I too think that a PlayStation Vita successor would be an amazing thing to see but perhaps from a business perspective, Sony might not be able to succeed in this area, for a couple of reasons.
Now I always thought that this picture was a superb concept and I would love to own this device.
This to me, is what the Vita should have been. But let me address my concerns for a possible Vita successor in the respect that it may struggle to find a place in the market to combat Nintendo and Switch.
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Established Portable IP
Okay, it's no secret that Pokemon is the main reason millions of people buy a Nintendo handheld console. At one point in time, I would have said that Sony should money hat Namco Bandai for exclusive game rights to the Digimon series, however since that series is nothing in the public eye to Pokemon anymore, it would simply be redundant. Nintendo IP just seems to be perfect for home gaming or portable. Fancy relaxing at home, try some Mario Kart. Want to kill some time on the journey to work? Smash a quick level or two on Yoshi's Woolly World. Do you want a console like experience on a portable where you can just vegetate and get lost? Zelda is your thing. Is your handheld console your primary console and you want a game that will last you for a long period of time? Boom, Pokemon.
Sony just don't have the IP in their library. Little Big Planet is as far as it comes to intellectual property ideal for portable gaming and sadly the scope of it makes it far more complex than Mario if you truly want to get the most out of the game. Honestly it's ideal for portable gaming, if you truly get into the Play, Create and Share aspects of the game. Problem is, many people don't. Media Molecule were the only big Sony Studio apart from Studio Japan to support the Vita and that's where it hurt a lot. I'll elaborate on that in a moment (Sony Bend weren't so much a thing then.) But quite honestly Sony lost Monster Hunter because of their lack of dedication to handheld gaming, they lost Yu-Gi-Oh! because of diminishing sales. All the momentum they built with PSP they killed with Vita and it's a shame because they are two very different devices.
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Nintendo Studios can thrive off handheld only sales
Here is a question Sony need to ask themselves. Can we fund and support a studio that could operate solely on sales from their portable platform?
I don't think they can. They need a huge install base and an IP that sell's portable systems.
They need to sell at least 500,000 to 1 million+ copies per game to survive, based on a two year development cycle and a small team.
Nintendo can happily keep studios independent and on 2DS/3DS only because they make a healthy profit. Sony are admittedly greedy and they always want more, they always push for more and gamer's benefit from their drive to push beyond the boundaries they keep setting with the first party titles. The emphasis on portable gaming needs to be short bursts of handheld fun and honestly, I don't think a Sony studio has conquered that feat yet.
Lets's just say for arguments sake, Sony open three studios, or even just create three additional teams within existing studios. Three games over a two year development cycle. They pay all the costs for setting up, software, wages, trademarking etc. (Assuming they don't use current IP). They make this new console and it bombs. That's a ridiculous amount of money to lose on a whim. The Vita killed Zipper, even though Unit 13 was a solid game and Motorstorm RC didn't exactly sell like hot cakes, even if it did get Evolution one more crack at a game. Sony Japan didn't think much of the Vita by not releasing Gravity Rush 2 on the Vita, when Gravity Rush 1 was an amazing example of why you should own a Vita.
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Vita ruined a lot of good will Sony built with PSP
I can't stress that I love my Vita. I am still fucking annoyed that Soul Sacrifice has not been ported to the PS4 yet. Persona 4 Golden is one of my G'sOAT and Uncharted Golden Abyss, courtesy of what people say, is a great Uncharted game. So please don't think I'm needlessly hating. I loved my PSP dearly and I still do. I love my Vita just as much. But consider the average consumer who isn't a PlayStation enthusiast and the common complaints from consumers.
[1.] Point of entry is too high. £229.99 was a hell of a lot for a portable console when 3DS was £159.99 after a price cut and trading in a DSi reduced the price further to £89.99.
[2.] The system used specific memory cards. This was a further cost and quite honestly they weren't cheap. My 32GB card back in the day cost £79.99 making the purchase close to the price of a PS4 and more than a PS3 at the time. No internal memory either.
