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

 

[CMDreamer]

The PSP Vita is a reminder of 2 things

A)Even if you are the most powerful and have more tech, doesn't mean you are going to win. The PSP Vita with the OLED model was amazing, yet the 3ds was a bit more fun...
I can say the same for the Original PSP, X-mas 2005 got a PSP, i was quite happy with.. But doing some retrospective i would have loved more a DS.

B)Sony is pure hype and once the hype ends, they give you the middle finger.

They just keep forgetting that crap games don't mix with "Hi-Tech" consoles, that makes them useless.

I won't buy another console from that lame brand owner. The last I've bought was a PSP, being a PSX the first, but not anymore.

No more copycat hardware/software for me. Originality is trend.

 

[Dvdxploitr]

For what it's worth, the Vita was a fantastic system. The device had plenty of power and some games showed that off really well. However, the problem with the Vita was it's COST...not the system, but the memory was insane. Also games were $50 which is very high for a hand-held. The first model didn't have any built-in storage, which required you to buy a insanely expensive memory card. Second model came out but ditched the OLED display to cut cost, but you did get SOME built-in storage, yet even then, the damage had been done.

 

[Nomi20]

I loved the vita. But Sony I will never get a handheld from you again. You messed everything up as it could have been great.

 

[kingfrost]

I love both Nintendo and Sony consoles but in all honesty they are the same. It's truly mind boggling how many people ATTACK Sony while forgetting Nintendo ditched an entire console 2 years after release because it failed and forced people to buy a whole different console to stay current. And they are charging for mediocre online. And leasing you retro titles unless you want to buy a "classic" console. The only good thing they did was cross play and if Nintendo was in Sony's position they wouldn't do that either.

I get that Sony is more popular and that makes people want to tear them down but use some common sense. And honestly the PSP was great, being able to play ms PS1 games on the go greatly outweighed my DS and when I hacked it it was a go to for emulation, including doing SNES better than the 3DS emulation made by Nintendo themselves.

 

[|<roni&g]

Such a shame it didn't live up to the of psp, vitas library is tiny in comparison to the original.

A GTA game or some other big titles could possibly have saved it a few years back

 

[invaderyoyo]

I've spent a lot of time with different Nintendo portables since I'm more of a portable guy and playing at home. A couple of years ago I acquired an used PSP and after hacking good lord I gave it a lot of use. A couple of months I bought an used Vita and it's the same story repeating itself.
I'm not interested at all in japanese VNs and that but I'm finally able to play Super Robot Wars V and X and a lot of other RPGs and games, not to mention it being my new retro portable emulator for almost everything. The Vita is amazing and one can only hope how hackers can expand on its potential.

I'm happy I got the Slim model, I value having an universal port for charging more than anything else. People really drool over OLEDs more than they should I think because they always recommend the Fat model and only mention the screen and that's it. I think the Fat's flaws are way to big.

I just hope SNES on Retroarch was a little bit better.

The Vita has almost all genres covered, but people love to crap on things.

When I play Vita games I usually choose my fat model over my slim model. What flaws are you referring to? Yeah, the proprietary port is lame, but that doesn't affect gameplay.

 

[Another World]

With all the hacking, emulation, homebrew stuff I've been apart of over the past 10 years, I've not once (not a single time, EVER) seen, touched, used, or was shown a Vita. That says something to me and was a strong reason why I never sought one out.

-Another World

 

[ertaboy356b]

Time to buy as much Vita as you can. Prices will skyrocket soon!

 

[EmulateLife]

The Vita has almost all genres covered, but people love to crap on things.

Or maybe some people legitimately feel the lineup was unimpressive. I never cared about playing portable consoles out in public, I really only bought portable consoles because of the must have games that couldn't be found on consoles. The Vita was severally lacking in exclusives. I enjoyed Uncharted Golden Abyss. But this is the exclusive list and I consider is a huge disappointment. I don't see how anyone could name 10 great games out of this list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:PlayStation_Vita-only_games

If I had to choose between Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo I'd choose Playstation. That shows how much it disappointed me for the Vita to be what it was. I'm being honest with my feelings, so I've done nothing wrong. If you love the handheld I'll let you. But there's me and many others that weren't happy with it and you'll have to accept that.

