14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has confirmed that it’s planning to target with the upcoming release of the PlayStation Vita lots of audiences, from the regular core gamers, to even the female demographic which, in the mind of the PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan, is the “untapped holy grail” of gaming.
The PlayStation Vita is set to appear this February around the world, after already being released last week in its native Japan, and Sony already confirmed that it will be marketed primarily as a gaming device straight towards core gamers who want to experience popular franchises like Uncharted on it.
After that initial push, however, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Jim Ryan wants the Vita to more easily transition towards other demographics and in a faster way than the previous PSP, which forced the company through its slow sales to market its various other features besides gaming.
Among these audiences is the female one which, according to Ryan, “is obviously the untapped holy grail."
"We're hopeful that the rather less intimidating interface possibilities that Vita offers may make that market potentially more accessible,” he told Edge magazine, via CVG. "Some of the things as yet unrevealed on the content side are exploring that."
It’s going to take a while before that transition happens, however, so core gamers needn’t worry about seeing their beloved device being marketed as a different kind of experience anytime soon.
"You won't see that so much in 2012, and in 2013 we'll still be very much at the core of it, but shortly after that a lot of the business strategy will be [based] around targeting a somewhat younger demographic."
Sony already said that the PlayStation 3 will be marketed towards younger and family audiences next year, after being viewed primarily as a hardcore gaming console, so this shift for the Vita shouldn’t be that surprising.