Previously called PlayStation Vita TV, the PlayStation TV is one of those products from Sony that could have made a huge impact for PlayStation. Part Apple TV and part an extension, PS TV debuted with a lot of promise. The little box which connected to your TV via HDMI could stream games directly from the PS4, allowing a household to use PS4 on multiple TVs without needing a ton of money. That’s because while PS4 costs $399, PS TV instead costs $99 though you can now probably fins them for around $50.

PS4 streaming aside, you could also play PS Vita games directly on it and in turn adding value to the powerful portable. For developers, this was also a major win as it game them another platform that their titles could be accessed from. Add access to PlayStation Network and other apps and sure you have a hit device on your hand that each gamer should be purchasing with their PS4.

Except things didn’t go that way at all.

When PlayStation TV launched, it arrived with a fairly ugly UI. That’s because at its core, the PS TV is really the PS Vita and in turn, it uses the same exact interface. While things look beautiful on Vita with a UI that’s designed for touch and a five inch display with 960 by 544 resolution, it didn’t bode well when scaled to larger 1080p TVs (1920 by 1280).

Dull colors and a weird UI were only the start. Since that time, Sony has been unable to bring any major apps to the platform like Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, HBO and in fact has even lost access to things like YouTube (with Alphabet Google to blame and not Sony). This means that PS TV could never replace your Apple TV or Roku unit and instead became another box under your TV.

At least since that time, Sony has devices to bring PlayStation Now, their game streaming/rental service to it. Otherwise, PS Vita for many continues to be a singular device that allows for games from PS4 to be streamed to a different TV. A neat future but not one that will cause hundreds of thousands, if not millions to be sold which is where we are now. Chances are, you don’t know anybody who owns one.

Instead, the PS TV could have been the ultimate trojan horse for Sony. If you have a PS4, perfect. With PS TV, you can now extend that experience to other parts of the house. Don’t have one? No need to worry as you’ll be able to enjoy everything that PlayStation embodies today like

• PlayStation Vue
• PlayStation Music
• PlayStation Network
  • TV shows
  • Movies
  • Trailers

From there, Sony has an extensive electronics arm which ranges from cameras to speakers. Imagine being able to stream from them to PS TV or easily viewing the photos you just took with PlayMemories Online, Sony’s semi take on iCloud photo library. All this with of course a UI designed for television. As Apple has proven time and time again, a single product can have a massive halo affect on the company. For that reason alone, with a $99 price tag, PS TV is an easily attainable product that could open the door for consumers to purchase other Sony products that it complements like PS4 or subscribe to any of the mentioned services.

All this brings us to where we are with PS TV today. As it stands, Sony occasionally updates it but short of a complete OS redesign, all updates have been minor in scope. It’s likely that this isn’t in PlayStations top priority in any shape and how can you blame them? Though I don’t have any real sales data to go by and Sony has yet to release any, chances are that sales have been between poor and horrible. Aside from the fact that you likely don’t know anybody who owns one or anybody who actively uses one, Sony wouldn’t need to cut the price by in half if they were selling well.

If a product is not selling and it’s not a priority to support, it simply becomes a resource drain no matter how little Sony is investing in it. You still have to push occasional updates, keep track of inventory, maintain an updated website and other related things.

This leaves Sony with two options. Either they should kill PlayStation TV all together and move any staffing over to other projects or put together a proper roadmap and start rebuilding. Even if it means abandoning the current PS TV and designing something entirely new.

PlayStation TV is a product that’s poised with potential but Sony has to execute on it and so far, they’ve been reluctant to do so.

Discuss:

Do you own a PS TV and do you think there is potential in the platform?