Why Did PlayStation Vita Fail? (And Why Does Nintendo Switch Succeed?) -- CLS Side Quest
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Colin’s Last Stand’s Patreon supporters voted for a Side Quest topic discussing why Vita “failed,” particularly in light of Nintendo Switch’s success, a victory which proved that portable gaming is far from dead. To tell the tale, I framed today’s video around Vita’s early years, when PSP’s successor was only a rumor, and then finally announced, and then named and eagerly anticipated, and then… well… it all ended up kind of crash landing with a thud, didn’t it. Why and how did that happen? What could have Sony done differently? And, perhaps most importantly of all, what does Nintendo and its Switch have that Sony doesn’t? You may say “games,” and you’d be right, to an extent. But it’s deeper than that. Nintendo believes in its products. Sony obviously doesn’t.
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Still imagery via a licensed Shutterstock account, using works from the following artists an photographers: alexblacksea, Barone Firenze, Jfanchin, Mironov Konstantin, MPH Photos, padu_foto, and Tinxi.
Additional images are from the following sources: Make a Meme and Push Square.
The following videos were used in this episode of Side Quest:
• PlayStation Vita - E3 ...
• It's Official- PlaySta...
• Video
• Video
• Nintendo 3DS - Product...
• IGN's PS Vita Game and...
• Super Stardust™ Delta ...
• Freedom Wars - Cinemat...
• Call of Duty: Black Op...
• Nintendo 3DS - Launch ...
Bibliography/Reading List:
www.ign.com/art...
www.pcworld.co...
blog.us.playst...
www.ign.com/art...
kotaku.com/586...
www.gamasutra....
www.csmonitor....
www.vg247.com/...
www.trustedrev...
www.theverge.c...
www.gamespot.c...
kotaku.com/587...
www.digitaltre...
"The stories I could tell you guys about Resistance Burning Skies and Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified from a development perspective would blow your minds."
Please do. That's what I really want to hear.
The studio that made them had tight budgets and small windows of time to make the games
3 years later and I still wanna hear it
Colin, dont make me cry!... Still mad at Sony for not supporting it enough, i stll have my Day1 with all its accesories... "My lil'handheld that could in deed"
I really wish Sony would have done just TWO things.
1. Not use Proprietary Memory Cards
2. Have a Gamepass for the Vita, that would allow access to the enormous library of classic games. I really believe those 2 things could have helped the Vita find its legs.
Like they say in America, "That's a Bingo!"
"It's just Bingo"
Shoulder buttons...
leonthesleepy
PS Plus practically gave all the main games.
SmoothLegend but thats only for the hard-core loyal fans who stick with it. For the mainstream its not as appealing to jump in
I remember everyone in the comment section of IGN being so hyped for the Vita. Then Sony announced the memory card situation. After that the comment section turned on Vita and it just spiraled from there.
ONEWAYLEEWAY and it's funny really since the memory card situation was NOT that bad. I have been rocking a 16gb and have over 20 games installed. Considering my Plus membership, I had a bunch of free games baked in vs a 3da where I would have had to buy several games to play. A Vita was cheaper for me to own even with the pricy cards and imo a better handheld with much more desireable specs and features.
downphoenix It is that bad, if you let companies take advantage to you by accepting overpriced memory cards then these companies will get worse and worse(look at Activision and EA). But if you don’t put up with there shit most of the time they get the message and don’t try it again.
b Same. Sony got what they deserved but sadly it resulted in a wonderful handheld fading before it even got a chance to succeed. At least the Switch acts as a spiritual successor of sorts.
> We all want Nintendo to go third party
No, that's a pretty unpopular opinion only people who refuse to buy nintendo hardware want that Colin, we lose more from Nintendo going third party than we gain.
We lose portables
We lose Nintendo as a member of the console hardware space leaving us with fewer options for consoles
That would be very anti consumer if it happened
Skullomadness
All your points are valid except the one your whole comment is built on- that Nintendo going 3rd party is an unpopular opinion. It's not unpopular *at all* .
Not to mention, you trumpet the benefits of competition, but fail to see how dozens or hundreds of talented 3rd party studios vying to make the next Pokemon or Smash game could benefit the consumer. Do you not see the glaring contradiction in those statements???
@@davecarsley8773 No hes right it's completely unpopular among smart people
Good thing the Switch is supported properly by Nintendo. It pretty much fulfills the Vita's potential.
Eo
by supported properly by Nintendo do you mean a ton of money pumped into astroturfing and paying youtubers and influencers to convince people to settle for less (like sub 720p graphics) "because it's portable"?
The Switch most definitely does not fulfill the Vita's potential, seeing as how the Vita had an OLED screen, allowed access to all of the previous Playstation library, and allowed for remote play w/ the PS4. The Vita was on the cutting edge of portable technology and when it was released (and was part of the reason of it's downfall) and the Switch is definitely not on the cutting edge.
@@Jaqen-HGhar not cutting edge? Okay, it seems you not play Nintendo Switch.
Then explain almost 90 million units sold for the Nintendo Switch.
It's not about graphics. It's about having fun games. If people cared for graphics alone, the switch won't sell almost 90 million.
