PS Vita is Japan’s most-desired console, says Famitsu poll

:sigh: If only it had an Apple logo on it and some shitty hipster marketing campaign… Sony would be RICH again.

Polls like this hint that over time, the Vita should enjoy PSP-like success in Japan. That’s the main reason I’m glad I have one. I am hopeful…

I think the result suggest what Vita most needs in Japan is a sizeable price cut.

@1 and 2,
Complete agree.

Hipster campaign incoming!

Vita is a great device hope it succeeds
come on Xseed bring dat Ys game to the west

It is most desired console because everyone already has 3DS.

price cut mandatory! Has nothing to do with a “hipster marketing campaign”, or the wrong logo. 64% already *know* what they want – they just can’t afford it.

They all wait for Monster Hunter 4 on VITA, once it’s been released….SONY will finally start making money

Over here though (UK), I’m amazed at how many people don’t even know what it is! These are non-gamers admittedly, but still. EVERYONE knows what a fucking Nintendo DS is, so Sony should’ve really pushed it more at launch (see my original hipster campaign comment).

Obviously a price-drop is key, but that’s not the only thing that will save it. I hate to keep referring to Apple, but people DO buy overpriced tech for the ‘prestige’. Sony need a way to tap into that, and/or a completely new marketing direction.

@ Erth – lol, nice

@7, Why should they? They have 3DS that will have Monster Hunter 4.

In Japan if you go to a store that is selling the Vita it will have filled shelves with games and extras to buy. You come to an European store there is 10 games or less and for extra there is the bag and screen protection…

When Europeans shops that bad, it is no strange the Vita do badly. But for those that do get the Vita, they will have an awesome experience and a very good handheld for gaming.

@8 & 10 … and what has it got to do with the topic? Famitsu (a gamers mag) did a poll! It has nothing to do with shitty marketing nor with empty european shelves. They already know, that a Vita is out. They are just waiting. And Its Sony’s job to find out *why* they didn’t bought it in the first place!

@11 – well your comment had nothing to do with the topic in that case! Relax man! The article makes no comment on WHY those 64% haven’t bought one yet. It could be a bunch of reasons other than cost.

Hmmm…I think this goes into my theory that the biggest thing holding the Vita back is the price. It was pretty much accepted by everyone that the Vita was going to destroy the 3DS, up until Nintendo made the brilliant move of cutting the price to a ridiculous level. That was all they needed to do to take out the legs from the Vita.

Everything about it looked better than the 3DS but with a price that low, how could anyone choose to pay an extra $100-something for it?

If Sony lowers the cost, it will pick up like crazy. But until they do, they can enjoy being the low man on the sales front.

@13 yeah, true. It still sort of baffles me that the 3DS has done those numbers whilst the Vita is crawling.

A quick Amazon UK search sees the 3DS XL @ £165.00, and the Vita Wifi @ £217.00. That’s a mere £50 extra for something that is frankly light years ahead tech-wise. Now I don’t know how these figures translate to Japan or the US, but it’s really not that big a gap. I know that games obviously factor in too, but there’s gotta be more to it than price alone…

Comparing it to the 3DS (games library aside) I think it’s a bloody good deal!

In a similar Famitsu survey some years back…

1. Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2, Square Enix) – 471 voices
2. Xbox 360 – 370 voices
3. Nintendo DS – 205 voices
4. Tales the Abyss (PS2, Namco) – 201 voices
5. Rogue Galaxy (PS2, Sony) – 172 voices
6. Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo) – 150 voices
7. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection – 111 voices
8. Biohazard 4 (PS2, Capcom) – 103 voices
9. Animal Crossing: Wild World (NDS, Nintendo) – 92 voices
10. Finally Fantasy IV Advance (GBA, Square Enix) – 36 voices

I’d suggest not giving too much heed to any numbers coming out of there.

Dickon, poor burning soul wrong as usual with his noisy PC and clunky Windows.

Too much turn based battles and poorly written cutscenes.

Nobody needs this useless, overpriced iPod. Most people don’t even play videogames, thus need a responsive, quality smartphone more than a pointless toy. You hardcore patients will never be able to grasp the concept.