 

[invaderyoyo]

Or maybe some people legitimately feel the lineup was unimpressive. I never cared about playing portable consoles out in public, I really only bought portable consoles because of the must have games that couldn't be found on consoles. The Vita was severally lacking in exclusives. I enjoyed Uncharted Golden Abyss. But this is the exclusive list and I consider is a huge disappointment. I don't see how anyone could name 10 great games out of this list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:PlayStation_Vita-only_games

If I had to choose between Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo I'd choose Playstation. That shows how much it disappointed me for the Vita to be what it was. I'm being honest with my feelings, so I've done nothing wrong. If you love the handheld I'll let you. But there's me and many others that weren't happy with it and you'll have to accept that.

That's fine, but many people who buy portable consoles care about, well portability. The fact that the games are on home consoles doesn't take away from them being great on the Vita.

 

[duwen]

Yeah, some genres were close to nonexistent on the 3ds. I love rhythm games and the 3ds has almost nothing. The Vita has 3 Project Diva games, 3 Persona Dancing games, DJMax Technika Tune, Superbeat: Xonic, IA/VT Colorful, Cytus Lambda and maybe more I can't remember.

3DS has what? Project Mirai and Theatrhythm? (relatively weak rhythm games, btw) No others come to mind.

There was also Rhythm Thief and Radio Hammer was sort of cool on eshop.

Whew, 2 years shy of your 10 year promise Sony! How dare you!

Not surprised they kept producing them this long, though. Vita has tons of games catered to JP and weebs and such, despite little interest they're still selling somewhat ok in JP.

Somewhat ok... I believe even the most recent Japanese sales figures show the vita's outselling xbox1 on a weekly basis.

 

[71r3n]

Vita was a gem, unlike some haters here I still love it and for me it is one of the best handhelds ever made BUT they destroyed it with those ridiculous expensive memory cards...

of course they effect cartridge buyers less then people who buy from PSN or pirate but still sucks, especially if you do all three things

currently playing Cyber Sleuth Hackers memory on my Vita

U mustnt frget, that games from PSN never got a pricecut. Sure, some offers here and there.
But mostly, the PSN prices stayed the way they were, when first released.
You pay Fullprice for many PSV games im PSN, while physical copys get sold for far under 50% (for a damn long time now).

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I believe even the most recent Japanese sales figures show the vita's outselling xbox1 on a weekly basis.

Which means diddly fucking squat really . The Xbox brand has never done well in Japan ever, outselling it isn't so much an achievement. The OG XBOX barely hit 2 million sales in it's entire lifetime in JP, the 360 barely got 1.5 million in it's lifetime, and the Xbone hasn't even hit 100,000 sales, let alone a million, so far.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Good riddance.
It's been around for almost 7 years, so it's lived a full console generation anyway. It was time.

 

[invaderyoyo]

There was also Rhythm Thief and Radio Hammer was sort of cool on eshop.

Those are fun, but I didn't mention those for the same reason I didn't mention Rhythm Heaven. They're more like rhythm minigames. I meant like a more traditional style, like Guitar Hero or DDR with actual tracks.

 

[olixus]

so sad to see a console with so much potential die i love my vita better time to get into the vita homebrew scene

 

[Tarmfot]

Even if I play a lot on my iPhone the genres are totally different compared to a gaming device. Lots of games aren‘t possible/playable on a phone (same as the mail clients and web browsers on 3DS/Vita - please stick to gaming only and cut all other features because for that I have a smartphone).

It's about including a gamepad not about being a gaming device.

 

[AtsuNii]

I actually thought it was already taken out of production by almost hearing nothing about it anymore seeing as they had given up on it mostly.

 

[Lumstar]

I actually thought it was already taken out of production by almost hearing nothing about it anymore seeing as they had given up on it mostly.

The original announcement actually specified it was for Japan.
But half the people have fallen for clickbait, the rest already knew it's been dead for some time without Sony needing to say so.

 

[Song of storms]

I still have NO IDEA how they managed to blow this.


- Handheld console
- Powerful console
- Costs like a 3DS (when it came out)
- Sexy OLED screen


And they lost to a 480p, underpowered console that had a ton of issues when it came out, so much so that they had to release multiple newer, better versions. While the Vita received a downgrade version (no OLED). Congratulations!

 

[ZachariasBarnham]

I won't go out of my way to seek out a Vita, but if I do come across one, it's getting hacked.

EDIT: Thank you mods, I have no idea how I managed to quintuple-post the same message...

 

[sazabimk2]

Official over