Vita is a good piece of tech, but having no fun and interesting games makes it worthless.
Video starts at 1:03
Not only did everything you said in this video piss me off about Vita after buying one, but even Sony's abandonment of it (at least for first party titles) pissed me off too. They pulled so many games off Vita and onto PS4. And yet, two of my favorite games, Uncharted Golden Abyss and Killzone Mercenary, are still stuck only on the Vita. Geez Sony, if you're going to move other games like Gravity Rush and a re-imagined Tearaway onto PS4, why did you leave Uncharted and Killzone to rot? Those are great games, more people deserve to play them! Get them ported to PS4 already! AUGH!!
Probably because the PS4 got its own Killzone(Shadow Fall) and Uncharted(4) games.
The thing about Tearaway on PS4 was that it ended up feeling kind of empty and depressed, despite having more levels and a new gimmick. There was something really special about the way it put you in the world on Vita with the touchpads and the cameras... really worked on a conceptual and emotional level.
I would've preferred the other way around where the ps3/4 games get ported to the vita. it was easily capable looking at the in house games and the later 3rd party like AoT 2 which improved fps dramatically compared to the first AoT, it was obvious the developers didnt get enough time to get all the power out of the vita. dragon quest heroes 2 was 90% full PS3 graphics. what it could have been...
When u realize the ps vita is just as weak as an iphone 4s and is more than 10 times as weak as the ps3
justin, true, but spotting the obvious of a console 7 years after release is just trolling. Is this the same switch that runs at 360p/540p720p? when phones had better graphics and 1440p resolutions than the switch, with an abhorrently gimped portable mode and sometimes 360p resolution in games? My $100 dollar, 5 years old, 720p phone from china can play epic citadel with better graphics and a fixed 720p resolution... the vita played at 540p in most games in comparison. the phone has a faster cpu and twice as many of them as the switch, so lets not talk about comparing handhelds and phones, the switch is far more behind in phone tech than the vita was. I have another $200 chinese phone with 1080p, 8 cores running at 2.0ghz with 4gb ram which trounces the switch into the ground, should we compare it to that? its pointless, the phone wins easily.
a portable wiiU (the switch is the same power in handheld mode) isnt anything to be proud of especially at 360p when it can be bested by a cheap phone. so in that sense being compared to a phone like the 4s is quite the complement for the vita when you think the switch is so far behind current phones.
There’s been metanalysis of what makes a successful business.
Funding
- not important as generally good ideas eventually find funding.
Quality of the founders
- The quality of people involved are important. But quality people will flock to a good idea or a successful company anyways.
The idea
- The idea itself is not nearly as important as people think. Execution > the idea any day
The most important thing? Timing.
UA-cam made it big right when bandwidth allowed you to stream and cellphones made every person a possible content creator.
Airbnb took off right during the financial crisis.
Uber was adopted right when the mass was accepting of getting into the cars with strangers, there’s been a cultural revolution. Uber would have utterly failed 15 years ago.
The Vita launched about 5 years too early. The mobile tech was not there to port console level games. But the Switch? 5 simple years and tech is now ready. Those 5 years was the difference between mobile devices being able to play console level games. Hell, the idea that fortnite is now on smartphones blows my mind considering that 5 years ago fruit ninja and angry birds were considered “good” mobile games.
Hate the lack of triggers on the Vita. I bought a trigger grip on Aliexpress but a lot of games now don't allow you to map the triggers to the rear touchpad ☹
The 3DS price cut was its turning point imo.
Agreed. Tapping the screen was weird. Either make it like 8bitdo did their classic controller so you can keep your flat shape or change it
Its the memory cards for me. I don't want to HAVE to mod my system and get a SD2VITA to play my games. I'd like trophy support
no god of war, no infamous 2, no killzone until late, no uncharted until late and da price was too damn high
Uncharted was a launch title
emersonssbb he is talking about the vita u dumb shit
emersonssbb
Nothing in that guy's comment is untrue. You thought he was talking about the Switch; he wasn't. You made a mistake. Let it go. Don't double down and look foolish.
Uncharted was a launch title. He also said its too late when it was a launch title.Killzone came out 1 or 2 years later. How is that late. This guy doesnt know his Vita games. I dont even own a Vita and i know Uncharted is a launch title. The only thing he got right is No God of War and No Infamous.I realized he was talking about the Vita later but his stupidity on not knowing Vita games made me think twice.
I would like to take this moment to say that I own three different Vita's.
No regrets.
Dave Graham could I get one of those vitas ?
Sorry, I need them. For reasons.
Why Vita's and not Vitas? Also: is the Fat's screen really much better than the lite's?
The apostrophe seemed more pleasant. And if you ask me, the Lite's screen isn't much inferior at all. And aside from the screen, I actively detest the Phat versus the Lite because of the form factor and buttons. The Start and Select on the Phat are tiny, oval, and nearly flush with the body of the device. The Lite's Start and Select are round and raised up.
Same
Is mind-blowing to remember that the PSP Go had a base to connect with the TV.
#VitaIsland
Just made me sad.
I'll always, always love the Vita for giving me the chance to play the Persona series.
