Vita makes more money for more devs, says Sony
Handheld maker pushing system as an attractive alternative to iOS and Android development
With its growing catalog of indie games, PS4 compatibility, and just-announced price cut, Sony is trying to breathe new life into the PS Vita. Part of that effort also includes convincing creators to work on the platform, something Sony reps and Vita developers discussed recently with Polygon.
In the piece, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe senior business development manager Shahid Ahmad pushed the Vita as an alternative to the mobile and tablet markets, suggesting that the handheld's user base is more engaged and willing to spend money on games than their counterparts on other platforms.
"More developers make more money on average on Vita than they do on mobile," Ahmad said. "When people buy a Vita, they want to purchase games. I tell developers, if you're trying to build a business, then building your game and bringing it to Vita is a great investment. If you want to play the lottery, then putting a game on iOS is more like that. You're scratching that and hoping you get discovered, hoping that a lot of people talk about you. Whereas Vita, every week when there's content coming out, people buzz about it and it spreads like wildfire, because everyone's firing that console up every day to look at the content and talk about it."
The sentiment was supported by Ripstone co-founder Phil Gaskell, who has released a number of multi-platform titles that showed favorable results on Vita.
"Our Pure Chess title has sold more units on PS Vita than on PS3," Gaskell said. "Our line drawing game Men's Room Mayhem sold more units on PS Vita in its first month than on iOS and Android combined. It seems like a perfectly good platform to us, and we're continuing to support it in the future."
Sony is also expecting the Vita's PS4 features to spark interest in the system. Sony Computer Entertainment America VP of publisher and developer relations Adam Boyes stressed the importance of Remote Play, which will let players play some PS4 games using the Vita.
"We've said internally that it's going to be the greatest peripheral ever made for a console," Boyes said. "I can't wait to have my PS4 in my living room and being able to play Watch Dogs in my bedroom while my PS4 is downstairs. That's going to generate more interest in the platform in general."