The Xperia Play: What went wrong and why it's still interesting

The #Sony #Xperia Play is one of those devices that tends to get more attention now that it's old than when it was new. In many ways, the first #PlayStation phone was ahead of its time. In this video, we take a look at why that ultimately led to its failure.
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Links to other videos
- Modern Vintage Gamer Retrospective: • The Playstation Phone ...
- Engadget Emulation Video: • Xperia Play: third par...
- PlayStation Portal Review: • PlayStation Portal Rev...
- PlayStation Vita Retrospective: • Why do people love the...
Other links
- Retroarch Reddit thread: / retroarch_on_xperia_play
- Engadget's initial leak: web.archive.org/web/202009090...
- Engadget leak follow-up: web.archive.org/web/202008090...
- Engadget's Review: web.archive.org/web/202009250...
- The Verge's Review: web.archive.org/web/201312010...
- Time Extensions' retrospective: www.timeextension.com/feature...
- Collection of Articles that went into writing the script: arc.net/space/606AC12D-5BD9-4...
Chapters
00:00 The State of the Mobile Market
03:57 The PlayStation Phone
05:46 Xperia Play Reviews
07:00 Market Confusion
08:17 The Physical Controller Problem
10:09 Public Perception
12:30 The Spectre of the N-Gage
13:29 Low Sales
14:23 The Xperia Legacy
16:36 What's it like to use an Xperia Play in 2024?
18:09 A Compact Retro Handheld
19:50 Native Gaming
21:40 Emulation
28:16 Modern Competition
29:50 Final Thoughts

[@ScreenSage_YT]

Fun Fact: When Minecraft: Bedrock Edition was launched in 2011 it was initially exclusive to the Xperia Play.

[@NeroVingian40]

If the Xperia Play is a failed product back then, it wouldn’t be a success today. Baking a new OS would also be a problem, since using Android would just not be profitable at all. What’s surprising is how the PlayStation Portal isn’t a smartphone. It was a Remote Play device only, making it a smartphone would work the best.

[@Andreas_Gludsted]

I did actually own one back then. Loved its size. The biggest issue with the Xperia Play was the performance The processor was SLOW, the memory and storage simply wasnt enough. It was really slow compared to other Xperia phones. Also it hadnt been out for that long before android updates for it was discontinued

[@ecoao80]

I remember so much vitriol from gamers targeted at the psp-go because it didn't play psp discs and had such small capacity with expensive memory. that probably further pushed gamers from giving the xperia play a chance at all. i remember thinking the psp-go was such a downgrade from the psp despite being smaller. of course, hindsight is 20/20 and the only psp i own now is the psp go, because i don't really enjoy collecting disc-based games and i enjoy the premium handfeel so much.

[@PJ-sv4iw]

I don't think a modern gaming phone would be popular, because there are so many of those controller attachments you could buy, negating any need for the controls to be built-in phones.

[@swift2117]

Why didn't they continue with this!

[@xxGSII]

still have my xperia play rooted to kingdom come

[@3styler1]

I modded the shit outta my xperia play back in the day, get one and root it and you can have a great little emulation device.

[@ranzkyle8027]

Can u use the browser in 2024

[@LiEnby]

Because no one still knows what "PlayStation Certified" means

[@STR82DVD]

Because you can simply buy a Gamesir X2 Pro and game on. That's probably why. No market.

[@omarguerrero6417]

Nope it would failed today because apple and google rather have no 3rd party stores on their platform and their just gonna block them from being accessed on web browsers or internet

[@STR82DVD]

@@omarguerrero6417 I can run the Google Play Store and the Amazon app store without hindrance. Apple I believe Google to a lesser extent but that being said, I can still run multiple stores on the same platform from what I've experienced and seen. Whether you can and whether the Googles and Apples of the world want you to would seem to be two different propositions.

[@sircrab6962]

A phone with a game sir X2 is not good compared to a phone with an integrated joystick. It's not as portable.

[@STR82DVD]

@@sircrab6962 that's weird because it comes with a case that I can toss into my backpack. Crazy they would do something like that to make a portable. Insert sarcasm here.

[@terminalblue]

Please stop saying 'nitch', it hurts me.

[@GameXData]

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/niche

[@PJ-sv4iw]

kneesh.