Anon y Mous same here
sony betrayed me with the vita. not only did sony make the vita fail, but any future handhelds from them will fail cause I and many others aren't falling for their lies again. False advertising was everywhere for the vita, 3G was a joke and a waste of time and money, memory cards were a hidden atrocity, and they gave up after 1 year and stopped making 1st party games. Vita was the first flop I ever bought and never again.
The used 3g when tech was going into 4g. That's like making a handle now that only supports 4g when 5g is around the corner.
I just bought a switch. It hurts man. It’s just a fully realized Vita...oh what could have been
I really think that the memory card situation was a big part of the Vita's failure. Most gamers knew that the ridiculously priced 32GB card ($120) was the minimum for a good experience in which you could have a small library of games in your pocket and not constantly have to delete and install. Who would happily pay that when SD cards of the same capacity were half the price?
the memory cards were a huge factor ofc, but from what I remember back then it really was the $50-$60 price tag for vita games that killed it. Ppl just weren't interested in the idea of AAA mobile games when you could get Gameloft knock offs for free on iphones in 2012.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Class Action Lawsuit for people who bought the Vita at launch. We all got a $25 check in the mail because Remote Play was not available at launch.
I almost pulled the trigger on getting a Vita so many times over the year. As late as Q4 2016. I really wanted one but I'm not a big indie gamer (nor was I into Persona at the time). I've only see one in person once and the thing is a beauty, no doubt a fantastic piece of hardware. But like Colin said, the pricing and support from Sony wasn't adequate and wasn't there
It’s worth picking up now. I got one for 60 bucks. I hacked that thing, was able to throw a regular SD card in there, and now it is PACKED with PS1, PSP, and Vita games. It’s a really cool complimentary system.
@@leeartlee915 The main game I was interested in was Persona 4 Golden and now that it's coming to consoles, ik I'll never get a Vita, not that I still planned on getting one anyway. That's a system that just past me by
@@presidentc4 Sure. Myself, I like to tinker. I find it fun to have a bunch of different hardware laying around with different software thrown onto them. Makes life interesting to mix things up.
I'm an extreme early switch adopter with 20-30 physical games at this point. I JUST imported my very first Vita about a month ago and I'm in love with it. It's currently supporting my rerun of the Final Fantasy franchise as well as taking over for my PS2 run of Persona 4 that I abandoned as soon as I realized there was a portable option. Coincidentally, I've been seeing a lot more people talking about Vita recently. The visuals and high audio fidelity on my test run of Persona 4 Dancing really blew me away and I'm eager for my future with the system. The catalog ended up being unbelievably up my alley. For anyone who is or was curious, like me, below is a list of games that are playable on Vita via physical copy or PSN that I've purchased or am planning on purchasing.
Gravity Rush
Odin Sphere
Final Fantasy I through X
Dragon's Crown
Danganronpa V1, V2, UDG & V3
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
Persona
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Persona 3: Portable
Persona 4: Golden
Persona 4: Dancing All Night
Ys: Memories of Celceta
Ys: 1 & 2 Chronicles
Ys: Seven
Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Resogun
I know this library isn't for everyone but boy am I thankful for a portable console that supports these games I love so much. Thank you for the great video, Colin.
Sony was why the Vita failed. Both them and Nintendo made missteps with their handhelds regarding pricing, software support, marketing issues, etc. But Nintendo doubled down and fixed these problems, Sony did not. If Sony was more aggressive, perhaps they could have finally bested Nintendo, or at least further close the gap than they did with PSP. Sony got lucky with the PS4 doing well.
Jeeses99
PS4 online DESTROYS nintendo and their "online service"
The connection is ok,worse than Xbox,but DESTROYS nintendo
PS Plus sucks,can't deny that
I like the PS4 controller,it is good for shooters
Good thing I played fortnite on my gaming PC and not my PS4
you may not like the PS4 exclusives,but they are great.GoW and HoZ are on the level on nintendo exclusives
Nintendo always have a winning chance. 3DS has a horrible start but no way was people was gonna skip any of Nintendo first party. Vita at the start did have some good first party but people is not looking to play uncharted on handheld. Not to mention Custom firmware made some of PSP sales and although Vita does have CF, their MS kill everything.
"Mediocre exclusives"
At least you don't need to plug your headphones to your phone to your console in order to use party chat. Crossplay is a thing between Xbox and Nintendo because they're the underdog. Specifically Xbox. Last gen Sony wanted to do crossplay and the Xbox division denied them. I prefer Sony's exclusives because they're great and interesting to me
If I may ask, what did Nintendo do to fix their problems that Sony didn’t? Thank you in advance. I still use my Vita these days, along with my PS4.
Colin, I don’t catch many of your videos and do see you in the occasional argument on Twitter 😆 I must say, you are one of the most clearest and eloquent presenters/creators around.
You speak so well and clearly have a strong background and education in English literature or journalism.
Well done and keep it up.
I've worked for at&t for 4 years now. So the end of this was pretty funny. Lol
Big ups to Limited Run and Japanese publishers for extending the Vita's life for many years. It's because of you I still play my Vita on a daily basis. Sony should have released the Vita with 100 gigs of internal memory. Unit 13 was a fantastic handheld shooter and Zipper should have been praised not shutdown.
