Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Sony says it’s struggling to get third-party games on PlayStation Vita

By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The stormy days roll on for Sony. The company ended its last fiscal year in March by reporting a crushing $5.74 billion loss due to poor television sales and slower than expected recovery from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled Japanese industry. The PlayStation business specifically however is an anchor dragging the company swiftly downward. That division closed this past fiscal year with a $2.8 billion loss.

The April through June quarter was no less kind to Sony. It cited the PlayStation division specifically as being responsible for its $312 million loss over the period. Overall weakness in games retail was blamed for the loss but Sony’s true albatross at this point is the PlayStation Vita.

Recommended Videos

Sony said in its financial report, “This decrease was primarily due to lower sales of hardware and software of the PSP and PlayStation 3, partially offset by the contribution of the PlayStation Vita in December 2011.” The PlayStation Vita however isn’t pulling its weight at all. The PSP and Vita sold a combined 1.4 million systems over the quarter, whereas the PSP by itself sold 1.8 million systems over the same period in 2011.

The Vita just doesn’t have the games to sustain itself. With a major exclusive in its library, Sony might be able to lure consumers into purchasing an additional gaming device to go with their iPhone, iPad, or Nintendo 3DS, but as it is, the Vita has no killer app in its stable. Nor does it look like Sony will be able to convince one of its software partners to make one.

Sony is openly admitting the grim state of affairs for the Vita. Speaking with the PlayStation: The Official Magazine (via The Silent Chief), SCE president Shuhei Yoshida said, “We’re having a more difficult time than we had anticipated in terms of getting support from third-party publishers, but that’s our job. We will continue to talk to development communities and publishing partners and tell them why Vita can provide a great experience for the IPs they have and I hope the Assassin’s Creed game will prove that.”

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation and the white PlayStation Vita it will be bundled with should bring in some new Vita owners, as will Activision’s Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified, but Sony needs original games to capture what few gaming dollars consumers have.

The Vita is a fine machine. It has brilliant original games too. Sound Shapes and Gravity Rush aren’t just two of the best portable games this year, they’re two of the best games of 2012 period. They’re not enough to make the system a hit though. Sony needs help, or its portable may not last another year.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
PlayStation VR2 production reportedly paused by Sony
PlayStation VR2 headset on blue background.

Sony is reportedly pausing production of the PlayStation VR2 headsets because it has a backlog of unsold headsets.

This report comes from Bloomberg, which claims that PSVR2 sales have slowed every quarter since its February 2023 release, causing stocks of the device to build up. It says Sony has produced 2 million headsets but reportedly hasn't sold through them yet. As a result, it's apparently pausing the production on new units until it works through some of that backlog, according to Bloomberg's anonymous sources.

Read more
You need to try PlayStation VR2’s most psychedelic game yet
Key art for Akka Arrh shows psychedelic images.

You know that it's a busy year for gaming when a project by an industry legend launches with hardly any fanfare. That's exactly what happened in February 2023 with Akka Arrh. Created by Jeff Minter and his eccentric studio Llamasoft, the neon-tinted shooter is a remake of a 1982 Atari game that never saw the light of day after being deemed too difficult. Minter got the greenlight to revive the project, bringing it to life as a retro arcade shooter built in his unmistakable style.

While the project was exciting for game historians, it didn't exactly crack into the mainstream (it only has 37 user reviews on Steam). Thankfully, Akka Arrh getting a second chance to shine this week as its new PlayStation 5 version adds PlayStation VR2 support. While that might not be enough to make it a commercial hit, it does give PSVR2 owners a good reason to dust off their headset and check out a delightfully oddball project from one of gaming's true visionaries.
It's a trip
Akka Arrh is the rare example of a game that might be easier to explain on paper than in practice. In this throwback arcade shooter, players control a stationary ship that's tasked with protecting pods from attacking aliens. To fend off foes, players drop bombs that blow up in a different geometric pattern on each level's map. Every time an enemy touches that blast radius, it blows up in the same pattern, chaining to other enemies. The goal is to keep an uninterrupted chain going as long as possible by using a limited number of bullets to knock out foes that can't be destroyed by bombs and grabbing power-ups by hovering the cursor over them.

Read more
PC compatibility for the PlayStation VR2 is being tested by Sony
Playstation VR2 headset on a PlayStation-themed wallpaper.

To celebrate the first anniversary of the PlayStation VR2, Sony revealed a new batch of games coming to its virtual reality headset and confirmed that it's testing a feature that would let people play PC VR games on their PSVR2.

"We’re pleased to share that we are currently testing the ability for PS VR2 players to access additional games on PC to offer even more game variety in addition to the PSVR2 titles available through PS5," the PlayStation Blog post about PSVR2's first anniversary teases. "We hope to make this support available in 2024, so stay tuned for more updates."

Read more