[3.] We stayed at 3G and not 4G and the data plans Sony arranged with mobile networks were quite honestly, shit. I was getting unlimited 3G a month from Three, promised 4G as soon as they launched at no extra cost for £22.00 a month, with an Xperia X10. The cheapest deal in the UK was Vodafone for 2GB a month at £19.99. No fucking thank you.
[4.] The charger was specific and not generic. Something addressed in the future Slim Vita which solved a lot of problems. These chargers damaged easily and they weren't affordable either.
[5.] No killer app on release. I remember getting Little Deviants, Uncharted: Golden Abyss and ModNation Racers. The only good game was Uncharted. I waited weeks for Gravity Rush, Soul Sacrifice and Unit 13. Great games were coming, but that was the problem, they were still some ways off.
[6.] It just had no games for months. After the initial wave of 22? The release schedule just died. Nintendo had loads on the horizon, no pun intended, but Sony just didn't have anything. They just kind of expected it to sell gangbusters and it didn't.
[7.] Battery life was incredibly poor. This was a massive complaint I used to hear all the time. I only get four hours out of it. It created a bad stigma with people I knew well within the local gaming community and many were put off. Thought it has to be said, this was also an issue for the 3DS.
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Sony are always conscious of piracy
Which is a fair point because they had a lot of security with the Vita that just quite honestly was a little overkill. The problem is R4 cards were hurting the 3DS and probably still are. I remember an article from a Japanese developer who said he remembered being angry going to drop his son of at school and seeing that everyone was using an R4 card in their 3DS and getting their games for free. Literally denying his company thousands of yen which have been pissed out of the window. Kindness and nice thoughts don't pay these peoples wages and since the 'Random number is 4' escapade, Sony really want to tighten up and may make a douche bag move like using bespoke memory card which cost a bomb to avoid piracy but throwing up a barrier to entry.
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Sony always want to offer the best... but it comes with a price
It has to be said, the glowing OLED screen, the premium dual analog sticks and d-pad. The excellent build quality and feel of the Vita. It's a beautiful device but it came with a cost. The OLED screen quite frankly wasn't necessary and jacked up the cost a lot. I feel if Sony do try to make a Switch competitor, they'll lose focus and go right in for a 1080p or above screen that's going to cost a lot to make. They won't emphasise battery life. It'll be all singing, all dancing and it will accomplish nothing. It'll come with a high price point and it won't sell. That's just the nature of the beast if they repeat their decisions with the Vita.
Watching the NGP announcement, I was amazed by what could be done with the Vita and couldn't wait to sink my teeth into it. Yakuza 4 on the Vita, Ninja Gaiden on the Vita, all looking like PS3 games. It was great. But ultimately failed. The second Nintendo dropped the 3DS price point just before the Vita launched, many of my friends had made their decision. They went with 3DS and that was just one of those things. Price does dictate the market for millions of consumers.
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It'll get panned for being a 'Switch' clone
Assuming they don't fuck up by releasing an over price, premium handheld gaming device with a meagre selection of games, stupidly priced accessories and no built in memory, the press will just accuse Sony of once again copying Nintendo. Even though Nintendo are quite honestly, credited with a lot of things they didn't really innovate, it'll just be another bias comparison to Nintendo's offering. It won't receive a positive impact and it won't gain much traction. I can see it a mile away. Just like Sony got thrown under the bus for releasing their long in development Move tech to combat the Wii success, because quite honestly Nintendo beat them to market, they'll just be a point of comparison. You'll get another 'Sony copy Nintendo' meme and it'll just be bad press all around.
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The market has changed
Can a dedicated portable gaming device become a success in todays market? I'm not so sure. I think Nintendo have really kick started something in that the Switch is a home and portable console with varying capabilities. But it's worth owning because it can be used on the go or in the home with a good level of performance. Now that USP alone, is well worth a purchase. I bought my fiancee a Switch for Christmas because she was fanboying over Zelda: Breath of the Wild and having seen and played it, I really can see the appeal.
