Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, affirmed Sony’s focus on the Vita lies with indies and third-party games.
In the handheld gaming market, the Vita has underperformed next to Nintendo’s 3DS, and now Sony’s Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has said the company will be making fewer first-party games for the portable platform.
When the PSP launched, Sony’s conversation turned to the PS2-quality graphics on the handheld. Similarly, when the Vita launched with Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Sony talked about the “PS3-like quality in your palm,” Yoshida said in an interview with Polygon. Graphics are no longer a talking point for the Vita because of the PS4.
“As time moved on, you are seeing PS4 quality and people’s expectations for the graphic fidelity has gone up,” Yoshida said.
The Vita supports remote play, which allows users to play PS4 games on their Vita. Sony pushed the Vita as the PS4 launched for this feature, but much of the focus is now on independent games.
“It’s very fortunate the indie boom happened and they are providing lots of great content to Vita,” Yoshida said. “Gameplay, game mechanic-wise, people want to spent 10 minutes, 15 minutes getting in and out. On Vita, it’s great with suspended functionality, so these indie games [are] really great for that from a game design standpoint.”
Sony’s strategy for the Vita is entirely different from Nintendo’s, which releases many first-party games for its 3DS. However, Yoshida’s right about players wanting different things from the PS4 compared to the Vita.
Source: Polygon