Idiotic Tirades 100 GB of internal storage in any handheld would be ridiculously costly
Shadow Flare
120 gb sd card is $39.99 retail at best buy. Sony could have gotten the cost way down due to bulk discounts/no retail mark up. I understand the cost for 100gb would have been a little higher when Vita was released but look at the cost of their stupid proprietary cards. I stand by my statement that 100gb of memory should have been built in with the option to expand. The cost of vita memory cards severely hampered Vita digital sales on psn.
I bought a vita on launch. It's my homebrew console. Still loving it!
I remember that article you wrote for ign. You were unfairly criticized, and it really did seem like the vita was destined for success. I was a diehard 3DS fan, and your article hyped me for the vita. I love handheld gaming more than console, but people get too emotional over their hobbies.
I think the only differance is that Vita had Proprietary memory cards, if they used micro sd, people like me wouldve bought one, and people would have bought more games, which would have made sony support it more, on the other end of the spectrum, imagine if the switch had proprietary memory cards with the largest card sold in the US being 32 gigs and cost around 100 bucks? The switch would have suffered the same fate
Man the memory card prices still burn me up inside lol also not having a proper L2 and R2 buttons on the back
Is there an octopath review coming soon ? I hope so , I’m loving the game so far . It’s not perfect but it’s the battle system and the micro stories told in it are keeping me hooked. Hope to see a video on here soon , and looking forward to ur thought . Much love Colin thanks for all that u do
My issues are this. not in order.
1. Memory card prices sucked until the new hacks came out recently
2. Lack of L2 add R2 for playing games from ps4.
3. Lack of first party games.
4. i kind of dislike the JRPG games. Prefere western style RPG.
5. C.O.D sucked
6. Lack of AAA games after 2 years.
7. Couldn't connect dualshock to play vita games. My hands are large. Also just been fixed since hack came out.
8. Lack of HDMI out
9. Proprietary charginging cable on oled vitas.
You nailed it! The only point I SLIGHTLY disagree with is number 4.
VITA NEVER DIES! I'd like to point out that the modding and homebrew scene for the vita has become outstanding. From day 1 in 2016 when the machine was finally cracked, content has never stopped releasing. From the ability to use up to 256(!)GB of memory via SD cards, to amazing overclocking potential that markedly improves many games thought unplayable, there has never been a better time to try and pick up a vita. Any vita. Even the PSTV.. They can all be jailbroken with ease.
I am disappointed the Vita didn't do better because I feel Nintendo needs the competition. I agree with all the points you made. I think another thing that hurt it is that the Sony studios that could have been making vita games were tied up making PS4 games. Even if you look at Nintendo? They too struggled to support two systems at the same time. When the 3DS was getting content? WiiU was a barren landscape and vice versa. To play Nintendo games you almost had to own both machines otherwise you'd be faced with long droughts of software.
I do think despite the Switch's success it has a number of issues that I hope they address. The Switch launched with a paltry 32gb of internal storage. You can use an SD card up to 2tb in the future though. However, the Switch has no way to save data to an SD. Instead you are forced to pay $20 a year for their online just to access cloud saves. The ability to backup save data locally should be standard on any modern device.
The other problem is there are growing reports that people are having their Switch 'crack' or warp from the heat. It makes me wonder if we are looking at a similar situation like the PS3 had where it had an inadequate heatsink. Even more troubling is that Nintendo are trying to pass it off as accidental damage from mishandling of the system and have the audacity to charge damned near 2/3 of the system's initial price to fix it (as reported by VG247 and Nintendo Life).
I may pick up a VITA at some point on the cheap to use as a legacy system for games like MG: HD Collection and legacy content.
Loved the Beautiful Mario art to avoid UA-cam bullshit XD.
First off, HUGE fan, you always present a great analytical style and I'm always excited to see an upload from yourself . Although, if possible I'd like to suggest you take an informed look at the Homebrew capabilities of the PS vita as it stands in 2018.
Piracy aside (which is obviously deplorable and to the detriment of both consumers and developers), the other innovations have made the PS Vita a much more robust and complete offering. In many ways, the Vita Homebrew scene has delivered on the promise and potential of the Vita in ways Sony actively worked to prevent.
Other third party solutions like the remote play assistant from Hori (widely available in Japan) also filled gaps from the last of additional physical buttons and the comfort complaints of the form factor, I use one personally and it's revelatory for the system (especially when using remote play) www.play-asia.com/remote-play-assist-attachment-for-playstation-vita-slim/13/70a3hf
The headline quality of life/valuable features delivered by HomeBrew that I'd draw you to include:
1) Standard MicroSD card support through the SD2Vita adapter, allowing you to use a MicroSD up to 2tb much like the switch (400gb currently available) to download, store and play your games from. This works for legitimate titles you own and download from the PSN store and acts as a way to make the PS vita a truly portable solution with a full digital library (with the average game only 500mb - 3gb)
2) Adrenaline (Native PSP Operating System Boot)... Using Adrenaline you can choose to either boot your PS Vita into the Vita Operating system or, switch over and run it as a PSP. This means access to all PSP games that you own on your PSN account regardless of Sony flagging them as Vita compatible or not (making it a great addition for anyone with a comprehensive library from the previous handheld generation). Adrenaline also supports all PSX, PSP iso and rom files so if you own a UMD or PS1 game and wanted to play a backup on the go, enjoying the portability and enhanced visuals offered by the PS Vita then it's possible.
