After The Dust Has Settled 9: PlayStation TV; softest console launch in history?

The PlayStation (Vita) TV was released today… but did you even notice?

Going around town today on my lunch break, I didn’t see a single unit on sale. GAME had a large display box out with no mention of price or anything on it, and no hardware display card offering the PSTV as a console.

The marketing of the micro-console as a PlayStation 4 accessory has clearl

y backfired, and it would appear virtually no-one on the high street, staff wise, even knows what the machine is, let alone how to sell it. Bizzarely I didn’t see the physical PS Vita version of Minecraft or Lego Batman 3, both released today, anywhere either, which is rather worrying. Considering bundles of the PSTV + Dual Shock 3 + either Minecraft or Lego Batman 3 would be an obvious way to introduce the console properly, along with all of it’s abilities, you really have to wonder what SCEE is thinking.

The success of the PS4 has clearly resulted in Sony Computer Entertainment becoming  rather complacent. The PS4 is still being marketed well enough to maintain a lead over the XboxOne, but SCEA/SCEE appear to be missing out how to make the most of their PlayStation ecosystem advantage.

This Christmas it’s no surprise that an awful lot of people out there cannot afford to buy a PS4.

The Vita as a handheld console is barely being advertised (though a TV advert for the Slim/2000 series with the new heroes mega pack is in circulation) and frankly should be screaming buy me at £149.99 with a game and memory card. With the 3DS looking very long in the tooth technology and sales wise, developing the PS Vita’s userbase would provide another revenue stream for Sony and retailers alike.

The PlayStation (Vita) TV micro console could very easily being sold as an entry-level starter console at £109.99 (or £99.99 if at all possible) with the three bundled games already with it and a Dual Shock 3 (there is a 1GB memory card built in, after all.)

There is also an entertainment hub that can play Blu-rays, DVDs, audio CDs, MP3s, video files, PlayStation One disc and download games, PlayStation Mini download games,  stream video from Netflix, iPlayer in the form of the 12GB PlayStation 3 which of course, can also play disc and download PS3 games. Pop a 12GB PS3 out with a HDMI cable, Blu-ray remote, a blockbuster Blu-ray and a related game (for example, say The Dark Knight Rises and Arkham City, or even the Ghostbusters 1 & 2 Blu-ray pack, including a PS3 theme on the first disc, and the Ghostbusters video game) for £149.99 and you would be expanding the video games and Blu-ray market beyond the current installed userbase.

But of course the above would require Sony (and not just SCE/PlayStation) seeing a bigger a bigger picture than just the PlayStation 4, which given their current blinkered approach seems highly unlikely… and it’s just a matter of time before it bites them in the arse.

PSTV_Black_FrontPers_1402366980 PSTV_Black_AngleA_1402366979

This should be the basis of any bundle.
This should be the basis of any bundle.
The ports give away the unit's mini size.
The ports give away the unit’s mini size.

 

Facebook Comments

About Sven Harvey 47 Articles
A professional writer with a couple of decades of writing under his belt, including working on Micro Mart and Model & Collectors Mart, Sven was also the co-founder of Auto Assembly, and long-time Infinite Frontiers team member. This fandom veteran also heads up Geekology on YouTube, as well as the local sci-fi groups; Spacedock Birmingham (Star Trek) and Autobase Birmingham (Transformers), and is an Amiga fan as well!

3 Comments

  1. I’m actually getting a PlayStation TV tomorrow and will be putting it through it’s paces for the site but I was stunned at the lack of knowledge in some places. I won’t mention where but in one branch of GAME that I spoke to the staff member only knew that they had them in the stock room but knew nothing about them and didn’t even know that they were being released today,

    While this was a chain-specific thing, GAME only started talking about it on Twitter in the last 48-72 hours prior to launch and that was only selected stores with most favouring high profile PS4 / XBox One products instead. Equally GAME had no plans for their own PSTV / DualShock bundle – surely something that would be a killer on the sales front?

    As for Sony right now I don’t think they quite know where to focus their efforts as they have so many different strands to the game side of the business and they simply can’t keep up with all of them and as you said, the PS4 and it’s associated services are getting the lion’s share of Sony’s time and resources. While they DO need to look to the future, they can’t do this at the expense of the present.

    The Vita still has a lot of untapped potential, a loyal userbased and a large audience out there waiting to be reached if Sony would just reach out to them. There is a lot that needs to be done including more work on n-store marketing and promotion and creating hardware bundles to attract gamers – seriously, where is the Minecraft bundle? – but it’s not impossible. Sony just need steering in the right direction.

    As a community we can do our part – educating retailers, would-be Vita owners and supporting the Vita online and at retail – but also through constructive discussion as well. A hate campaign levied at Sony won’t make a difference and will simply come across as fanboy rage but if we show SCEE, SCEA and SCEI that we want to work wih them to help promote the Vita and PSTV (and PS3) then we can achieve a lot more.

  2. Surprisingly a lot of places had them in stock but I got mine from Argos in the end. Saved £10 on the price of the DS4 and got a £10 gift voucher thrown in for good measure. Picked up a Belkin network cable from Poundland to wrap up the whole shopping trip!

    Just got to set it up and get using it later now after getting plenty of unboxing photos!

Got any thoughts on this? Let us know!