PlayStation Camera shortage caused by Twitch's popularity on PS4

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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.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 20, 2014 6:00 PM

    Andrew 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...

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      March 20, 2014 7:11 PM

      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?

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        March 20, 2014 7:12 PM

        This also baffles me. I'll watch the Twitch stream if there's a cute girl on her cam, but everyone else can fuck right off.

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        March 20, 2014 7:35 PM

        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.

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        March 20, 2014 7:44 PM

        Shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Reality tv and social media has bred an entire generation of narcissists.

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        March 20, 2014 7:49 PM

        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.

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        March 20, 2014 9:04 PM

        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.

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          March 21, 2014 4:59 AM

          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...

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            March 21, 2014 5:05 AM

            Sony did it right. They got people to want the product before they asked them to pay for it.

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              March 21, 2014 5:16 AM

              So very absolutely damn well true.

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              March 21, 2014 5:20 AM

              I'm willing to bet there are more Kinect 2s out there than PS4 cameras, so it would seem Microsoft was able to get people to want the product before paying for it as well.

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                March 21, 2014 5:37 AM

                Or people weren't given a choice, but wanted to play Forza and Titanfall while not giving two fucks about Kinect.

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              March 21, 2014 7:39 AM

              Sounds like you guys are saying people want a camera for Twitch now, so Microsoft should be in great shape.

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        March 21, 2014 12:32 AM

        It's the video equivalent of posting on forums.

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          March 21, 2014 10:32 AM

          It's definitely this, though I feel it's more like the MIRC days where communities will form based around peoples favorite players.

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        March 21, 2014 5:18 AM

        I loaded up Twitch the other night and it blew my mind how many channels there are and people watching. I think this is just a generation I'm not a part of. It's really cool how you can go view old games, but then again I could do that on youtube without some nerd commenting.

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          March 21, 2014 5:48 AM

          Yeah it is something that isn't for me. I don't mind it because hey if people like it great. I hate seeing streamers or listening to them talk. To me it's like commentators in sports games. I don't care what what you look like I want to watch the game.

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            March 21, 2014 6:21 AM

            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.

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          March 21, 2014 10:07 AM

          If you don't like the commentary you can always find a different stream. A lot of people find watching and interacting with the streamer to be a lot of fun, and it's fun for the person streaming too. Did you ever watch Alice do Dark Souls Nites? Super entertaining.

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        March 21, 2014 5:19 AM

        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.

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          March 21, 2014 10:25 AM

          On a site where 90% of community posts are about what someone did or what happened to them today or what they're interested in, the idea of streaming video games is baffling. Go figure.

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            March 21, 2014 10:31 AM

            I dunno. More of the posts here seem to be "what should I do today," rather than "what I did today."

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        March 21, 2014 9:57 AM

        [deleted]

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          March 21, 2014 10:00 AM

          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.

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            March 21, 2014 10:12 AM

            I'd rather do that (watch a story-driven game) than the other. If it's interesting to play, I want to play.

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              March 21, 2014 10:39 AM

              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.

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        March 21, 2014 10:17 AM

        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.

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        March 21, 2014 10:51 AM

        It's like sports but less face painting and more.. wait no.. same amount of nachos.

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      March 20, 2014 8:01 PM

      I got mine cause of the playroom. My kid loves it.

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      March 20, 2014 8:09 PM

      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.

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      March 20, 2014 8:33 PM

      Any info if they are going to increase the streaming resolution to match xb1?

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        March 20, 2014 9:06 PM

        Sony's confirmed that the streaming resolution will be upped to 720p in one of the upcoming updates.

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      March 20, 2014 9:22 PM

      Sure... Haven't seen them since the system launched over here. Twitch isn't a thing here at all.

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      March 21, 2014 10:14 AM

      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.

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