A-Men dev predicts "average start" for "hardcore" Vita
"No casual gamer will buy a £280 device with £40 games."
PS Vita is - for now - very much a hardcore gaming device for hardcore gamers, the developer behind one of its launch titles has claimed.
Sony hopes to expand Vita's audience, particularly among younger games, but for A-Men developer Bloober Team, this will be impossible as long as it current price remains.
"They are getting too greedy at the moment," creative director and vice-president Piotr Bielatowicz told Eurogamer.
"Their message originally was, this is a hardcore console. Then, as the launched approached, they started thinking, okay, maybe we make this attractive to women and casual gamers.
"But, the market will verify this very quickly, because no casual gamer will buy a £280 device with £40 games."
Vita launched this week in two flavours: the Wi-Fi only model is sold for around £230 and the Wi-Fi plus 3G model goes for about £280, although many retailers have aggressive offers.
SCE UK & Ireland boss Fergal Gara told Eurogamer Sony priced Vita "as attractively as we could afford". He refused to confirm it will cut the price this year, but did say Sony will try to improve it over time.
Sony's Vita game pricing has also come under scrutiny. Uncharted, for example, carries a £45 RRP, although you can get it cheaper from most shops.
Bloober's A-Men is a downloadable 2D platform strategy game inspired by Blizzard's Lost Vikings and Lemmings.
It is the Polish developer's Vita debut, and a game its creators freely admit is aimed squarely at hardcore gamers.
This, Bielatowicz said, suits Vita.
"It's a platform for hardcore players, so it's a perfect fit for us," Bielatowicz continued.
"Actually, I believe our game and Vita will have the same lifecycle. It will have an average start because it's expensive and there aren't many titles in the beginning. But, it will have a solid run and a very long lifecycle. It will be like PS3.
"The Wii was like, this. Now it's over. The games have performed poorly for some time now. PS3 is just warmed up and it still has the best two or three years ahead of it."
Gara said it is important for Sony that Vita gets off to "a strong start", but it is more important the console enjoys "a very strong" first year and first Christmas.
"Week one is important, but it's not the whole story."