@9 well VITA have 2 analogue sticks and better resolution. It will be easier to jump from PSP to VITA then to 3DS

@14 Could be the backwards compability of a whole DS catalogue, where Vita has … nothing.

EDIT: btw. I couldn’t find the poll. Does anybody know how many people actually took action?

@18
If you never had a PSP or rarely used one there is a wealth of cheap and good PSP titles to download from PSN onto your Vita.

#14 Not sure about Japan either, but in Korea the VITA is $40 more than you listed (memory cards are an additional $35-135), while the 3DS’s are the same price, making that gap somewhat wider.

Can’t see many people choosing either over a smart phone TBH, if my students gaming habits are anything to go by.

@19 I still have my PSP – and that’s quite frankly what disappoints me the most – I can not use my library of games on the Vita. There is still no way to play them. And I am not talking about some downloaded ISOs…

EDIT: whilst on my 3DSXL I (and my wife) can play all the DS games, I have on my shelf.

@15 – haha.. point taken.

With handhelds holding so much of the Japanese gamers attention, you’ve got to wonder what it’ll take for people to start shifting over to the Vita – especially when companies are still releasing PSP games and the PSP itself is still moving decent numbers.

Price, sure. But more than that I think it needs two or three really killer games. Games like P4G (if only it weren’t a port!). Get FFX-HD on there asap. Ensure ALL PSP games are compatible and supported. Provide some incentive for the devs producing great PSP games to move over onto Vita.
I couldn’t care less for lazy western cash-ins like Black Ops Declassified, and don’t even think Uncharted belongs on a handheld. That game was just boring, though I think that’s just my taste.

Rambling on a bit now eh… my bad

@20 Because phone gaming is overly expensive in it’s own right. You spend 100-600 for the phone and a phone bill that runs anywhere between 50-130 bucks a month? Honestly, I stopped playing games on phones pretty much for that alone.

Sure it was convenient at first but now it’s pretty much a WTH was I thinking spending that much on a phone,console, rent, insurances, and food? To play what? games that look like they are browser games? Pass

I actually think Soul Sacrifice is going to do really quite well when it comes out in Japan.

@22
I’ve got a copy of Uncharted(Vita) sitting on my PS3 ready to install (PS+ sub). Not got much inclination to do it yet though. Feel the same way, Uncharted is a TV experience – it doesn’t sit so well on a handheld.

@20
“Can’t see many people choosing either over a smart phone TBH, if my students gaming habits are anything to go by.”

I think there is somewhat of a demographic thing there. 3DS is better suited and targeted at a younger demographic who don’t necessarily have the smart phone option.

I just can’t wait for this thing to be canned, really aside from the deprived nerds and 12 years olds who on Earth would choose this overpriced media player with two analog sticks over a stylish, responsive iPad, let alone any of the top smartphones?

To play what, same pretentious tech demos you can run on PS3? Some of the best looking games for smartphones easily look better than most of the Vita rubbish.

@Deacon Uncharted GA was pretty boring. I started having more fun though when they brought Sully back in

@15 – That poll is more than a few years back. Considering that KINGDOM HEARTS 2 (!) is the most wanted game, you’re talking about the days before the PS3 was even announced! And if you remember, the 360 did sell a little bit in Japan when it had the exclusive JRPG’s. It wasn’t until they started getting ported to the PS3 that the 360 tanked over there.

@26
Awwww, did nobody bite first time round?

^You have to ask your overly passionate Sony friends that question.

I just wish I could outperform #1. But then the one with the bills is easily just as good.

@28
Yeah initially MS made quite an effort to woo the Japanese market. Stuff like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey with Mistwalker.

@31 – Yeah, it was before the media decided just to discredit Japan as much as possible.

Actually, come to think of it 12 years olds are already covered with the 3ds, since it’s universally appealing.. Hence that leaves Vita with the deprived crowd.. Not that great looking indeed.

What a joke.

Trust me, if they all wanted one, they would all buy one.

