Are PlayStation Users the Most Dedicated Gamers?

Today at GDC, four developers who worked on various Vita games – Pinball Arcade, Frobisher Says, Retro City Rampage and Guacamelee! – gave a talk for other developers about the benefits of making games for PlayStation Vita.

The talk was generally positive in terms of Sony’s handheld, though the moderator at one pointed asked, “basically, why on Earth would you support this device?” after the group talked a bit about mobile development and development on other consoles and handhelds. The answers varied: a lack of saturation (and hence more visibility and a greater likelihood to find customers and profits), the ease of making a game for Vita and wanting to create the types of hardcore experiences these guys would want to play themselves were some of the more popular responses.

But one answer in particular stood out. Retro City Rampage’s creator, Brian Provinciano, talked about the hardcore audience PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita command, and he has evidence to back it up.

“An interesting stat that I’ll add,” Provinciano said, “is that the people who are playing on consoles and Vita are way more dedicated, and the couch gamer or the portable gamer, they sit down and they’re playing the game. Whereas PC gamers may be a bit more ADD there. So I judge my game by how people were playing it, based on if they got 500,000 points in my game or not, and pulling the leaderboard data.”

On PlayStation, 85% of those who played Retro City Rampage got 500,000 or more points, “meaning they played through a significant chunk of the game,” Provinciano noted. It’s a point total much, much higher than that earned on PC, though Provinciano didn't talk about any data he may have drawn from the Xbox 360 or Wii iterations.

“It just goes to show how you’re gonna get these dedicated players, and that can really… if you’re a gamer and that’s the type of game you’re making, then those dedicated gamers are the people you want.”

Be sure to read our recent interview with Brian Provinciano, where he talked about PlayStation and Xbox development, with more of his thoughts about PlayStation Vita.

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.

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