During a recent talk, Shuhei Yoshida unpacked the reasons for PS Vita's poor market performance. Despite gaining appreciation for its innovative design elements, the handheld console struggled due to repeated poor strategic choices. The choice to use exclusive memory cards created additional charges that consumers had to pay to run the PS Vita. The device's market appeal declined because most potential buyers rejected the idea of spending more for it to function properly. The addition of a rear touchpad which was intended to improve the handheld gameplay, functioned inadequately because developers barely supported it. Despite inflating production expenses, this feature delivered insufficient value to the handheld gaming community.
According to Yoshida, Sony’s management of internal resources served as a significant determining factor. Because Sony's development teams were divided between PS Vita and PS4 releases, there weren't enough resources to create strong video game options for the handheld device.
Sony's final version of the Vita lost out on important versatility and market opportunity by lacking TV output functionality. According to Yoshida, gaming versatility might have expanded significantly with such functionality granting a competitive advantage amid the successful emergence of hybrid gaming systems such as Nintendo Switch.
FAQs
Why did the PS Vita require proprietary memory cards?
Sony implemented proprietary memory cards to protect security yet raised costs which turned away customers from buying them.
How did resource allocation affect the PS Vita?
Because Sony concentrated on both PS Vita development alongside PS4 production the handheld would go on to achieve a less impressive game catalog compared to other consoles.
What was the role of rear touchpad in PS Vita?
It was added to innovate the gameplay experience but the developers barely made use of it in their games.
Why was the TV output feature excluded in PS vita?
By not including this feature Sony sacrificed potential growth opportunities for their Vita which left it with less market competitiveness.