Having unveiled the new piece of PlayStation hardware at the company’s pre-TGS conference earlier this week, Sony’s Group CEO Andrew House has been addressing the specifics of the PS Vita TV – including its target demographic and release schedule. Speaking with Asian market analyst TechOn, House touched upon the core ideology behind the microconsole, including the possible integration with Sony’s Gaikai streaming service in the future:
“[Sony Computer Entertainment] is considering providing PS3 games to the PS Vita TV by using the service in the future. The reason why it will be launched in Japan earlier than in other countries is that there is no leading company in Japan’s video streaming market. The company is planning to sell the PS Vita TV in China, South Korea, etc, but not in the US and European market at this point.”
That assimilation in particular will be implemented via the DualShock 3, which acts as the device’s native input controller. Not only that, the company hinted that upon the release of the PlayStation 4, the DualShock 4 will be compatible with the PS Vita TV which could in turn circumvent the compatibility issues facing some of the Vita’s touch-centric titles with its front-facing track pad.
The device will have the ability to stream a plethora of games to other televisions via the Remote Play feature within a Wi-Fi network – in fact, the company stated that the microconsole will, in time, have access to over 1,300 PlayStation titles. With a PS Vita card slot on the hardware itself, players will also have the option to plug in their physical Vita games to play on a larger display. Furthermore, Sony confirmed that the PS Vita TV also accommodates video streaming services such as Hulu, thereby instilling the miniature hardware with a casual slant.
In response to the device’s exclusive Japanese release, Sony’s president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida took to Twitter to issue this response:
For people wondering about PS Vita TV outside Japan, we are just saying now “PS Vita TV releasing first in Japan”. Stay tuned.
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) September 13, 2013
The PS Vita TV will launch first in Japan on November 14th for ¥9,480 (roughly $95) before expanding to other Asian markets. Though a western release hasn’t been openly confirmed, it seems more than likely that Sony’s miniature hardware will hit worldwide markets eventually.
Tell us, are you intrigued by Sony’s approach to the casual market? Indeed do you think this will lower the entry point to the PlayStation Vita’s gaming ecosystem? Let us know below.
