PlayStation Vita losing developer support – Video Games Update
A rumour has surfaced from the gaming forum NeoGAF which states that game developers are abandoning the PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) and moving their projects to the Nintendo 3DS and the upcoming Nintendo Wii-U.
The PlayStation Vita had a rough launch because not many gamers were interested in the handheld because of the high price and the reported low battery life which is estimated to be three to four hours. The fact that Sony didn’t accompany the hardware launch
with attractive exclusive titles didn’t help either.
Gamers were surprised when Sony did not have any significant PlayStation Vita related announcements at their Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) press conference as the majority of the focus during the show was on the PlayStation 3.
It appears that the PS Vita is facing the same problem that the PlayStation 3 was facing when it was launched in 2007. The price was too high, game development was harder and the system was lacking a strong games library to draw in new gamers. The solution
to that was a price drop which got the ball rolling for the PlayStation 3 and analysts believe that this might be exactly what the PS Vita needs right now in order to stay competitive against Nintendo.
Recently, Smart Phones with gaming capabilities have also become serious contenders for the gaming handhelds because of the advancement in graphical technologies. Phones nowadays can display better gaming graphics compared to handhelds, so it makes sense
that gamers would rather opt to buy a top of the line phone, which will offer many more features and utilities, than a simple gaming handheld which costs about the same.
Analysts believe that Nintendo will be directly competing with the PS Vita, not only with the Nintendo 3DS but also with the Wii-U as the new tablet controller has pretty much the same user interface and similar button layout as the PS Vita, which will make
porting games over really easy for developers.
Sony is opposed to the idea of a price drop for the PS Vita so early on in the product’s life and plans to push the handheld this holiday with attractive bundles. Not a really smart move as the video games library is still lacking and not many gamers will
be willing to buy a handheld that does not have any games.
Tags: