Uh...Are There Any Games Coming Out For The Vita At All?
See Full ImageAll game-oriented machines require games. That's an indisputable fact and one I thought Sony fully understood.
After all, they delayed the launch of the PlayStation Vita so as to have the "biggest launch ever" for any PlayStation platform (in terms of number of available titles). And that worked out relatively well; I believe there were 25 games on the store shelves when the Vita arrived, and initial sales really weren't bad if you look at the early numbers.
But sales didn't meet expectations in 2012 and I just noticed something else: I realized our Vita Preview section was getting a little thin and in fact, only five previews had been posted in the second half of last year. At first, I was like, "Woah, I totally faded on that!" and quickly set out to rectify the situation. After all, there must be quite a few games to look at, games that really need previews because they're coming out soon. But then I went to do the research and...what the hell?
There are only a small handful of games coming out for the Vita in the first half of 2013, and most are also coming to the PS3. The only upcoming title most people even care about at this point is Killzone: Mercenary (although some remember Tearaway from the E3 presentation), and we don't have a date for that. Nor do we have much in the way of concrete information. There's just nothing on the immediate horizon. How does Sony expect to sell any Vitas with no software? That's a pretty straightforward formula in my eyes and in the eyes of most analysts. Maybe the Vita missed its chance at landing more third-party support last year...
Thing is, Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified was an absolute disaster and what should've been the cream of the crop, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, was only "good." It wouldn't qualify as a AAA title and therefore might not move many Vitas. I guess if I were a third-party developer, I wouldn't have much faith in getting high sales for a Vita title, either. But even so, in looking at the 2013 slate, I hadn't expected it to be quite this bare. How depressing.
Tags: vita, playstation vita, vita games, vita software, vita sales
1/3/2013 10:34:09 PM Ben Dutka
Put this on your webpage or blog:
Email this to a friend
Follow PSX Extreme on Twitter
Comments (51 posts)
Pandacastro
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:19:43 AM
4 up, 0 down
TheAgingHipster
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 9:04:51 AM
4 up, 2 down
sawao_yamanaka
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 5:57:23 PM
1 up, 1 down
SaiyanSempai
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 7:04:06 PM
Right now it's:
Uncharted
Gravity Rush
Wipeout
Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 HD
Assassins Creed III Liberation
Pure Chess (because, well, I really like Chess)
and I haven't bought Persona 4 yet, but its definitely a must.
Yeah, I'm ok for now, but more must-have titles would definitely be appreciated.
0 up, 0 down
TheAgingHipster
Saturday, January 05, 2013 @ 10:24:13 AM
0 up, 0 down
bebestorm
Thursday, January 03, 2013 @ 11:21:27 PM
Reply
7 up, 1 down
Coffeya
Thursday, January 03, 2013 @ 11:29:37 PM
Reply
So yeah, I think no one is going to disagree with you on this one ben.
Last edited by Coffeya on 1/3/2013 11:30:52 PM
4 up, 2 down
Temjin001
Thursday, January 03, 2013 @ 11:32:55 PM
Reply
Right now the games I'd like to have on the platform includes,
NG: Sigma
NG: Sigma 2
DOA5 Plus
WipeOut
Killzone (If it reviews well enough)
Final Fantasy X
God of War (we can count on that, right?)
Uncharted Golden Abyss
A Madden game
That's all I can think of right now.
Not too shabby for my needs.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 1/3/2013 11:33:16 PM
2 up, 0 down
Excelsior1
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 6:27:07 AM
The Vita was forecast by StrategicAnalytics to sell 10 million units by the end of 2012 and could even manage 15 million units if Sony offered a price cut. The Vita barely managed to sell 3 million units in 2012 so something's wrong.
There is no doubt the Vita is lacking system selling software. 2013 is barren as hell as far as games go for the Vita. This is a major problem for Sony because games drive sustained hardware sales. The install base is so low that it makes difficult to attract third party support. Sony needs to get that install base up. A price cut helps in the short term but the Vita still needs software to drive sustained sales.
I remember when Sony announced they were having problems attracting publisher support for the Vita and they were meeting with publishers to garner support. I applauded the news at the time because Sony admitted they had a problem and it looked they were taking steps to address the problem. Well, it doesn't look those talks were very fruitful at all.
This is just a shame for Sony because the Vita is a powerful handheld with great controls. It's got twin analog sticks which makes it superior to all other handhelds but without games the Vita is in real trouble.
I got to side with Ben on this one. The Vita's software line up for 2013 is depressing. So what does Sony do now? Risk pulling first party developers off the PS3 and PS4 and put them on the Vita? I think that would be a big mistake because the consensus seems to be the handheld market is shrinking while the home console market is booming. That doesn't mean Sony can't open up their wallets and add developers to support the Vita. Whatever they do they need to do it quickly or they risk losing consumer confidence in the product not to mention publisher support. They are already in grave danger of both at this time.
There is already a model out there for Sony to follow when it comes rescuing a platform. Look at what Nintendo did with the 3DS. When sales became sluggish Nintendo quickly stepped in and slashed the price of the 3DS at great expense to themselves. One of the major reasons Nintendo cited when they did this is they needed to restore confidence in the platform or the risked losing publisher support. Now the 3DS is breaking sales records and is a an absolute success.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 1/4/2013 6:28:29 AM
3 up, 0 down
AcHiLLiA
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:06:09 PM
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 1/4/2013 1:09:01 PM
0 up, 0 down
Excelsior1
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 4:41:40 PM
1 up, 0 down
AcHiLLiA
Saturday, January 05, 2013 @ 1:08:30 AM
0 up, 0 down
firesoul453
Thursday, January 03, 2013 @ 11:45:49 PM
Reply
3 up, 0 down
Gamer46
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 12:15:41 AM
Reply
Last edited by Gamer46 on 1/4/2013 12:19:59 AM
1 up, 0 down
Gordo
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 12:37:22 AM
Reply
Should be fine for the next six months on the Vita but always appreciate the Sony AAA games and love from the 3rd Party Devs.
1 up, 0 down
shiroxkatsuya
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 12:47:16 AM
Reply
Last edited by shiroxkatsuya on 1/4/2013 12:47:37 AM
1 up, 1 down
Pandacastro
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:22:17 AM
Reply
Last edited by Pandacastro on 1/4/2013 1:23:33 AM
0 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:24:22 AM
Reply
One can only hope things will change after the PS4 is launched!
2 up, 0 down
telly
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 2:18:23 PM
0 up, 0 down
Lawless SXE
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 2:18:17 AM
Reply
We need someone to take charge of this situation and show that games on the Vita can sell if done properly.
1 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 5:24:16 AM
They don't have an endless amount of studios to develop for them, and a major new console launch right ahead. So without the 3rd party support what *can* they do, really.
0 up, 0 down
Lawless SXE
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 6:23:00 AM
I wish that I could see a way out for the portable, but without the games, people aren't likely to buy it, especially not when there is as much negative press for the device as there is. And without people buying it, how can you expect developers to put forth the resources to create a game for the device when they know that it isn't likely to sell. Until it sells more units, we'll either see more shoddy efforts like BlOps Declassified, or nothing at all. A dire situation indeed...
0 up, 0 down
Axe99
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 3:06:54 AM
Reply
BUT.... looking forward the cupboard is a little on the bare side. I personally don't consider games on more than one platform to be wasted releases, so Sly Cooper and R&C are worthy additions to the library, but even with them, I count:
Soul Sacrifice
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault
Tearaway
Killzone: Mercenary
As the 'big' games. I've read of a few smaller games heading its way as well (can't name 'em here, but PSN rather than full games - Kickbeat, Castlestorm, a few others, but my head's a bit putty at the moment).
Personally, with a PS3, PC and 360, I don't need a lot of Vita games - just enough to keep me happy on the go, so the above list is more than enough, but I suspect for many gamers there'll be wanting a bit more.
0 up, 0 down
Ultimadream
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 4:31:33 AM
Reply
I have to say Tearaway looked like a fun little title which really makes use of the Vita's controls, if anything we need more titles like that. Than just ports and spin offs of series that are on the PS3 - that's all the PSP did really take franchises of the PS2 and make fair games of them.
Last edited by Ultimadream on 1/4/2013 4:31:43 AM
0 up, 0 down
___________
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 6:30:36 AM
Reply
and its also exactly why i was so worried about $ony releasing it now.
they made a massive mistake, they should of either released it years ago, 2009 would of been great.
or delay it till the ps4 is out and you could use the vita as a marketing tool for the ps4, maybe use it as a cross screen like ninty has with the gamepad.
they put themselves in a awkward position where theres not many developers who can work on it,
all the studios are either busy with current gen games, and porting them over to the vita would be a bit of a financial risk.
or already working on next gen games where it would be a bit of a squeeze getting it running on the vita.
i keep saying theres a market for the vita, for dedicated handheld devices and i truly believe that because no matter how fast and far mobile gaming comes its never going to match it.
its like console to PCs, consoles keep moving forward and closing the gap than PCs leap forward and consoles have to start all over again.
there is a market out there for dedicated handheld devices, they just need the support behind them.
and sadly the vita cant have that simply because theres not enough studios out there to do it justice.
hopefully once the ps4 is out then we will start seeing allot more games for it.
but i cant see that happening for a while, developers are going to be spending all their resources on next gen titles so theres not going to be many crumbs left for the vita.
exactly why i keep pushing playstation mobile in the hopes that $ony will start putting pressure on developers to start bringing mobile games to the vita.
nova, modern combat, gangstar, 9mm, there are SOOOOOOOOOOOO many games out there that would be PERFECT for the vita!
yes there also available for mobiles, but developers could take advantage of the vitas offerings things mobiles dont have.
that would be enough for people to say no ill spend a bit extra and get the vita version.
for the vita to survive until developers can start giving it the big budget games it deserves, $ony seriously needs to be reaching out to the IOS and android market, reach out to indie developers and give them a white rose to bring the love over.
the vita will get pleanty of big party support, and pleanty of big budget games, but just not yet developers are too focoused and busy on next gen titles to be worried about the vita.
bioshock a perfect example, ken has said so many times if its going to be done he wants his team to do it.
which is why we have heard nothing on it because their busy with infinite.
its not that developers dont want to work with the system, they do, its just that at the moment there busy with bigger and better things.
$ony could not of released the vita at a worse time!
it would of been great if the vita released in 09, where the PSP started getting its best games.
GOW GoS, resistance retribution, KHBBS, the PSP saw a influx of support from developers that would of been the ideal time to release the vita.
GoS looking how it did on the PSP, god imagine what id be like on the vita!
makes me a very sad panda that ready at dawn keep saying they dont want to work on GOW anymore.
:(
1 up, 6 down
FatherSun
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 11:13:13 AM
Reply
God of War.
Metal Gear.
Final Fantasy.
Infamous
Resident Evil.
Tomb Raider.
Twisted Metal.
Burnout.
Gran Turismo.
Monster Hunter! Cut Nintendo's throat Sony. Just like they did to you.
Call of Duty: Black Ops/Modern Warfare. A TRUE offering. Declassified was not a real game. Was it? I swear, conspiracy theories aside.. does anyone ever get the feeling that Activision wishes Sony to disappear? Does the relationship with MS interfere with its desire to support PlayStation? Inquiring minds want to know. All I know is if they simply PORTED BLOPs-II we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But that would SWAY players away even from the Xbox versions because of the possibility of playing COD PS3 vs Vita! Hmmm.
GRAND THEFT AUTO! Must I elaborate on this?
3 up, 1 down
CrusaderForever
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:06:49 PM
However, the PS3/Vita/PS4 are money in the bank for the obvious money hungry Activision. I don't think they want anyone out of the game that brings them more money. Declassified was a major misstep by Activision. The Vita version should have been done by Treyarch. Hopefully we'll get a MW4 Clone for the Vita or a completely new game built from the ground up with all the older maps plus newly created maps.
1 up, 0 down
SaiyanSempai
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 7:09:56 PM
0 up, 0 down
Deleted User
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 11:21:28 AM
Reply
I've seen the PS Vita in action and it's an amazing piece of hardware. However, if there isn't anything to play on it then it's hard to recommend. There's some good games as is but there isn't that killer app exclusive to the Vita yet. I wonder if perhaps companies are so short on money that they can't develop two games for two platforms and have chosen the console or if the market is so saturated with handhelds that it's difficult to gain a foothold. These days, a lot of people are content playing their games on their fancy telephones than buying a 3DS or Vita.
I certainly hope the latter half of 2013 sees more software. We can only wait and see.
0 up, 0 down
CrusaderForever
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 12:38:48 PM
Reply
Soul Sacrifice
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault
Tearaway
Killzone: Mercenary
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Rainbow Moon
Not to mention I still haven't bought the following:
P4G
Zero Escape
Metal Gear Collection
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
BlazBlue
Sine Mora
MvC3
Silent Hill (Loved the demo)
Also there are probably some titles that will be announced during E3.
