The Vita - the strangest scenario in gaming
I finally bought a Vita in 2016 after seeing how many awesome exclusives are in the library. I remember always seeing Vita games in every store I would go into. So in the last few months, I also started to notice that they are now non-existant in pretty much all brick and mortar stores EXCEPT GameStop! Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys R Us all dropped Vita products - no more games on their shelves. It is like they all said simultaneously that Vita is dead. Which is soooo strange because the Vita has more upcoming titles than almost any other system on the market. Let's have a look at what is coming soon for Vita, these are actual physical releases:
Shantae - 9/27
Zero Time Dilemma 6/28
Yomawari: Night Alone 10/25
Odin Sphere: Leifthrashir - 6/7
World of Final Fantasy - 10/25
GalGun: Double Peace - 7/19
Grand Kingdom - 6/21
Legends of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Part II - 9/6
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X - 8/30
Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness - 9/13
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 6/28
Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and Dice of Fate - 7/26
Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky - 10/18
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death - 9/13
Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors - 9/20
Superdimension Neptune vs. Sega Hard Girls - 10/18
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune vs. Zombies - just released 5/10
Trillion: God of Destruction - just released 3/29
Stranger of Sword City - just released 4/26
Octodad: Deadliest Catch - coming soon by Limited Run
Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype - coming soon by Limited Run
Oddworld - just released recently
Futuridium - " "
Xeodrifter - coming soon Limited Run
Senran Kagura: Estival Versus - just released 3/15
That's 25 titles just released and/or coming very soon! I'm probably missing some from this list too.
Plus, there are 3 more titles about to be announced by NIS and PQube for late summer/early fall releases.
The most interesting part of this is how those are all small publisher titles and no garbage mass produced titles which is all that the home consoles seem to be getting (minus PS4 which is also on fire!) A lot of these are by Aksys, NIS, and XSeed, which all have lovely online stores! So it does not surprise me that the market has adapted to not rely on retail anymore, yet without shunning physical releases. I always thought that when retail stopped being the way that it would be because everything went digital.
Shantae - 9/27
Zero Time Dilemma 6/28
Yomawari: Night Alone 10/25
Odin Sphere: Leifthrashir - 6/7
World of Final Fantasy - 10/25
GalGun: Double Peace - 7/19
Grand Kingdom - 6/21
Legends of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Part II - 9/6
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X - 8/30
Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness - 9/13
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 6/28
Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and Dice of Fate - 7/26
Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky - 10/18
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death - 9/13
Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors - 9/20
Superdimension Neptune vs. Sega Hard Girls - 10/18
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune vs. Zombies - just released 5/10
Trillion: God of Destruction - just released 3/29
Stranger of Sword City - just released 4/26
Octodad: Deadliest Catch - coming soon by Limited Run
Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype - coming soon by Limited Run
Oddworld - just released recently
Futuridium - " "
Xeodrifter - coming soon Limited Run
Senran Kagura: Estival Versus - just released 3/15
That's 25 titles just released and/or coming very soon! I'm probably missing some from this list too.
Plus, there are 3 more titles about to be announced by NIS and PQube for late summer/early fall releases.
The most interesting part of this is how those are all small publisher titles and no garbage mass produced titles which is all that the home consoles seem to be getting (minus PS4 which is also on fire!) A lot of these are by Aksys, NIS, and XSeed, which all have lovely online stores! So it does not surprise me that the market has adapted to not rely on retail anymore, yet without shunning physical releases. I always thought that when retail stopped being the way that it would be because everything went digital.
Comments
I'm really happy that there is enough demand for physical releases and these niche titles to support the devs and publishers, even without the traditional retail outlets.
Target cleared out all vita games awhile ago and I cleaned up. Best Buy just recently stopped carrying them as well.
I bought one at launch and have never regretted it. I wish I was more into visual novels and RPG's but there are plenty of other genres available on it.
I still can't get remote play to work though
Also, the Vita is essentially a failed handheld. It was a novel idea but 3rd party support wasn't there to keep interest. It might be collectable in the future to the completionist, but I doubt there will be any significant price rises because of rarity/nostalgia driven demand.
Originally posted by: Teknoskan
Meh. I see Vita games at every Target I go to down here. It depends on the demand in an area to see if they keep stock. Some stores get no sales and cut their losses, others get great sales and keep stock.
Also, the Vita is essentially a failed handheld. It was a novel idea but 3rd party support wasn't there to keep interest. It might be collectable in the future to the completionist, but I doubt there will be any significant price rises because of rarity/nostalgia driven demand.
There are some very uncommon games for the system already. (Look at Supremacy MMA) Especially since very little B&M stores carry anything Vita related.
I'm surprised your area Target still carries them. Nowhere that I know of in Ohio does.
Originally posted by: Teknoskan
Meh. I see Vita games at every Target I go to down here. It depends on the demand in an area to see if they keep stock. Some stores get no sales and cut their losses, others get great sales and keep stock.
