14 DAY TRIAL // Shuhei Yoshida, the leader of the Sony Worldwide Studios, says that the increasing power and market share of smartphones powered by iOS and Android has hurt the prospects of the PlayStation Vita and the Nintendo 3DS.
The executive tells GamesIndustry.biz that, “We’ve totally changed our approach to mobile products like smartphones and tablets. In the past, we felt like these guys were competition to our portable games, in general – but now, everyone owns these smartphones and tablets.”
Sony is no longer aiming to battle mobiles and is launching apps and extra content that are designed to allow players to choose when and how they want to experience a title.
Shuhei adds, “For PS Mobile, you don’t need any dedicated hardware. You just download the SDK, just click certain buttons and now you can develop games on PlayStation. In that way, we believe that has a purpose. These are two different activities.”
The PlayStation Vita was launched in late 2011 in Japan and early 2012 in the rest of the world and has failed to deliver the sales that Sony has been expecting.
Most players have said that they are not picking up the new handheld because of its high price point and because they have better alternatives.
The rival 3DS has performed somewhat better because it benefited from a lower price and from some big Nintendo-driven game launches and is currently dominating sales in Japan and other markets.
Sony is at the moment getting ready to deliver the PlayStation 4 home console, which will be out on November 15 in North America and November 22 in Europe.
The company is promoting the Vita as a companion device, a second screen to experience more content on, and apparently, there are also plans to deliver a bundle of the two devices as some point in 2014.