Last week Andrew House, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, gave an in depth interview to Edge Online about the business and marketing sides of the Playstation, the future of Playstation 4, AAA blockbusters, indie titles and perhaps most interesting, the Vita.
During the interview House refers to the Vita as an “extender” or “enhancer” for other consoles. Essentially he seems to mean the connectivity and remote play aspect of the Vita in relation to Playstation 3 and 4 games. In layman’s terms it sounds just a tad like the Vita may be looking at a future role similar to that of the WiiU gamepad. Here’s the excerpt from the interview:
Well, the first market that I would point to is Japan, where the dedicated portable market has always been very strong. We’re really encouraged to see the start of a very positive spiral in the Japanese market around Vita. Weekly sales are getting to that point where we can really see that this is a platform that has got some legs. That, definitely, is having an effect on the Japanese publishing and development community. Overseas is more challenging. That said, we’ve taken a more holistic view with our platforms. With Remote Play, Vita has now essentially become an extender or an enhancer for the main platform for other rooms in the house, or when someone else wants to use the main screen. As the lifecycle of the platform progresses, there’s an opportunity to position Vita for a younger audience as well with the appropriate franchises. And it’s becoming a very accessible and easy on-ramp for independent developers, those who have had some success in the mobile space and now want to work on games that are that little bit richer, that have a more dedicated gaming interface. And we’re certainly seeing Vita being embraced by that community very strongly.
Now if you’re livid and ready to throw your shiny new Vita into the trash compactor I would hold that thought. First House promotes the Vita’s strong game sales in Japan, which means they won’t be pulling the plug on the Vita as a console altogether (wishful thinking: we’ll see a lot more Japanese ports for the Vita and hope they catch fire). He also talks about its potential towards younger audiences in the West as well as the ease of access for indie developers, which Sony has displayed a keen interest in nurturing. Their marketing strategy for the Vita certainly lines up with what we’ve already reviewed here for the site.
The Vita is just one little tidbit of the article, though perhaps for a console that seems under nourished here in the states it might be the most interesting tidbit. There’s House’s own speculation on why the Playstation 4 sold as the monster console of this generation, though it should be noted Microsoft and Nintendo are holding out in the ring fine on their own just fine sales wise. He also talks a bit about digital distribution which Nintendo is already heavily slanted towards with their 3ds handheld, and explains how Sony is looking at the success of digital platforms in other markets. Not a bad strategy considering digital is how movies, television, books and comics thrive these days.
So what does the future of the Vita look like? Well it’s not going away, that’s for sure. Will the bigger developers actually push connectivity to the handheld? Will it become the indie haven Sony wants it to be? Or will it be looking at a PSN shop setup similar to what Nintendo currently has for the 3ds? Well it doesn’t sound like Sony has any interest in killing off the handheld, but the Vita could be facing an interesting road ahead.
Source: http://www.edge-online.com/features/an-audience-with-andrew-house/