3) PC Remote Play through both Steam Link and Nvidia Gamestream (PS Vita Moonlight)... In the same way that you can use your PS vita for PS4 remote play, the Moonlight App allows PC players the same benefit for their desktop and games library. It uses the buttons of the PS vita natively and makes steam exclusive indies a treat to enjoy on the handheld form factor (or making progress on bigger triple A games when you just want to kick back on the couch). This streaming works in 720p 60 fps and with no perceptible latency so really does give the full fat portable experience.
4) In the interest of keeping this brief I'd mention RetroArch last (I could expound on numerous other areas) which gives emulation of all previous consoles from early Atari up to PSX & N64 all at full speed and with a simple user interface. Obviously ROM emulation is an ethical grey area but I'd argue if you own the physical media elsewhere and it isn't available to purchase legitimately on the store then this is a great way to experience retro games in a slick portable form factor.
I hope you found this informative, I'm a HUGE Vita fan and the squandered potential demonstrated here by Sony always saddens me. Thanks for all the hard work and evangelizing you and your former colleagues did promoting this little workhorse and maybe the information above will convince others that there is still some life in the old girl yet!
Gary
Gary Diaz
But the video was about why Playstation Vita failed, not about whether you like it, whether it sucked, or whether it's improved over the years. It *_did_* fail, so.......
nintendo third party.... haha, they have waaay too much money piled up for that to become a reality in the near future.
Right, but if you were listening and are able to comprehend, you'd understand that Colin was talking about a time when Nintendo would *not* have had such money piled up.
Jeeses99
Firstly, the comment you're relying to has nothing to do with third parties putting games on the switch, it's about Nintendo licensing their IP's to third parties to put on other systems.
Secondly, your second comment is so stupid it doesn't even pass the muster of basic common sense. It doesn't matter if you think PS4 and Xbox1 are "that powerful"- maybe they are, maybe they aren't, but they're certainly more powerful than the switch, so no, not all games made to run on the more powerful thing will run on the less powerful thing. Are you extremely stupid? Or just under 16 years old and don't really understand how things actually work?
Nintendo had money piled up generations ago... so what are you talking about. I suggest you take a look at nintendo operating income per fiscal year.
@@davecarsley8773 what? In time, Nintendo have the money piller up. 15 billion.
@@koopalibrary Lmao. I don't think you understand what "operating income" is. Try a college finance class and then come back.
Oh also, remember earlier this decade when Nintendo's president and entire board of directors all took pay cuts of up to 50% to avoid laying their people off amidst extremely hard times of poor financial health?
Always flush with cash, my friend? Yeah, real flush...
I agree with all of the points in the video but I think there's 2 major points that you're forgetting here.
1) Online Passes. Vita had online passes for every Sony published game up until Killzone Shadowfall. This is during a time when online passes were getting a very bad stigma and even companies like EA were removing them. Despite this, Sony stubbornly stuck with online passes on Vita for almost 2 years after Vita launched.
2) The mobile market. While I definitely agree 3DS had a pretty big impact on Vita sales, what actually had a much bigger impact was the mobile market. I can't even began to tell you how many hardcore Playstation only gamers I know that skipped Vita and even 3DS and said if they want to play games portably, they'll play them on their phone. Even to this day, there are plenty of people I know who have no interest in a Switch and will just game on their phone for portable gaming. Mobile took a HUGE chunk of the dedicated gaming market. Yes, Sony messed up with Vita. Yes, Nintendo messed up with the Wii U and even 3DS. Yes, Microsoft messed up with the XB1. And yes, some gamers migrated to different platforms such as PS4 and PC. However, mobile took an even larger portion of the market, especially when it came to casuals and gamers who would just get a single device from their preferred brand.
I'll never forget how excited I was to get my Vita on launch day. I'll also never forget how none of my friends got one cuz once you add up all the necessities (the handheld, mem card, at least one game, screen protector/case) the price was over $400. I can count on one hand all the people I personally know who got one. Love the hell out of this portable but the Switch has claimed the handheld throne and is the Vita dream fully realized.
does anyone else miss videos like this?
I think Kaz's jacket is a bit large.
Isn't this that guy from kinda funny games who was dead wrong about the nintendo switch and how it was suppose to fail and backed tracked to make himself look better
Please tell those stories about Resistance Burning Skies and COD BOD Colin, I’m curious about how they were treated. I really wish I could go back and change so many things about the console. I’ve gotten many many hours of fun out of it and still do, but it’s embarrassing seeing how big it could’ve truly been.
The slow zoom on "Mario's" face will forever haunt my nightmares, thanks
The number one thing for me was the proprietary memory cards with inflated prices. If that one, singular thing had been different I would have bought a Vita day one. If they put out another handheld tomorrow without that proprietary memory stipulation and with proper L&R triggers, I'd be in there 100%.
