The PlayStation Vita has had quite the rocky life; since its middling launch in 2011 Sony had mostly left the handheld out to die, quickly pulling away from supporting it with first party content. Meanwhile, indie and Japanese games flourished on the platform thanks to a small but loyal userbase. Now it's 2018, and the Nintendo Switch has been quietly smothering the remaining life out of the Vita. A few months ago saw Sony mention that physical game cartridges for the system would come to a halt. Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment's VP admitted that PlayStation Vita systems in Japan would finally be put to rest in 2019, when the company plans to end production. Perhaps more notably, he also stated that Sony PlayStation has no plans for a successor or handheld gaming console at this time.

Source: Famitsu
If you're interested in games for the PlayStation Vita, check out our highlights list

 

[Windaga]

I never liked the Vita all that much. The interface was lame, especially coming off of the excellent cross system used on the PSP and the PS4, and the sticks felt..weird. The hyper inflated, proprietary memory cards were asinine, and I've had 2 die on me. My screen also trashed out twice, but I think they switched screens in the newer models, which is cool.

But I do love the PSTV. Playing VNs on the big screen is fantastic. I think Sony should just start manufacturing those again. Add in some different colors, provide (real) SD card support, change the UI (plz), and I'd buy another one in a heart beat.

 

[DJPlace]

vita got me into the neptuina games and made me more of perv and support sony more....

 

[CaptainSodaPop]

You mean, why did it take so long

Yeah, kind of. Think that Sony still owes a lot to Vita regarding 1st party games.

 

[Owenge]

I have the 1001 model and it is a blast to play on.... sad they are stopping production, oh well

 

[8BitWonder]

I'm surprised no one has made a PSMortem joke yet.

For what it was, it was pretty fun. Though I personally only played through maybe 4 vita games on mine since launch.
I've mainly been using it for portable emulation.

I am curious though if this is an indication that Sony is stepping out of the handheld gaming market completely, or just doesn't have any plans to re-enter at the moment.

 

[jellybeangreen2]

This for PSP and PS1 is the best handheld device. I love my Go. But this looks nicer. I’ve had both phat and slim model. The blue slim is nice and current

 

[lincruste]

PlayStation what ?

 

[Pluupy]

I really love the Vita. Such a beautiful, powerful little device. The first gen, anyway. Proprietary memory cards pretty much sealed the coffin. Sony fucked up bad. Not a single game on Vita i'd want to play. Maybe in Japan it has good visual novels? It has nothing going for it as a video game console. RIP

 

[the_randomizer]

That's what they get for making garbage proprietary memory cards, I guess.

 

[TsUnDeReAznGuY]

LUL. I thought it died a long time ago. Have only one game for it and then after beating the game, my psv sits in my room collecting dust.

 

[Spider_Man]

Was a great system with no support.

Ahh well fits nicely for my emulation needs

 

[LittleFlame]

"I'm 12 and if it's not Nintendo I gotta hate on it"

This thread

 

[duwen]

"I'm 12 and if it's not Nintendo I gotta hate on it"

almost every GBATemp thread

^ I think that's what you meant

 

[flatty69]

let it die maybe they will put out a real competitor to the switch but i doubt it sony is just to dam greedy

 

[JamiePashley]

This for PSP and PS1 is the best handheld device. I love my Go. But this looks nicer. I’ve had both phat and slim model. The blue slim is nice and current

Pretty much my main use is for PSP and PSOne, just because the screen is bigger than the PSP Go

 

[Enryx25]

"I'm 12 and if it's not Nintendo I gotta hate on it"

This thread

"I'm edgy and fuck everyone else who disagrees with me"

 

[WiiUBricker]

This must be for Japan. Production for the west has ended long before that.
Also, I want to verify this news but the source is japanese. Sigh...

 

[leon315]

now the question is Whe sony will discontinue PSdead's online service....

 

[the_randomizer]

"I'm 12 and if it's not Nintendo I gotta hate on it"

This thread

Well, maybe if Sony got their head out of their asses and actually cared enough to properly market the device, and used normal memory cards that didn't cost one their soul, I would have given a damn

 

[LittleFlame]

Well, maybe if Sony got their head out of their asses and actually cared enough to properly market the device, and used normal memory cards that didn't cost one their soul, I would have given a damn

Agreed, shoulda had our own SDcard function so we could "load more backups"