The other day, I saw around 8 PSVitas and 2 3DS being displayed on the used console rack of my favourite game shop. There, I asked myself why is it that there are more used Vitas being sold? After pondering for a while, it struck me. The Vita's release lineup is.... for a lack of better word, bad.
The reason was not price. Used Vitas sell for a much lower price at around S$180, compared to the 3DSXL's S$205 price tag. Also, assuming that there are the same number of people selling their 3DS and Vitas, the fact that there are more Vitas than 3DS being sold means that people are not buying the used Vitas.
As puzzling as it is, it all makes sense if you were to check for the games available for the titles. PSVita had the lowest scoring CoD title in history, a disappointing Resistance title, and its top release, Persona 4 Golden, maintained its reign ever since the console first launched. Sony's support for Vita has also been disturbingly lacking in recent months, with no first party title being announced. Personally, this lack of first party support is what killed it for me. If the creator is not confident of their creation, then how can they expect anyone else to do the same.
On the other hand, 3DS future release line-up remains strong. In upcoming month alone, there will be two big releases, namely Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask; with Xenoblade Chronicles and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 following in April and May, respectively.
It's really a shame to see the Vita suffer this slow and painful death. With the continual decline of first party support and the ever strengthening line-up of Nintendo's 3DS, I really don't see the Vita surviving beyond 2016 without a renewed support from Sony. Indies and remasters of older games will provide only a short term uplift to Vita's sales, but will never work in the long-term.
It really is a chicken and egg problem. For publishers to have confidence that they will have enough sales to cover their costs, there needs to be enough people owning the system. However, for people to have confidence that they will derive value from the console, there needs to be titles published for it. Currently, the Vita is on a downward spiral; there are no games being released for the system, causing people are selling their consoles, which further reduces its appeal towards publishers. The only way that I can see Vita escaping the circle would be for Sony to step in with a smash hit that causes the sales to go up drastically, such that the platform becomes appealing again. Without this title, unfortunately, the Vita would have to go the way of the dodo....