If someone asked 1000 people if they would like a BMW or an Audi, and the winner was a BMW…it wouldn’t mean anything. Not like people would would suddenly buy a BMW. There are reasons that everyone doesn’t have one.

Is Vita nice? Sure, would I buy one? Nope.

Drastic price cut and more games that interest me, then we will talk. I bet JPN feels the same way. The only thing this might show is how badly Sony has handled the Vita.

@24 Hmm, could be. Its not bad after all.

@OG
“Not like people would would suddenly buy a BMW. There are reasons that everyone doesn’t have one.”

Like price and errr …

An overpriced iPod clone wannabe (minus iTunes), overpriced software and basically a bunch of PS3 ports.

Not even the usual advertising campaign feat VP of bs and Kaz could save this failure. Even with all the lies and smoke and mirrors (remember, this is the company which tried convincing you that PS2 is faster than the original Xbox..) it’s agonizing death is inevitable.

The Vita is a great piece of hardware. I was an early adopter and sold mine early on, due to lack of games on the horizon. And still, one year later there is only Soul Sacrifice that attracts me. I think it all comes down to lack of original games. Great games sell hardware – it was and ever will be like that. Pricecut could help, though.

Soul Sacrifice should definitely boost sales, but Vita needs more than just one game on the horizon… and there just isn’t enough in the pipeline imo.

I agree OG. These ‘desirability’ lists mean nothing. On the other hand though at least it shows (on however small a scale) that it IS desirable. People do want one, there are just barriers to them taking the plunge (price & software).

If this gen has taught us anything it’s that no hardware release is a sprint. Obviously the handheld market is subject to somewhat different rules, but with the next Playstation around the corner and a slowly building library of games (some of which are truly brilliant) I’m pretty confident that things will be looking up in a year or 18 months.

If I’m wrong I’ll eat all the shit you can throw at me, including you DM (worth a mention for all the hard work you’ve put into this thread).

I honestly thought the 3DS was gonna tank. So did quite a lot of others on here.

I’d still dissuade people from buying one now (Vita that is), but I can see it becoming the go-to place for a lot of Japanese devs over the coming years. Which is great for those of us who tire of the same old Western gaming tropes.

Hmmm…you know, it occurs to me that when the PS3 was doing poorly, Sony pulled out all the stops to try to get people to buy one. Yet, when the Vita is doing poorly, they don’t seem too concerned. In fact, they seem almost lazy about it.

I wonder if it has something to do with the Vita being part of their overall PS4 strategy and they aren’t putting the real effort into pushing the system because it’s not time for it yet.

@39
Pipeline needs sales. I think at this stage if there is still desire then price is the major factor. At launch you can think about promise of what will come, a year later you know what’s there and if you still have the desire then the biggest obstacle is cost. With Vita this isn’t just initial cost but ongoing/additional cost too. Memory cards etc.

@39 – Dude, when you’ve got a dog that’s constantly shitting on the rug to get your attention, you don’t give it a treat.

I certainly don’t need any attention from barely articulate old men playing Tales of games..

@40
I think this could be linked to finances. At which point do they think “we can’t afford to drop the price” becomes “we can’t afford not to”. They can be quite stubborn about these things despite good evidence to the contrary on how well it worked out for Nintendo.

@Deacon agreed. Especially considering developement costs for next-gen consoles will be huge. And some developers will still hold on to buttons and analog sticks, confronted to touch only. But they won’t put money and effort in, when the install base is as small as of now.

Please, someone give attention to Da Man, he must be crying right now because you are ignoring him.

Now on topic: for me the price is the deal breaker. It’s becoming more cheaper here in brazil, because it launched at the price of 600 usd, games are a festival of taxes here. It always looks like they make the price they want. Since I already have PS+, I would enjoy the vita with the free games

What he needs is a rolled up newspaper on the nose.

That’s impressive especially when Vita didn’t get a Monster Hunter game yet.

@48 But it’s coming, and Japan love Monster Hunter, I guess the sales could increase when it releases

Here come the deprived.

Please, refrain from replying to me 40 year old Tales fan.