Also, the Vita is essentially a failed handheld. It was a novel idea but 3rd party support wasn't there to keep interest. It might be collectable in the future to the completionist, but I doubt there will be any significant price rises because of rarity/nostalgia driven demand.
There are some very uncommon games for the system already. (Look at Supremacy MMA) Especially since very little B&M stores carry anything Vita related.
I'm surprised your area Target still carries them. Nowhere that I know of in Ohio does.
Yeah, two Targets actually, but those Targets stock a lot of stuff. Also, I know there are quite a few uncommons, but it's not going to take off to extremes like NES/SNES levels. I would say if it does become a high value collectable system, it will be like the TG-16 or VirtualBoy.
Originally posted by: Teknoskan
Meh. I see Vita games at every Target I go to down here. It depends on the demand in an area to see if they keep stock. Some stores get no sales and cut their losses, others get great sales and keep stock.
Also, the Vita is essentially a failed handheld. It was a novel idea but 3rd party support wasn't there to keep interest. It might be collectable in the future to the completionist, but I doubt there will be any significant price rises because of rarity/nostalgia driven demand.
There are some very uncommon games for the system already. (Look at Supremacy MMA) Especially since very little B&M stores carry anything Vita related.
I'm surprised your area Target still carries them. Nowhere that I know of in Ohio does.
Yeah, two Targets actually, but those Targets stock a lot of stuff. Also, I know there are quite a few uncommons, but it's not going to take off to extremes like NES/SNES levels. I would say if it does become a high value collectable system, it will be like the TG-16 or VirtualBoy.
Many.......
Jrpgs......
But its a damn good system. I am going to be on the lookout more often for them.
I was going for the full set but I got a bit burned out on it since there are a lot of niche japanese games that don't really interest me.
And so I decided to go for the N64 fullset but now that I'm finishing it I think I will go back and buy a few more Vita games.
Right now I'm missing between 25-30 games.
In addition, stores haven't been stocking JRPGs for quite a while. Not enough interest in them to take up the space.
I started picking up a lot of Vita games when the different stores started clearing them out. I have over 80 Vita games currently and I believe all of the rare titles such as the physical versions that were only included in limited collector editions, Limited Run Games releases, and games like MMA Supremacy, Retro City Rampage, etc... A lot of these games have low print runs, especially in comparison to what most systems get now. With the high number of RPG's and niche releases, low print runs, etc... I think it could become a system that collectors jump on similar to Saturn. May be really tough to track down a lot of these games in the future.'' The only thing is that a lot of the releases are available on other consoles/PC.
I also want to add that I expect Vita will get new releases for the foreseeable future. Since Sony won't release a successor to the Vita I expect a lot of 3rd Party Japanese Developers to support it for some time. Some of those releases will continue to be localized.
Originally posted by: DeuceGamer
Most stores cleared out their stock and no longer carry any games. Even Best Buy usually only gets one shipment of a new release online before selling out and not restocking it. Gamestop still gets new releases but most stores only get 1 copy and of course it gets gutted. Most Gamestops used Vita sections are pretty poor that I've visited. Of course Amazon has new releases still.
I started picking up a lot of Vita games when the different stores started clearing them out. I have over 80 Vita games currently and I believe all of the rare titles such as the physical versions that were only included in limited collector editions, Limited Run Games releases, and games like MMA Supremacy, Retro City Rampage, etc... A lot of these games have low print runs, especially in comparison to what most systems get now. With the high number of RPG's and niche releases, low print runs, etc... I think it could become a system that collectors jump on similar to Saturn. May be really tough to track down a lot of these games in the future.'' The only thing is that a lot of the releases are available on other consoles/PC.
I also want to add that I expect Vita will get new releases for the foreseeable future. Since Sony won't release a successor to the Vita I expect a lot of 3rd Party Japanese Developers to support it for some time. Some of those releases will continue to be localized.
I can't find MMA Supremacy for the life of me.
Originally posted by: AC Skywalker
MMA Supremacy shows up on eBay quite often
Yeah for an (what I think) absurd amount. I'm trying to track it down locally for a better price.
Originally posted by: SnowSauce
Well, for one thing your list includes all of the LR releases which were only sold through their site.
In addition, stores haven't been stocking JRPGs for quite a while. Not enough interest in them to take up the space.
Not exactly true. Any game that has a LE offering on their website, mostly NIS America, there is almost always a standard version released as well. As a matter I can't think of any game that did not get a standard release as well.
Most stores cleared out their stock and no longer carry any games. Even Best Buy usually only gets one shipment of a new release online before selling out and not restocking it. Gamestop still gets new releases but most stores only get 1 copy and of course it gets gutted. Most Gamestops used Vita sections are pretty poor that I've visited. Of course Amazon has new releases still.
