PlayStation Camera shortage caused by Twitch's popularity on PS4
The PlayStation Camera for PS4 isn't supported by many games. Yet, why is it so hard to find in stores? In fact, it's been in such high demand that retailer GameStop actually increased the price on the hard-to-find peripheral, bumping it up from $60 to $70.
The camera already has a 15% attach rate, Sony's Chris Norden revealed at a GDC panel. With over 6 million PS4s sold, that means nearly a million cameras have already been sold. But why is there so much demand for a peripheral that isn't really used in any games?
"It was a total miscalculation by our marketing guys," Yoshida told Polygon. Sony had looked at which launch games supported the camera and calculated an attach rate from there. What they didn't factor was how popular Twitch would be, and how much people would want to broadcast video alongside game footage. "Using the camera to broadcast yourself is much, much more fun they they thought and they didn't quite get it."
Of course, having demand for the PlayStation Camera will bode well for Project Morpheus if it ever hits retail. Sony's newly-announced VR headset will use the Camera to enable tracking of the headset in 3D space.
-
Shacknews
replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, PlayStation Camera shortage caused by Twitch's popularity on PS4.
The PlayStation Camera for PS4 isn't supported by many games. Yet, why is it so hard to find in stores? In fact, it's been in such high demand that...-
I don't understand this. It just seems like vanity to me. How can so many people think that other people want to watch them play video games?
-
-
-
[deleted]
-
-
-
You'd be surprised by all the people who spam chat in twitch streams about some sort of face cam or offer donations to buy people one. It's incredibly strange and voyeuristic.
-
The most popular streaming channels are the ones that have a picture-in-picture shot of the person playing the game. For some reason people are more drawn to these streamers.
-
Because apparently they do. Why do you think Twitch.tv exists? I bought the camera at launch with my PS4 because my wife and I wanted to play Just Dance 2014, but it was months later when I tried out broadcasting with it as I played Outlast that I realized that it might actually be fun. Then I went on to Live on Playstation where I saw Shuhei Yoshida himself playing the game with his camera on, and his kids were sitting beside him on the couch. THAT's when I knew that Sony had hit on something. There's something a bit more intimate when someone allows you into their living room and shares their gaming experience with you. Plus, it's nice now and then to actually see the human being behind the broadcast. It may not be interesting for you, but if you actually take the time to check out Twitch, you'll realize that this has been going on for some time. It' s just not for you.
-
You know the way you gush about this it's almost as if Sony should have bundled the camera in, who knows what they could have achieved if the had, I mean, facial recognition for the person holding the controller, voice recognition to load your games, snap to dash, in-game controls based in camera sensing, possibilities could have been crazy if they had bundled the camera.
Wait...-
-
-
Sounds like you guys are saying people want a camera for Twitch now, so Microsoft should be in great shape.
-
-
-
[deleted]
-
-
-
Agreed. I'll watch streams, but I can't stand the people running them, and definitely don't want to see their stupid face or watch them beg for money.
-
-
-
Why do people think anyone gives a shit about what they did today? Yet posting about what you did and things you're interested in is pretty much the core of this and countless other forums, along with several of the most widely-used sites on the internet.
-
-
I dunno. More of the posts here seem to be "what should I do today," rather than "what I did today."
-
-
-
[deleted]
-
If it's a good game with interesting mechanics, watching a friend play is awesome. Unless they're doing some story-driven thing and you're just watching scripted scenarios.
-
I'd rather do that (watch a story-driven game) than the other. If it's interesting to play, I want to play.
-
I guess I'm saying that I love watching people play games but I'm less enamored with watching them burn through 'interactive entertainment' or whatever the phrase is for something that relies a lot on atmosphere, pacing, and narrative.
-
-
-
-
Because they enjoy streaming and enjoy interacting with viewers who are interested in the game they're playing. How is it any different than posting gameplay videos on Youtube, except in real time? If it's not for you then that's certainly fine too, but a lot of Shackers certainly seem to like it, we have http://everyotherweekorso.com/shackstream/ to keep up with what's going on, Ozzie showcases highlights every week now, etc.
-
It's like sports but less face painting and more.. wait no.. same amount of nachos.
-
-
You want to have a scary look at the goddamned face of america? You look at your PS4 ustream wall on a friday/saturday night.
-
Any info if they are going to increase the streaming resolution to match xb1?
-
Sure... Haven't seen them since the system launched over here. Twitch isn't a thing here at all.
-
Its the instagram / twitter generation. Everything revolves around popularity contests.
Once modern social media; lets say post-myspace became popular, large swaths of the younger generation moved online. Being on a pc or a mobile device no longer was considered "nerdy" or "geeky". So with that it has ushered in huge social pressures to stack friends. This has poured into the twitch community where everyone must "follow" each other, people trade follows like a form of currency. For the more people who give a shit about your little piece of cyberspace, the better you are.
At 31, i missed this boat by about 5-8 years. If you see anyone who has had a facebook since they were in high school you will notice "follows" or "friends" transcend demographics and cliques. The kids will add everyone they know at an expectation they will get refollowed. This spills into twitch where if they sometimes login to twitch, the user will wonder "well i have 2000 instagram followers, why only 13 on twitch?" And it snowballs. Its how these large communities develop into these gigantic billion dollar marketing entities.
-
