HAND-HELD GAMES NOT THE BEST IN MARKET: ANDREW HOUSE

Sony CEO Andrew House voiced his concerns about the potential of handheld gaming outside of Asia during the Tokyo Game Show last week, Bloomberg reports.

“We have not seen that as being a huge market opportunity,” he said, specifically referring to handheld consoles’ potential outside of Asia. He admitted though that the matter was different for the Switch as its “a hybrid device,” resulting in a “different approach and strategy.”

He added that the success of the Switch doesn't have an impact on Sony’s sales so far: “That draws me to the conclusion that they’ve really been additive to the business in the last year or so,” House told Bloomberg. “The folks at Nintendo have their strategy and that’s great. We remain focused around a highly connected gaming experience and also coupled with having a great range of other entertainment experiences so you can reach multiple people on the big screen in the household.”

Sony’s PS Vita is still selling well in Japan, with about 4,000 hardware units shifting every week, while Vita games regularly make it to the Japanese Top Ten. But outside of Asia, the Vita has been largely abandoned.

“The Vita experience was that outside of Japan and Asia, there was not a huge demand,” House further said. “The lifestyle shift toward the dominance of smartphones as the single key device that is always with you, was the determining factor.”

Sony moved to mobile development in early 2016with the creation of a dedicated studio called ForwardWorks, which is doing “fantastic,” House also told Bloomberg.

Without an update for the Vita, “developers who create games for PS4 and Vita will stop working on Vita,” analyst at Ace Research Institute Hideki Yasuda also told Bloomberg. “Then they’ll develop for the PS4 and Switch.”

Comments

LENOVO TEASES WHAT MIGHT BE AN ALL SCREEN PHONE

Lenovo Vice President Chang Cheng is teasing a new phone on China’s Weibo social network that’s nothing but screen framed by an ultra-thin bezel (via CNET). While Apple might claim that the iPhone X is “all screen,” its infamous notch — and the rash of Android imitators that followed — says otherwise. The sketch of the upcoming Lenovo Z5 follows the earlier release of a partial image alongside a claim that the phone would feature an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 95 percent. Cheng also says the Z5 will include four technological breakthroughs including 18 patented technologies. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for the details, particularly around how Lenovo will handle a presumed front-facing camera. Z5 teaser shared last week. Image: Chang Cheng The Mi Mix 2, for example, has a 91.3 percent screen-to-body ratio, which is amongst the industry’s best, but it still requires a bezel along the bottom to host the phone’s front-facing camera. Vivo’s Apex concept uses...

Find out more

GOOGLE PROVIDES SOLUTION TO PEOPLE WITH IMPAIRED HEARING

Technology has become a dominant force in the world today with introductions from flagship phone to gadgets that assist your everyday activities. with these stunning milestones the journey to a new era has come a long way, with that also time this in turn has seen youth fade. W.H.O. (world health organization ) has projected that 900 million people will suffer from hearing strain. this consequently leaves them out of the progressive train of technological advancement. Google seems to take concern in the issue, tackling it as they know how. Recently Google launched two new apps to aid people with this hearing disabilities; with one app that aids people with hearing disabilities and the other amplifying certain sounds and minimizing the other. The first app is called live transcribe , this app uses a phones microphone to turn real time speech into captions , Google couldn't pull this ...

Find out more

BILL GATE SETTLES FOR THE ANDROID PHONE

Windows Phone has been dead for a good year now , and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has decided it’s also time to move on. In an interview with Fox News Sunday ( spotted by On MSFT ), Gates reveals he’s now using an Android phone. While Gates doesn’t reveal the exact model, he does note that it has “a lot of Microsoft software” on it, which could suggest it’s a special Microsoft Edition Samsung Galaxy S8 handset with bundled software. Microsoft started selling the Samsung Galaxy S8 handset in its retail stores earlier this year, and it includes apps like Office, OneDrive, Cortana, and Outlook. Any Android phone also supports these apps, but Microsoft’s customized S8 does suggest the company might continue to offer this for other Android devices in the future. While Gates is switching to Android, he’s still not interested in an iPhone. Gates famously banned iPhones and iPods at home in the past, but h...

Find out more

TECTINZ BLOG

Search This Blog