I can see the Vita having a place with the PS4 as well. Maybe even packaged with the PS4. But according to a lot of gamers Vita = Doom and Gloom. Nothing new here.
I am having a blast with ACIIIL going for my Platinum! There is a lot of fun to be had with PS1 and PSP classics as well. You just have to change your view point.
3 up, 0 down
PoopsMcGee
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:00:42 PM
I bought my Vita over the Summer and haven't put it down since. Plenty of content I haven't even gotten to yet (P4G for god's sake). Right now I'm starting Liberation and MGS collection on top of rotating in Hot Shots, Retro City Rampage, Wipeout and I just downloaded Chonovolt for free from PSPlus (looks awesome).
So I don't think content is the problem for now...
1 up, 0 down
PoopsMcGee
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:10:53 PM
1 up, 0 down
CrusaderForever
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:12:37 PM
ACIIIL is an incredible game. People need to remember it's on a handheld which makes it a marvel period. I have really enjoyed the story as well. ACIIIL could have benefited from a good 3 months more dev time but I am fine it.
P4G wow, I know, I cannot believe I don't own it yet. I am still working my way through P3P which is why I haven't bought P4G yet.
I haven't played Retro Rampage or Chornovolt yet but I have them pseudo-downloaded for future use.
1 up, 0 down
CrusaderForever
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:19:11 PM
I would die if I could play the following from remote play:
Demon's Souls/Dark Souls
Kingdoms' of Amalur Reckoning
Skyrim
Dragon's Dogma
Black Ops II (Like the WiiU)
Sacred 2 Fallen Angel
Borderlands 2 (However I bet this is being ported the Vita as I type this)
God of War III
Dishonored
The list goes on!
1 up, 0 down
sawao_yamanaka
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 5:59:47 PM
Last edited by sawao_yamanaka on 1/4/2013 6:00:56 PM
2 up, 0 down
sawao_yamanaka
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 6:03:53 PM
1 up, 0 down
SmokeyPSD
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 7:43:07 PM
That needs to be turned around into realities.
0 up, 0 down
CrusaderForever
Saturday, January 05, 2013 @ 9:16:22 AM
Yeah, you are correct, PSO2 is an exciting one that's for sure. Big Phantasy Star fan! That's interesting how your gaming skill differs from the Vita to the PS3. I never thought of that possibility! When I play through the MGS games they will be on the Vita for sure. So much fun!
0 up, 0 down
Siris86
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 12:55:14 PM
Reply
4 up, 0 down
CrusaderForever
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 1:00:36 PM
3 up, 0 down
telly
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 2:12:08 PM
Reply
That, or Sony is giving up and pulling the plug on the system a year into its Japanese release... but as rough as it's been for Vita, that's hard to believe.
1 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 3:29:48 PM
I think the question is more how much they will invest into keeping it alive. Will they do a new, heavy push for it, or just barely keep it afloat?
There's guaranteed to be some Vita-related features on the PS4, and some marketing efforts in those regards. But after that, if the 3rd party developers are still cold?
Last edited by Beamboom on 1/4/2013 3:30:18 PM
0 up, 1 down
Axe99
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 4:59:54 PM
0 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Saturday, January 05, 2013 @ 4:09:46 AM
Last edited by Beamboom on 1/5/2013 4:22:26 AM
0 up, 0 down
rjmacready
Friday, January 04, 2013 @ 6:31:55 PM
Reply
I'm guessing more good titles will be in the works soon...
0 up, 0 down
DazeOfWar
Saturday, January 05, 2013 @ 9:49:35 PM
Reply
That probably won't happen because I know I'll regret it later but Sony needs to do something about the very small amount of games coming. I do want KZ, Tearaway and Soul Sacrafice looks awesome but who knows when we'll see that stateside.
0 up, 0 down
jugheadjones
Sunday, January 06, 2013 @ 2:42:20 AM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
clue
Sunday, January 06, 2013 @ 12:58:20 PM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
caddock
Sunday, January 06, 2013 @ 2:35:51 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
cLoudou
Reply
Thursday, January 03, 2013 @ 11:15:30 PM
Also dont forget about some cross-buy games, but yeah, besides that it does look pretty barren.