Although Sony has previously said there would be over 100 PlayStation Vita games in 2014, people became concerned about the Vita’s position in the market after SCE President Andrew House said to EDGE, “We’ve taken a more holistic view with our platforms. With Remote Play, Vita has now essentially become an extender or an enhancer for the main platform for other rooms in the house, or when someone else wants to use the main screen.”
To help clear some things up, SCEE Senior Business Development Manager Shahid Ahmad (a.k.a. the man who signed No Man’s Sky on PS4, OlliOlli, and tons of other games for PlayStation) said, “My team is working on over 70 games for Vita. The rest of the company is working on many more.”
Well, after the error that caused PlayStation to say Final Fantasy Type-0 was coming to PS Vita (it’s a PS4 and Xbox One title), Shahid felt the need to address the upset people through his Twitter account, addressing a variety of topics in the process:
Hey GAF and folks here, thanks for all your comments and feedback, including the recurring hatred, it keeps me on my toes. A few words…
First, sorry about yesterday, but these things are complex, and sometimes we get a breakdown in comms that we can’t publicly discuss. Please don’t think that this means discussions are over. They are not. Also, there are a *lot* of people working on things around the world.
I’m available as a conduit. I’ve given up plenty to be accessible and will continue to be so, whether comments are positive or not. I have, along with my team, worked on delivering more titles for the Vita than any other entity in the world. We are proud of that.
I’m not going to pay too much attention to the “indie/phone port” canard, except to say that this isn’t an accurate portrayal. If you want to ignore titles like TxK, OlliOlli and soon Velocity 2X and Super Exploding Zoo, you’ll be missing out on great exclusives. To dismiss some of the most critically acclaimed titles on Vita as unworthy because of their indie status is just self-defeating.
Some people expressed doubt in the 70+ figure. That’s fine, but it’s true. I do not lie. Many of these are originals. Many are fantastic.
When I did the #jrpgvita poll, it was to gauge your interest and then relay it to partners and others and to try to make things happen.
There are complex business reasons why we don’t get what we want all the time. Your voices are heard and discussed internally.
For the record, we are also working on (signing, A&R, production, promotion, release) of over 40 PS4 titles. One of them is No Man’s Sky. We do not talk about titles in development unless they’re announced. Think how foolish I would have been to discuss No Man’s Sky before E3!
I don’t know if anyone has committed more personally to the Vita and given up so much for it, and I’m not sure why I get so much hate for it. But that hatred will not stop me from giving everything. And the support me and my team gets makes it all worthwhile.
I love PlayStation, my colleagues, our partners and our fans. My intentions are always to do the best by all of you. God bless, good night.
So people want to know how many games my team specifically has released on Vita? It’s 31 native titles. In 2013? 9 out of top 20 Metacritic. Also, my main man [Gio Corsi] and his team have some fantastic stuff in the pipe, but it’s up to him to discuss, I won’t spill the beans bro! Also, I don’t want to hear a bad word said about SCEA in relation to Vita please. We are a global team and we work and stand together.
Are you OK with the direction the PS Vita has taken so far? What are your thoughts on Ahmad’s statements?