I started picking up a lot of Vita games when the different stores started clearing them out. I have over 80 Vita games currently and I believe all of the rare titles such as the physical versions that were only included in limited collector editions, Limited Run Games releases, and games like MMA Supremacy, Retro City Rampage, etc... A lot of these games have low print runs, especially in comparison to what most systems get now. With the high number of RPG's and niche releases, low print runs, etc... I think it could become a system that collectors jump on similar to Saturn. May be really tough to track down a lot of these games in the future.'' The only thing is that a lot of the releases are available on other consoles/PC.
I also want to add that I expect Vita will get new releases for the foreseeable future. Since Sony won't release a successor to the Vita I expect a lot of 3rd Party Japanese Developers to support it for some time. Some of those releases will continue to be localized.
I can't find MMA Supremacy for the life of me.
I was ahead of the curve and grabbed it for $5 at Gamestop.
Well, for one thing your list includes all of the LR releases which were only sold through their site.
In addition, stores haven't been stocking JRPGs for quite a while. Not enough interest in them to take up the space.
Not exactly true. Any game that has a LE offering on their website, mostly NIS America, there is almost always a standard version released as well. As a matter I can't think of any game that did not get a standard release as well.
Atelier Escha Logy Plus and Ar No Surge are 2 that come to mind. The only Physical releases were released in a Collectors Edition.
Originally posted by: DeuceGamer
Most stores cleared out their stock and no longer carry any games. Even Best Buy usually only gets one shipment of a new release online before selling out and not restocking it. Gamestop still gets new releases but most stores only get 1 copy and of course it gets gutted. Most Gamestops used Vita sections are pretty poor that I've visited. Of course Amazon has new releases still.
I started picking up a lot of Vita games when the different stores started clearing them out. I have over 80 Vita games currently and I believe all of the rare titles such as the physical versions that were only included in limited collector editions, Limited Run Games releases, and games like MMA Supremacy, Retro City Rampage, etc... A lot of these games have low print runs, especially in comparison to what most systems get now. With the high number of RPG's and niche releases, low print runs, etc... I think it could become a system that collectors jump on similar to Saturn. May be really tough to track down a lot of these games in the future.'' The only thing is that a lot of the releases are available on other consoles/PC.
I also want to add that I expect Vita will get new releases for the foreseeable future. Since Sony won't release a successor to the Vita I expect a lot of 3rd Party Japanese Developers to support it for some time. Some of those releases will continue to be localized.
Totally agree! Look at the PSP, released 2005 and we had Sweet Fuse in 2013, Brandish 2014, and now Summon Night 5 just recently. I could totally see the Vita having a small but dedicated corebase of users that will keep the system getting small niche releases for quite some time. Especially since Sony may never do another handheld.
Originally posted by: DeuceGamer
Originally posted by: XYZ
Originally posted by: SnowSauce
Well, for one thing your list includes all of the LR releases which were only sold through their site.
In addition, stores haven't been stocking JRPGs for quite a while. Not enough interest in them to take up the space.
Not exactly true. Any game that has a LE offering on their website, mostly NIS America, there is almost always a standard version released as well. As a matter I can't think of any game that did not get a standard release as well.
Atelier Escha Logy Plus and Ar No Surge are 2 that come to mind. The only Physical releases were released in a Collectors Edition.
Ah yes, you are indeed correct. I believe Htol may also have been but it is getting a re-release of sorts.
Real shame, too, since the Vita's JRPG library would keep me entertained for months.
If there were some way I could just play them on my PS4 a-la Super Game Boy, I'd be a happy camper.
Edit: Haha, kidding. I know what vita is. I use it on nachos, it melts really well.
Well, for one thing your list includes all of the LR releases which were only sold through their site.
In addition, stores haven't been stocking JRPGs for quite a while. Not enough interest in them to take up the space.
Not exactly true. Any game that has a LE offering on their website, mostly NIS America, there is almost always a standard version released as well. As a matter I can't think of any game that did not get a standard release as well.
Atelier Escha Logy Plus and Ar No Surge are 2 that come to mind. The only Physical releases were released in a Collectors Edition.
Ah yes, you are indeed correct. I believe Htol may also have been but it is getting a re-release of sorts.
Yep, that's right. Even the majority of the standard releases these days seem to be getting somewhat low print runs now. It's difficult to find games after the first month or so at retail. Especially for those that may be looking for sealed copies.
Edit: There is also the Muv-Luv Vita games that will be released soon and are apparently exclusive to those that backed the Kickstarter. I can't imagine there will be a ton of those either unless they decide to reprint them, which they said was unlikely.
What's a vita?
Edit: Haha, kidding. I know what vita is. I use it on nachos, it melts really well.
I smell another NA thread that will be derailed into a thread about food.
What's a vita?
Edit: Haha, kidding. I know what vita is. I use it on nachos, it melts really well.
I smell another NA thread that will be derailed into a thread about food.
Nah, how about we leave this one on topic?
There seems to be more download stuff for Vita than physical games, which sucks since they have that stupid proprietary memory stick.
Although no idea what I would buy, maybe the weird girly fighter things.