This Week In The Business: The Power Of The PlayStation Vita

QUOTE | “People who rag on the Vita don’t understand… the purchasing power of Vita owners.” – Guacamelee developer Chris McQuinn on why they think the PS Vita is a great target for game development

Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week …

QUOTE | “When shareholders are more important than the customers, how long is your business really going to last?” – Industry veteran Lorne Lanning, talking about the problems big publishers have when they ship games that aren’t ready

QUOTE | “She said that it was because of our game that she was still there.” – Pixelberry Studios co-founder Oliver Miao, talking about how their game High School Story has helped players and perhaps averted a suicide.

STAT | 28% – Drop in video game software sales at US retailers in March compared to March 2013, according to NPD: hardware sales (led by next-gen consoles) were up 78%, and accessories were up 4%

QUOTE | “If you want to be an indie… then going to university to learn those skills is increasingly questionable.” – The Chinese Room’s Dan Pinchbeck, talking about the the value of education versus getting a job

STAT | 85,000 – Number of Oculus Rift development kist sold so far to developers; 25,000 of those kits are version 2, which went on sale March 19th

STAT | 5 million – Number of Xbox Ones Microsoft has sold to retailers worldwide through March; this compares to 7 million PS4s Sony has sold worldwide in that same time period

QUOTE | “iPhone and iPad games have not jumped the shark or anything, but it feels like the rate at which really, really cool stuff is coming out has slowed down.” – Adam Saltsman, designer of Canabalt, talking about the increasing difficulty of making a mobile game that stands out

QUOTE | “Games making should appeal to children as much as games playing.” – Ian Livingstone, game industry veteran, talking about making sure education is serving the game industry while helping kids