Whilst the launch of PS Vita’s social alarm clock, aptly named “Wake-up Club” is good news for the West, one can’t help but read a little deeper into the scenario. Whether accurate or not, the general perception from the public is that PS Vita is strapped for content, so why would SCE delay software that has already been published in other regions? The answer isn’t quite so simple. It wasn’t a matter of adding content so that it could be localized, or simply making the program into English, because that was an option in the Japanese launch. The true problem lies in the inability to sync content across regions.
One of Sony’s major strengths has always been the depth and pedigree of their first-party studios. The in-house stable of developers has been the bread and butter of Sony for years and has given them a leg up on the competition by allowing for exclusive content on their platforms. This concept inherently makes sense until certain regions start getting deprived of content that was developed by these “world wide studios.” Don Mesa, director of product planning and platform software innovation weighed in on the subject stating, “There were certain hurdles that needed to be cleared to bring the app over to our region. Glad to say it’s all clear.”
What hurdles could he be possibly talking about that would delay such a simple product as an alarm clock for nine-months? (It released in Japan in April 2012) More importantly, if an app that was developed in-house was delayed for nine-months, what hope do we have for games getting localized timely if at all? As PlayStation is aiming to make their mobile platforms more developer friendly in the wake of the imposing threat from Apple, there should be a much heavier focus on streamlining content for publishing. In an age where there is an Indie Arcade on XBL and a backlog of developers wanting to publish on iOS, it doesn’t bode well that Sony has to overcome hurdles to publish on their own platform.
Source: PlayStation Blog