The Real Problem with Vita

By my count, I've written about the Vita in-depth four times. One of which was technically about the 3DS, but it came hand-in-hand with many Vita comparisons. I seem unable to talk about one without the other, but I realize now I may have been missing the bigger picture.

It's not hard to do, because it seems like they both target the same market, and it's still a market without any other contenders. But while dedicated gaming handhelds is a two-horse race, both the 3DS and the Vita share a daunting fight with many other mobile devices for essentially the same goal: providing on-the-go entertainment.

The 3DS enjoys the safety of Nintendo's protective sphere of niche appeal. Nintendo will always provide experiences with their own franchises that no others can, and that means they'll always have a certain market to themselves, and one that has been proven over and over again to be non-trivial. Whatever happens in the tablet and smartphone space, they're essentially safe.