But, without being accused of down right plagiarising, the market has changed. I've worked in retail for a good number of years, since the height of the 360, down to cooling off as PS3 picked up momentum, through Sony pushing back in front and to where we are today watching Nintendo become more and more relevant when it seemed like the Wii U days were a bleak picture of Nintendo being pushed into obscurity. This Christmas I have sold far more iPads, Samsung Galaxy Tabs and cheap smart phones that parents intend to use as gaming devices over dedicated consoles. I've seen a healthy amount of interest in the Switch but nothing compared to portables of old.
Bare in mind, the UK isn't the ideal market for the Switch in many senses. I don't feel as though I need one because I have my PS4 and I have plenty of games on my Xperia X to keep me going for long journeys and the Vita is there if I need it. Or my PSP. It's a tough sell for me as a gamer but there's millions like me. The most common gamer I come across as a customer, from my experience in retail in the UK is a person that has either an XBOX or PlayStation and buys Fifa and Call of Duty each year without fail and literally next to nothing else. Maybe Assassins Creed or the odd long running franchise, but that's about it. They pour pound after pound into DLC packs and Ultimate Team but quite honestly, the market has just changed. Even McDonalds have Android Tablets secured in their children's section to play Angry Birds, Candy Crush and other trending android games. I don't know if there
is a market there.
So, baring all that in mind, what would I do?
If I was Sony, I'd ditch the high specification and go for something more approachable. I'd design the system to be just like product concept art I attached. I'd create a docking station that functions either by itself or can be further improved through connecting it to the PS4 PSU/HDMI output, much like the processing box for the VR headset. Make it fully compatible with the PS4, so you can play it at home as an extension of your PS4 using an app on the home screen. But I would also allow the docking station to function without needing a PS4 but I'd look to find ways to boost performance using the PS4's power to create a truly linked and integrated device.
I'd go for a 1280 x 720p screen because honestly graphics don't make a game and you can still make great visual games at 720p. If Zelda can show case great visuals at 720p then surely Sony can too and they won't require a massive amount of horsepower here to do so. This is another region where I would be a little more conservative. I'd create a product that is premium on the outside, as in it's appearance and design, whilst having it be moderately powerful, but not at the top end of the scale. A decent amount of RAM and possibly an AMD chip, if possible, to keep in line with PS4, so that the games on this portable device would look better at home because the PS4 aids in improving the performance. Again I would stress the benefit of owning both systems, as well as it's ability to function adequately as a stand alone system.
I'd do a bit of money hatting and get some great third party games from known developers and series involved. It would need to have Call of Duty and Fifa from third parties. I'd also look at creating internal teams that specialise in the console and can aid in porting like xDev in Liverpool do (and Santa Monica in the States) but also I'd start learning to master the success of portable gaming and revive some old IP in the process. Integrate existing IP and develop new IP to give people choice.
It needs a decent amount of internal storage, both for updates and content, as well as support for a micro SD card upto 256GB in size. I would also look into the ability to boot into Android using an app on the device so that users can really make the most of their device, but as piracy is a concern, I'd look very closely at what can be done to hack the machine through the SD card port and the android partition. If Android would be too costly, they need to get core apps in there like Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook etc. But it's needs to be simple to develop for, both in gaming and application wise.
The system needs to have 4G support from a nano sim and it needs, most importantly, to have a great battery life. I don't care if this system barely out performs the Switch. Great games sell themselves and anyone who grumbles at the Swtich's graphical capabilities have never fallen in love with a PS1 game, aliasing, texture warping and all. Then finally, and here is the key bit, they need to launch at a
VERY affordable price. Tick all of these boxes and I think you'll have the best chance at making the proposed console a success.
In short you're asking for a miracle with a hell of a lot of funding. But I would be so down day one.
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