I used my Vita mostly for remote play. Some PS4 games had proper support for it where others just broadcasted to it with awkward controls. Destiny 1 played really good on it
i remember back in 2005, i wasn't shocked at how widespread piracy on psp was. wonder if sony could sell a 100 dollars vita with a subscription service like bo Gamepass trial, then it's $5-7 after.
I feel there are 3 key reasons:
1: Proprietary memory (with astronomic prices) killed the momentum of its good price. Everyone was tired of this sh*t
2: Lack of good games, and good game philosophy. Sony never really "got" the game design philosophy of handheld gaming(all their 1st party are more like downsized home console games), and relied heavily on 3rd party (which evaporated with low sales).
3: The handheld gaming market had shrunk, a lot. Even the master of handheld gaming, Nintendo, have thrown in the towel on a pure handheld. Even if the PS Vita didn't mess up points 1 & 2, at best it would have sold half what the PSP did.
Nintendo will dominate the handheld market for as long as they keep milking their first party title.
The handheld market had shrunk during the time of vita??? Vita sold 80 million units. It's competition sold 150 million units. I don't think diminishing market was the problem, bud.
@Jeeses99 nearly none of your games mentioned good above is online multiplayer friendly and it eventually killed my interest of digging hours on vita. UMVC3 and Wipeout 2048 have nice cross platform multiplayer but unfortunately it is difficult to beat ps3 due to inferior control and framerates. Not to mention a lot of people switch to ps4 already so even cross platform matchmaking takes ages.
Killzone Mercenary was easily the best mobile shooting game and still the best mobile shooter as of today. Too bad its learning curve is huge and they never thought about updating a pve mode (like Salmon Run in Splatoon 2) so people get scared away by the bad pvp experience and probably never touch the online feature again. People generally can spend 1000 hours on zombies in COD and i would never understand why Sony decided to let KZM totally skipped it. Even Nintendo is smart enough to make salmon fish zombies for squid people to shoot. It can totally keep the online multiplayer community alive.
.... so could you tell us about Burning Skies and Black Ops Declassified from a development standpoint? I'd love to hear those stories haha
I agree on like everything you said. For all the great things the Vita brought, so many weird decisions regarding both hardware, software and the long-term strategy were made. It's almost like they had an internal competition at Sony with the rules being they had to make the best handheld gaming console ever and then as quickly as possible let it crash and burn.
"Nintendo get's way too much praise and way too many passes from mainstream games press..."
You were around during the Wii U years right? Nintendo got slammed left and right for years. Especially from people like you who worked at IGN. You know... mainstream games press. Come on dude...
Just because one (bad) console got (rightfully) dissed doesn't make his larger statement invalid. If I said that french fries are too salty, but for a couple years I had good-tasting ones, it doesn't change anything about what I said.
Justin Bourguignon riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhtttttt.....
Nintendo is always the most hated console on the market.On PS4 videos,people were dissing the switch.Nintendo is such a hated company by casuals and gamers alike.Not even EA is like that
joe shmoe What? Not even
Mizzah Tee Show
Do you have an extremely low IQ? Or are you just under 16?
Near worked well enough for me, it was like streetpass, but the version where you go to best buy or burger king, and it matched you up with people who had previously gone to that best buy or that burger king, but it did this with entire streets in towns that you had traveled down. It would look at who had recently also had an automated GPS checkin on that street, then street-pass you with those people. Unfortunately, it did seem to sometimes get street names mixed up, like 1st street in one town with 1st street in a different town, but it worked pretty well most of the time.
I posted at the time that if you considered the vita memory card to just be selectable internal memory to reduce the number of SKUs, that it compared very favorably to other devices on the market for the amount of storage you got for the total price of the unit. Unfortunately instead of comparing an 16 gig Vita to a 16 gig iPhone, 16 gig iPod, or a 16 gig Droid 2, people stripped the total cost out and only compared the memory cards to each other, comparing the ridiculously bad SD cards with their enormous counterfeiting problems and race-to-the-bottom quality and pricing to the single sourced Vita cards with no counterfeiting problem. If enough vitas and cards had been sold to get the economies of scale going, the prices would have come down the same way that the MSDuo prices kept falling, but the controversy around it was noisy enough to keep the sales from emerging, and thus kept the memory card prices from dropping. The whole memory card thing though was basically just giving the developers what they wanted, given that the MSDuo's multisourcing and slightly more open nature allowed them to more easily pirate games on the PSP.
AT&T is awful... it was a mistake to tie themselves to that, but that was also what iPhone did when they launched. I'm on AT&T, not by choice, and it's the worst cell provider I've ever used.
Haha I’ll never forget that boo for AT&T! I was in the audience and it was unreal.
Seeing as I was basically born playing a GBA and grew up with the DS and the 3DS (Only briefly owning a PSP I regret selling), and now awaiting the arrival of my vita from Ebay, I'm excited to see what I've been missing considering I've had such a big nintendo bias since it was all I used to play.
If anyone knows any games I should check out, let me know! definitely excited and I'm gonna try and get a PSP next
There were lots of little mistakes, but hands-down the #1 error that killed the Vita was proprietary memory cards and the outrageous cost of them.
