PlayStation Vita production officially ends in Japan

PCH-2000-Slim-New-Colours-September-2015.jpg

As reported on last year, Sony officially announced plans to fully discontinue shipments of the PlayStation Vita in Japan this year, a statement which came a couple of months after they had announced the discontinuation of game cartridge production for the system. Now, as of March 1st 2019, the official pages for the remaining 2 models which were being produced, the PCH-2000 ZA11 (black) and PCH-2000 ZA23 (aqua blue), have been appended with the statement "shipment ended", now meaning that no further systems are being manufactured at all.
The Vita was launched in December 2011, enduring a fluctuating amount of praise and support until it was gradually abandoned by Sony and major AAA title developers in just a mere few years. Fortunately, the flourishing amount of third-party support in which the Vita had gained over the years just showed how spectacular the system could still be in the current generation.


:arrow: Source: PlayStation Japan - Vita Product Line-up
 

FAST6191

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Wonder how history will ultimately view this one. I reckon it could either go a Saturn (flop at the time with some bonehead decisions but several highly sought after games) or go a N64 (horribly aged failure with a few notable efforts).

Assuming firmware updates stop with this (barring any fun and games with the EU or something in years to come like saw that 360 update a while back) do we have relatively achievable hacks for any commercially sold Vita out there?
 

Spider_Man

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I'm surprised the vita has finally stopped production...... not.

It's a shame because the system had great potential, but if Sony couldn't be bothered to back it then no wonder third parties didn't.

I liked that Sony pushed portable console hardware to something Nintendo never would, it had great promise for console quality portable games.

Now I cant see Sony doing another portable console for a while, theirs no sense with the switch on the market and chances are it gets littered with its indy shit.

Or if Sony are able to allow remote play of titles you own on disc, streamed to your handheld device and play on the go.
 

sblast3

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You may be surprised by this, but the Vita had a fairly successful run in Japan, outselling the N64 and Gamecube.
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Hardware/JP/


7 years is a good life cycle for a handheld console, especially when you consider that the iPhone 4S came out a few months before the Vita. With the rise of the Switch and Sony USA screwing over Japanese developers, it's also a good time for it to retire.
 
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Kioku

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You may be surprised by this, but the Vita had a fairly successful run in Japan, outselling the N64 and Gamecube.
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Hardware/JP/


7 years is a good life cycle for a handheld console, especially when you consider that the iPhone 4S came out a few months before the Vita. With the rise of the Switch and Sony USA screwing over Japanese developers, it's also a good time for it to retire.

No surprise at all, actually. The Vita has always been a huge hit in Japan due to the on-the-go nature of that country.
 

raxadian

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RIP. Amazing little thing.

PS: Does anyone know the RRP and a good game store in Tokyo where I might pick one up for a decent price?

The Vita is really unpopular in Japan, you are better buying it online. Unless your Japanese kanji reading and writing is really good, in that case you should be asking in a Japanese gaming forum.
 

Coto

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1) I think the Vita should´ve had used a better GPU since that´d have hidden the system slower CPU. (like switch does), so the aging hardware would somewhat stand out

2) any smartphone from 2013+ has similar hardware.

3) and Sony should've supported something like registering your UMDs online for a small fee so these could've acquired through PSN. Ninty knew very well backwards compatibility was a great deal (and they did it for years) as a backup plan if the selling points of a given console would flop.
 

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"Die monster! You don't have games in this world!"

~ Sony to the PS Vita, long ago

"It was not by my hand that I could not buy your games. I was denied the ability to play the games I downloaded, by the proprietary cards that no one should've had to buy in 2011/2012 when microSD cards were on the horizon!"
 
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raxadian

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1) I think the Vita should´ve had used a better GPU since that´d have hidden the system slower CPU. (like switch does), so the aging hardware would somewhat stand out

2) any smartphone from 2013+ has similar hardware.

3) and Sony should've supported something like registering your UMDs online for a small fee so these could've acquired through PSN. Ninty knew very well backwards compatibility was a great deal (and they did it for years) as a backup plan if the selling points of a given console would flop.

Unless they figure a way to make it compatible, Gamefreak is gonna get a lot of heat from people who use the paid Pokebank service that are unable to transfer Pokemon to Sword and Shield.
 

Silent_Gunner

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The 3DS/2DS is still going... for now.

Eh, it's winding down at this point, the only game that I can think of that's a new release is the US localization of Persona Q2. I'd rather have a port of Persona 5 (preferably the new enhanced version) to the Switch. Nintendo better not perform self sabotage and make a successor to the DS product line though if that quote from Furukawa was anything to go by a year ago!
 

raxadian

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Eh, it's winding down at this point, the only game that I can think of that's a new release is the US localization of Persona Q2. I'd rather have a port of Persona 5 (preferably the new enhanced version) to the Switch. Nintendo better not perform self sabotage and make a successor to the DS product line though if that quote from Furukawa was anything to go by a year ago!

Well, if by new games you mean no ports, we did had Wario Ware Gold last year.

Then there is the pointless remake of Bowser Inside Story, that yes is a remake we are getting this year.

Nintendo will keep the 2DS/3DS going until Pokemon Sword and Shield is released, then maybe a year more so people has time to transfer their Pokemon from the Pokebank.

So yeah, the 2DS/3DS either dies at the end of this year or on the next year.

Considering the rampant piracy, is a miracle they haven't killed the console already.
 

matpower

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Assuming firmware updates stop with this (barring any fun and games with the EU or something in years to come like saw that 360 update a while back) do we have relatively achievable hacks for any commercially sold Vita out there?
There are public exploits to versions up to 3.68, and two unreleased exploits for versions 3.69 and 3.70, a downgrade tool which allows you to go back to the golden standard 3.60 firmware, a FreeShop-like utility, plugins to allow newer games to run in any version, a full PSP virtual machine, a thriving homebrew community, etc.

And unlike the 3DS scene, it hasn't died out. It is pretty much full blown unlocked, even hardware encryption has been cracked.
 

the_randomizer

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There are public exploits to versions up to 3.68, and two unreleased exploits for versions 3.69 and 3.70, a downgrade tool which allows you to go back to the golden standard 3.60 firmware, a FreeShop-like utility, plugins to allow newer games to run in any version, a full PSP virtual machine, a thriving homebrew community, etc.

And unlike the 3DS scene, it hasn't died out. It is pretty much full blown unlocked, even hardware encryption has been cracked.


Too bad the proprietary memory cards suck and are overpriced.
 

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