Sony is wasting the Vita's potential

I remember in January 0f 2011 when Sony first pulled the curtain back on the Playstation Vita.  This was about two months before the North American launch of the Nintendo 3DS, which was about as highly anticipated as a console can get.  I remember going, "Wow, look at that.  They really have figured it out." Now don't get the wrong, I love the original PSP platform (I'd say console..but there are 4 of them.  I'm probably one of the only real supporters for the unit out there.  Hell, I've got like 100 game and 50 movies for it.  That being said, and it did make money for Sony, but compared to the Nintendo DS, it looked pretty weak.  

Let's call a spade a spade, as well.  While I love the PSP, Sony completely crapped the bed on how to market the bloody thing.  I think they tried to do way too much way too soon.  Then they would cast the console off for up to 6 months at a time without putting a single ad out there trying to move the console.  Don't get me wrong, I could go on for days about the games that are available too, and how much better the console is than the DS technologically.  When you get down to the gutcheck though, the console was poorly managed and I think they went into the fight with Nintendo knowing they were going to lose huge, and were content with building the brand for the next fist fight.

Which would be now.  I've covered the 3DS here, so I won't get too much more into that.  Let's just say that the initial launch of the 3DS failed to meet anyone's expectations.  While Sony crapped the bed with the PSP, Nintendo crapped the bed with the 3DS.  So I remember when they announced the Vita, and the price of $249.99, my initial thought was "Wow, they are going right after Nintendo."  I think Sony smelled the blood in the water from Nintendo's initial 3DS weakness.  I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Sony had learned from their previous console, and was ready to take it to Nintendo and make a serious attempt to take some market share away from the Big N.  

However, we all know Nintendo bounced back big time over the holidays with a release of Mario Kart and Mario 3D Land less than a month apart in their releases.  (Something I thought Nintendo would never do)  I covered this in more detail a few weeks ago, so check that out if you want to know more.   Then, Sony managed to actually do a worse job of marketing the Vita for launch than they did the PSP.  I know, I know hard to believe, but hear me out here.

First of all, there were no ads.  Yes, believe it or not, Sony did next to no marketing for the launch of the system.  In fact, Taco Bell did a contest giving away chances to win Vitas with the purchase of a meal box or something, did more marketing for the Vita than Sony did.  I kid you not.  I find this particularly interesting because the launch of the console was on February 22nd.  If there was only some sort of event that had tens of millions of people watching at the same time.  You know, maybe something where some people watch the commercials more than the event itself?  Like the freaking Super Bowl?!  Seriously Sony, what in bell hell were you thinking?

The next thing is that Sony (and let's be fair, their third party publishers) kinda blew their wad at the launch.  Wikipedia says there were 25 games at launch, but I don't think that's accurate since I know Reality Fighters and Michael Jackson: The Experience weren't a launch game (and thank God).  Traditionally, you'll see a modest amount of games a console's launch, only to see 3-4 games a month sprinkled in the first 3 to 6 months in order to keep people coming to the stores.  (Think about it, if you sell a million units, and a month later a triple A game comes out, you stand a good chance at moving 500,000 units)  The Vita launched everything they had, and then had very little come out since.  There's been some  good stuff, don't get me wrong, but outside of the initial launch, there hasn't been much else out there.

Then we come to E3.  Oh Sony.  You know the funny thing is, for the past several years, I think you've had the strongest E3 press conferences.  This year, once again, I think you guys had the strongest showing.  Unfortunately, though, you guys kinda forgot you had the Vita out there.  We had a lot of "hey, we're working on something for the Vita," but when it came down to putting the Vita on the front of everyone's mind, there was only one major game announcement.  Don't get me wrong, Assassin's Creed is going to be one hell of a game, but the fact is that there should have been a lot more announcements.  I really don't get it. 

I don't think that the Vita is going to fail.  The hardware is so good, and once Monster Hunter is released on the puppy, you'll see them flying off Japanese shelves.  The sad thing is that Sony has already started making the same mistakes for the Vita as they did with the PSP, and the thing isn't even a year old yet.  If you're somehow, someway, expecting the people at retail to suggest your console to customers than  the 3DS, you're going to be in for a serious rude awakening.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the hardware.  I love the idea (although not the price) of crossover gameplay from the PS3.  I love PSN Network ID working between the PS3 and the Vita.  They really are ahead of Nintendo in this area  They've done a lot of wonderful things with this technology.  Marketing it for a mass audience, however, is not one of them.