Did he said that people want Nintendo want to go third party
Wow that's dumb no wonder he was wrong about the vita
Still play it everyday. There's new games released almost every week (mostly small indie/graphic novel types) but great games like Iconoclasts, Stardew Valley, Cosmic Star Heroine, and in a few weeks Chasm. It's not dead to me.
For one thing, at least, Vita will become a rare collectible to find. In fact, it probably is, especially the 1st gen Vita's w/OLED screens. Those are hard to find and pricey in Ebay.
Adding the Switch to the conversation is interesting as I think everyone has a different view on what sort of gaming machine it actually is. Is it a handheld? Yes. I know people who pretty much only play it portable. Is it a home console? Sure. I know people who only play it docked. But compare it the other players in the industry and suddenly it becomes a rather confusing jumble of concepts. Leave it to Nintendo to be march to their own drum.
ariwl1 I think 8s fair to compare Vita with the Switch, but a better comparison should be with the 3DS. Switch is a different monster all together, in fact, Nintendo is its own thing all together in the videogame industry.
ariwl1
I'll never understand what confuses people about the switch. *It is a handheld, period* . It just happens to be able to hook to your TV (as other handhelds before it had).
Vita is a cool little platform. I didn’t pick one up until 2021 but after reading about how easily it could be hacked, I was all over it. My only real complaint is the size of the screen. Maybe modern phones or the Switch has spoiled me but it’s kind of a postage stamp. Even the 3DS XL is better in this way due to the vertical real estate. But yeah, it’s a cool little device.
That memory card price killed it. I didn't buy as many games because of that also things like only allowing one account made the vita not as enticing as its home console counterpart.
Still blows my mind a couple years in they didn't release one with R2/L2 and no touchpad. I feel that could have jolted the thing back to life. Vita had some killers apps. Golden Abyss is I think unquestionably better than Uncharted Drake's Fortune. I think about an alternate universe with an R2/L2 model and MicroSD support, and you can think they may have been Switch before the Switch. Remote play would have certainly been more adopted.
I got a Nintendo ad on this video
Controls... just make the best possible 1) analogue sticks, 2) shoulder buttons, and 3) face buttons. Neither Nintendo or Sony have done this for their handhelds. They often sacrifice these for aesthetics or size, but I value the quality of the controls over those two things. One can only wish.
Just subscribed to the new podcast! Miss the old "Beyond!" days...
Idk why, but I always seem to come back to this video and watch it again....
Because Switch was marketed as a console (not sure if it was in the US though).
It also has better games or atleast more approachable big games, franchises with big fanbases (Zelda, Mario).
Vita pretty much had 1 with Uncharted, not many people in the west will buy an expensive handheld for jrpgs and indies.
Timppa 3 na it was memory
Just bought a Sapphire Blue PS Vita 1000 and installed Henkaku 3.65 with sd2vita. No regrets.
Man it hurts, I followed every bit of NGP coverage up until the release and everything after. Expensive Memory cards and the fact that they didn't get better Devs to make the COD and Resistance (One reason I try not to surpport Activision) game was such a bummer, I still played them waiting for fixes but not much patches came sadly. I told myself maybe they would make a slim version with SD Cards and internal storage for saves and that they did, But they didn't treat it more than a legacy device.
the memory cards killed the vita
If Sony are going to continue in the handheld market I think they should make a smartphone handheld hybrid. A few companies have made task specific smartphones for gaming and photography. This seems to be the way forward with mobile devices. The idea of combining the power of the Vita with a smartphone appeals to me. As long as it was supported properly with 1st and 3rd party games and was designed to have tactile controls. Also not using too many proprietary accessories as I think that was the downfall of the Vita with the memory cards.
The inflated costs due to the memory cards are exacly why I stayed away from the Vita. I have on now, and use it for specific classcs, but I only got it after I got a killer deal on the second Version of the Vita, that included a PSN gift card, a memory card with a large amount of storage, ad a "shell" add on that adds controller handles and about double to triple battery life, for only $150.
I believe that if they have anoither go, remove all gimmicks, that they'll be able to release a better hand held, without the inflated prices and have better chance at succeeding.
Picked up some Squaresoft classics over the weekend for Vita. Best place to play them, if you ask me.
Really enjoyed that video. I loved my Vita so much so that I even bought PS TV so I could play Persona 4 and Trails of Cold Steel on the big screen. Alas it wasn't to last for ever as the support for both machines just dwindled. No regrets though as I played many hours of great games including the very underrated Uncharted whick I think is better than Drake's Fortuna on PS3.
Should have had 4 shoulder buttons. I had one to play ps1 games and it was constantly frustrating using the back touchpad.
Letting everyone know the vita can be hacked on all firmware versions. Please use the oled screen people!
I Really wanted a Vita, I was working full on /full off. It would have been really nice during the downtime,
The memory killed it. It was insulting.
My personal story with Vita has a sad ending. I have bought and sold two Vitas. I wanted so badly fall in love with the device and use it all the time but I found that the games that could keep my attention for very long were few and far between. I did love that most of the PSOne classics were available but again I just wasn't drawn to the device and the old games weren't enough to keep me coming back. After it sat for long months without any play I sold it. A year later bought another, and again after a brief honeymoon phase it sat unplayed and ended up sold again. I'm going the Raspberry Pi route to play any retro PS games that I want to play now I'm ok with that for now. I really hope Sony decides to try again at the handheld space. There is a definitely a space that is a smaller more portable version of the switch that Sony could fight for a share of. I think they would be foolish to not put up a fight to Nintendo with a next generation handheld, if they don't try they are just handing Nintendo the entire market.
