One of the bigger problems that Sony had with the PSP was that they positioned the handheld as a way to take “console-like” games on the go, which happens to be the same message that they are using with the PlayStation Vita. Many PSP developers grabbed onto this idea and ported their console titles over to the system. The problem this created was that consumers started to view the PSP’s port library as a reason not to own the handheld.
Speaking to Gamasutra, Sony’s marketing VP, John Koller, admitted the PSP’s “console-like games on portables” message was a problem. He then explained how the PS Vita‘s “console-like games on portables” message will not saddle the new handheld with the same problems.
“The issue that happened with PSP is we got overrun with ports. It became very difficult for us to define what made PSP unique. The content development became a bit unstructured or decentralized, in that we got a lot of content that was on PlayStation 2 and got thrown over to the handheld.”
“[Portable content] isn’t something consumers play because they’ve left the living room. It’s something that [needs to be] unique, and defines the Vita experience.”
Koller then pointed to Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, and Activision’s Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified as two examples of Vita games that are similar, but not ports of their console versions. He concluded, saying “The messaging is similar [between PSP and PS Vita], but I think the output is going to be quite different.”
Basically, Sony’s position is that the PSP strategy didn’t work for the PSP, however, it will work for the Vita.
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