Michael Pachter: 3DS Will Live On, PS Vita Will Die A Slow, Painful Death

Vita is doomed.

Posted By | On 23rd, Jan. 2014

3DS cover

Well known analyst Michael Pachter (who has a patchy record at best with his productions) recently talked about the state of the handheld market. Surprisingly enough, in a dramatic break from tradition, he was pretty upbeat about Nintendo’s prospects in the market with the 3DS, while being gloomy about Sony and the Vita’s future.

“The sales are horrible. My model says the Vita sold 4.2 million last year. It’s a pretty small number and I don’t think they are going to build a business selling 4 million a year — and that number could go down. Vita is a little bit too elegant and a little too expensive. I always feel like I’m going to break it. But then it has relatively few games because they are complicated to make and the market is so small. Very few publishers are spending money to make them. You had Assassin’s Creed: Liberation, that cost Ubisoft a lot. It’s a whole new adventure. Sony will spend the money with their internal studios, but you’re just going to see [Vita] die a slow, painful death,” Pachter said.

He doesn’t think the PS4 will help the Vita recover either- “I don’t quite get it. First they were selling it as a controller, which was lame. I would rather just spend $50 on a controller. They were selling it as a controller because…I have to turn off the game on my TV because American Idol is on and I have to continue my session on my Vita? That’s what a DVR is for, you can watch American Idol later. I think most people who have competing concerns about use of the console versus watching TV have their console on a different TV from where their wife is. I agree those are cool features, but it’s limited.”

He went on to say that Sony has no future in the handheld market: “There is no future and they couldn’t do any better [than Vita]. The market is what it is because of Nintendo. Nintendo built the market and Nintendo has the best name in handhelds. I just think [Sony] misjudged the size of the market and launched it into this s—storm of mobile destroying the casual end of dedicated handhelds. And Nintendo’s not giving up much share on the hardcore side, because they have three games to every one Sony game, and they are good games.”

When asked if the lowered projections of the 3DS were concerning, he seemed to be pretty unfazed.

“No, I think it’s realistic and we’re not talking about massively down – it’s a couple million. If you look at peak Nintendo DS sales, they were north of 25 million for three years in a row. They’ve steadily come down since. I don’t think it’s because the 3DS is an inferior product or priced too high, it’s just that the handheld annual market is now a 15 million annual market – and being split by Vita,” he said.

So, Pachter doesn’t think Sony has a future with dedicated handhelds. That sounds reasonable enough, as it’s unlikely Sony will want to bother after the failure of the Vita, but still, what do you think? Let us know.

[Game Informer]

 


Tagged With: , , ,

Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Share Your Thoughts Below  (Always follow our comments policy!)



Keep On Reading!

Remnant Publishing Rights, Lost Boys Interactive, Cryptic Studios, and More to Remain with Embracer

Remnant Publishing Rights, Lost Boys Interactive, Cryptic Studios, and More to Remain with Embracer

Following Gearbox's sale to Take-Two, these studios will be "welcomed and integrated" into other parts of the ...

Take-Two Interactive Acquires Gearbox Software from Embracer for $460 Million

Take-Two Interactive Acquires Gearbox Software from Embracer for $460 Million

The publisher will own the Borderlands, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Duke Nukem and Broth...

Call of Duty: Warzone is Getting a Way to Play with Bots in Season 3

Call of Duty: Warzone is Getting a Way to Play with Bots in Season 3

Call of Duty: Warzone players will be able to queue up as quad teams to face off against bots in the new Bootc...

Judas – New Video Details Gameplay and Story

Judas – New Video Details Gameplay and Story

Ghost Story Games' first-person shooter is due out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC some time next y...

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Kicks off Behind-the-Scenes Series with a Video About its World

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Kicks off Behind-the-Scenes Series with a Video About its World

Square Enix has started a new behind-the-scenes video series for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, featuring a host of ...

Metal: Hellsinger VR Announced for Meta Quest 2 and 3, Meta Quest Pro, PS VR2, and PC VR

Metal: Hellsinger VR Announced for Meta Quest 2 and 3, Meta Quest Pro, PS VR2, and PC VR

Heavy metal rhythm-based shooter Metal: Hellsinger is making the jump from flat displays to VR later this year...