There were plenty of commercials showing the vita being able to play ps4 games. I remember when one of the Mlb the show games came out they had commercials with a guy playing a game at home then continuing playing it while on the train, its what made me interested in buying a vita.
Once I have steady income i can't wait to start voting on the episodes those were some great video concepts
They should have used a universal memory card
The closest I got to buying a Vita was when the PS4 launched. Then some videos showed how remote play wasn't working right.
How do I skip that 1 minute ad at the beginning.
11:13
Just look at how much Sega declined after going 3rd party Nintendo doing the same helps literally no one.
I have own a Vita since 2014, I played a few games back then. I abandoned the system due to my lack of personal time to play video games, I concentrated on ps4 and xbox one. Now that I'm having a bit more time for handheld gaming due to long daily trips to work, I'm not finding the vita catalogue to be that good, compared to the psp. I ended up buying final fantasy tactics, tactic ogre and persona 3 portable so at this time it is a psp with a nice screen, apart from Persona 4 Golden and Uncharted Golden Abyss, I don't find any other reason to own a vita.
Vita just came out at a bad time. I remember I got mine, day 1, loved it. I played it more than my PS3. But I remember powering it on and going to the store and looking for new games or apps daily. Then it dawned on me, I was expecting to be more like a smartphone than a handheld. 2011/2012 was pretty much right smack dab in the middle of the rise of the smart phone. It kind of messed with my expectations
The memory cards really hurt the Vita. It did not help that when Japan got a 65 GB Vita Memory Card it was not readily available here in the US. I have two 65 GB Vita Memory Cards and they are almost full but I am not going to spend the high cost to buy another Vita Memory Card. I still love my Vita and love the Flash Sales on PSN for Vita games but it is sad that Sony did not support Vita like Nintendo did with the 3DS and like they are now doing with the Switch.
I was thinking of getting a vita recently but despite doing some research I couldn't really find out what the situation is with playing retro games on it i.e. psone classics. Is there a good library of older classic games to play on the vita? I am in Europe btw if that would effect the store.
I bought a Vita for 100$ on eBay it's a powerful little handheld but it's too big for my small hands, the memory cards are absurdly expensive and the handheld itself is unnecessarily expensive
I was playing my VITA on a car trip yesterday. Got stuck on a fight in Severed, decided to try Child of Light....error. Restarted the VITA, error again. Let's try Bastion instead "error connecting to PSN". Okay, I know Lara Croft Go works, I already got the Platinum in it.....nope "error". Got home and tried Child of Light with my VITA connected to WIFI and it worked.
Why am I getting errors on single player games because they can't connect to PSN?
It was very frustrating. I hope it isn't my VITA, but it seemed to be something about the games trying to connect to PSN.
Nice job Colin. This subject has been covered so many times at this point I felt like there wasn’t much to contribute, but this is probably the best history of Vita’s lifecycle I’ve seen + knowledge from an insider.
Did I just hear to not have ads we have to go on patreon? Wasn't your original idea to be crowd funded only? Still like the shows just wondering, I love my switch, wanted a vita though
While a AAA focus is interesting, people want more bitesized games. More games like Patapon, Persona and Need for Speed, and less ports. While it is good to see, no one would buy a vita when they can play some of these AAA games on consoles, like Borderlands 2 and Uncharted
I need to get a Vita in my life again. I had to sell mine earlier this year. Hopefully I'll have one in my possession again soon
Maybe the Vita was ahead of it's time. If it launched now with an iPhone like SKU structure and inbuilt memory of say 32/64/128 gigs of RAM, I'm sure it would be a success. Add a built in PS2 modded chip to say run old classics in an emulator.
proprietary memory cards are a cardinal sin.
Killzone Mercenary and WipeOut 2048 are the best mobile FPS/Racing games ever created.
It is a treasure. I still bring it on every trip.
Colin is right once again..Awesome breakdown of the Vita! ⚡⚡⚡
Those memory cards were the reason I avoided it. I thought both the 3DS and Vita were not good, But when 3DS starting coming with the games it became one of the best handhelds of all time. I just hope Nintendo supports the Switch like they did the 3DS
I love my vita
Every couple of weeks or so I go on eBay or other sites to shop around hoping to find a reasonably priced 64 GB card to load all my games on when the PSN store is inevitably unsupported by the Vita.
Totally lost it on the long, slow Mario zoom.
Hahahahaha
All my life I never wanted a portable gaming device. Now being an adult I can understand and appreciate the appeal of having games on the go. Some phone games are fine to pass a little time but what about those times where I have hours to waste? (Stupid social gatherings) I would love a new portable PlayStation device that would allow me to play all or at least most exclusive games, even if it would have less graphical power. Of course I would only buy such a device if it was small enough to fit in my pocket as I don't normally carry anything outside of them with me.