Talking Point: Could Vita's Delay Have Beneficial Results?

20 years ago gamers were mostly all male and gaming on Nintendo platforms, but they’ve now grown up, gotten jobs, started families and can afford to spend their disposable income on Sony’s expensive tech-savvy consoles. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s focus on casual, family-oriented gaming targets a very different demographic, and it's even released commercials featuring elderly folks playing their systems, which in turn didn’t bode well with gamers inside Sony’s target demographic at all. The end results of this is many now perceive Nintendo as a company providing games for ‘kids’ and ‘grannies’ and may not even consider purchasing a 3DS, which could possibly explain some of the handheld's current struggles in the market to some extent, and this is undoubtedly the reason that the ‘hardcore’ games on Wii have sold poorly.

Of course, Nintendo makes fantastic games and we know this, but in some of our experiences, many of these gamers have simply lost the excitement over a new Mario/Zelda game over the past 20 years, and Sony’s newer IPs are a big draw to them. Some of these series are even heavily Nintendo-influenced, but spruced up to appeal to an older audience; featuring explosive gameplay, superb graphics, witty characters, etc. (e.g. Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper). On the flipside, Nintendo has a loyal fan base unlike any other company and we dare say that most of them will likely not even bat an eye at Vita. Could it be possible that regardless of when Vita launches, these demographic differences won’t dramatically make a difference in either handheld's sales?

There could also be a few benefits to Vita’s delay as well. Hardware and software issues frequently plague consoles during the initial launch phase. With Vita making its Japanese debut months before the NA/EU markets, it’s safe to presume that any issues found with Vita will be ironed out by the time it releases in our markets. This extra time will also give developers additional time finalising the games they’re currently developing, possibly resulting in a stronger launch line-up and game releases post-launch, something 3DS was missing. If Sony uses this additional time to further stabilise online services, online stores and the like, it very well might make our experience with Vita eve more enjoyable come launch time, instead of the feeling that the console was rushed onto the market.

But, what if Sony did change its corporate mind and give Ole St. Nick the chance to toss Vita’s down our chimneys this Christmas? Would it actually make a difference for Vita? Well, there is no way to really know for sure, but there is always a chance that Vita could possibly capitalise on the struggling 3DS if it did. But, with 3DS’s new low price — some retailers in the UK retailing the system as low as £115 — the upcoming releases of Super Mario Land 3D and Mario Kart 7 many parents will inevitably purchase the cheaper 3DS instead. If Vita didn’t capitalise against the 3DS over the holidays, it could in turn start Vita off on shaky ground with developers, and it just might be a risk that Sony isn’t willing to take. With pushing Vita back a few months and building up the launch catalogue, upcoming titles like BioShock Vita, Ruin and Gravity Daze to name a few, should help keep Vita owners pleased with their launch purchase moving forward. So, taking all of this into account, maybe missing the holiday launch period isn’t quite so bad after all?

Unlike their predecessors however, both 3DS and Vita both find themselves competing with strong new competitors this go around: iPads, smartphones, etc. have become all the rage these days, not only bringing in strong competition but enough money to make Scrooge McDuck jealous: Apple recently held the top spot for the ‘largest listed company’ on the market, with a market trading value of US$337 billion dollars. Not only has this new trend changed the face of gaming with cheap, ‘disposable’ downloadable games, it’s also pulled many gamers away from home consoles and handhelds as well. This has resulted in handheld gaming consoles having to retail at cheaper prices to stay competitive — at a profit loss to the companies — while retail games have to justify their higher purchase price compared to the thousands of free and inexpensive games on downloadable markets. Handheld gaming is at war with these other devices and Vita's delay actually allots the 3DS additional time to gain a stable foothold in the market. While this might seem like suicide for Vita to some, the differences in their target demographics will most likely come into play and result in us having two strong handheld gaming consoles in the market. This will push both Sony and Nintendo to develop the best software possible for each console, which in turn could attract gamers, both new and old, who are dabbling in the iOS/Android markets to make the transition over to a gaming handheld, where they can experience what this style of gaming has to offer first-hand. Could it actually be possible that Sony delayed Vita for this reason? We highly doubt it, but it could nevertheless prove to be beneficial to Vita and 3DS both, as well as the future of handheld gaming.

What do you think about these points we’ve discussed here? Will the target demographic differences result in a stronger launch for Vita? Are Online Shooters and Cross Platform Play a key selling point for you? Will smartphones and tablets take their toll on Vita in the future? We want to know what you think, and let us know what you think in the comments section below, and stay up to date with Vita developments in future by following VitaGamr on Twitter and Liking VitaGamr on Facebook too.