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Sony 'surprised' at lack of developers supporting PS Vita

A high up Sony bod has admitted the Vita isn't getting the support he'd like.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

It seems the PS Vita isn't doing as well as Sony would like. Sony worldwide studios president Shuhei Yoshida is surprised by the lack of support from third-party developers, Gamasutra reports (via CVG).

"One thing that was surprising and disappointing to us was the [lower] number of third parties to come out [in support] after launch," he said. The reason so many are shunning the Vita? It's all the fault of phones.

Yoshida says there are so many other platforms -- including the rise of mobile games -- vying for publishers' attention, that resources have to be spread thinly.

"In retrospect there are so many options for publishers now that we cannot take it for granted that our new platform would be supported by third parties, like many years ago," he said.

"There are limited resources that third party publishers have, and they have to diversify into new areas constantly; that's a challenge to get the support that we want," he added.

But Yoshida is upbeat about the console's future, saying if Sony can better define what the Vita is and what works for it, it'll get the support it needs. "As we can expand our install base and articulate what works really well on the platform as compared to others, it will get easier for us to be able to get support from third parties."

A cautiously optimistic approach is in place then, from the sound of things. Consoles are facing a monumental challenge from cheap or even free mobile games. Nintendo has embraced the 21st century with its eShop letting you download games, but they still cost a lot more than those on the App Store or Google Play.

What do you think of the Vita? Is it suffering from a lack of third-party support? What can Sony do to rectify the situation? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.