moves ONE MILLION VITAS. Wow, one million Vita's purchased, JUST because of Minecraft. Impressive, no? Ok, so the userbase jumps from 8mil to 9mil. Do you think developers are going to say "Oh! Well now that NINE million people own a Vita instead of 8 million, well now we've gotta bring our games to the system!"
No. And that's if the system moved one MILLION. Even GTA5 didn't move one million PS3's. It sold alot of copies, but not systems. Nobody is going to buy a Vita for Minecraft. But even if they did- even if one MILLION people did, it still won't make a split of difference (for the record, Minecraft probably won't even move one million COPIES on Vita, much less move one million systems... but again, even if it did- adding 1 mil to the userbase isn't enough for developers to suddenly have a change of heart)
Which is why I think gamers need to stop getting so wrapped up in sales, thinking every game can make a difference. It won't.
***You can worry about developers having marital issues too- cause stress affects getting a good night's rest and eating balanced meals, and a good night's sleep and nutrition will contribute to better work performance and better games, and better games bring better sales, and better sales bring higher user base, and higher user base brings new games. Sounds pretty ridiculous, but it's the same thing- it's concerning ourselves with indirect factors. Where does the line get drawn? Indirect factors = irrelevant to us. We're gamers. We just concern ourselves with playing the games. Let the corporations worry about all the rest.
@hydeks Good Job Bro
@JaxonH Don't need to worry about sales huh? bigger userbase doesn't make a difference huh? okay then what do you say about this? http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/9/5793660/ubisoft-unreleased-wii-u-games
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/06/ubisoft_scaling_back_support_for_wii_u_expects_price_cut_to_bolster_sales
I gave up now Sony will not make the games we want like Gta v and more AAA games
@AeroZeppelin
[Shakes head]
If you read my post again, perhaps you'll realize I said no such thing. What I said was, the impact of Minecraft sales on Vita won't even come close to moving enough units to actually sway developers to bring more games.
And as such, we needn't concern ourselves with sales numbers for every game released on the platform.
There are around 8 million Vita owners out there. You would need to see that install base DOUBLED, at the MINIMUM, to even BEGIN to hope developers might reconsider bringing more games. Minecraft isn't going to double anything. It won't sell 8 million copies, much less convince 8 million people to buy a Vita.
Play games. Stop concerning yourself with butterfly effects that won't even begin to budge the needle. Like I said, sure every hardware moving sale helps. But one game? That's like less than a tenth of a thousandth of the necessary impact needed to see results. Developer marital relationships matter too. If you're gonna spend your life worrying about single game sales, might as well worry about the devs personal lives and happiness too. Cause that affects the endgame all the same.
Just checked whats on psplus this month...nothing for me again thats month six ,for the three nor four ...maybe next month..
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