Sony’s largely called time on the PlayStation Vita, with hardware and cartridge production mostly over. There are still a surprising number of titles being published globally on the PlayStation Store, however, but there had been some speculation overnight that support may be coming to an abrupt end. Jack of All Controllers picked up on a Kickstarter post by Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story developer Suzaku, which seemed to imply that the Japanese giant had set a date for final software submissions.
Fortunately, prevalent PS Vita publishers like Ratalaika Games and Cowcat Games have since commented that they’re not aware of any cut-offs, and haven’t received any communication from the platform holder on the matter. We’re going to chalk this down to a misunderstanding for now – although there is every opportunity that the Japanese giant could still pull the plug at any moment. For now, the portable lives on – just about.
[source kickstarter.com, via twitter.com, jackofallcontrollers.com]
Comments 36
I really do love my Vita, the buttons are of brilliant quality and other than a slight lack of truly great first-party support, there are plenty games to get through.
Eh, whoever wanted their game on a portable platform will not be left without an alternative. And despite all the neglect it saw, Vita has still amassed quite a damn library as it is. Sony keeping all of that accessible on Store for as long as possible is more topical for me than new releases.
I tried the demo about a year ago, sense: a cyberpunk ghost story is pretty good. I'll buy the game on ps4 though since the game art and colour is great, I think it will pop out more on my oled tv.
Man, if nintendo release an oled switch mini, I'll be the first one to buy it even if it cost $300. One reason I really enjoyed playing on psvita is because the oled colour really pop up on its screen, some game like dragon crown looks really gorgeous on vita
Even today I still prefer my Vita, as a comfy and dedicated handheld, over my Switch. Still got a massive backlog to play through.
Best handheld I've ever played on. 'Tis a shame Sony threw it to the wolves.
I dont know what Sony would have to gain from telling publishers they can no longer publish on the platform? Unless the sales of new games simply dont support the cost of keeping the store active
@Lando_ It's my portable ps1 machine, playing castlevania sotn is way better on vita rather than on 4k tv
@ApostateMage Yeah, I have no problem if at least psvita still receive new indie titles, but maybe the cpu is just too old 😕
Surely it can't cost that much to keep it going? I hope it still has at least a few years left.
Vita: Ah'm... Ah'm not dead...
Sony: You will be, in a minute!
Vita is a zombie system it may end up being like the Dreamcast with indie games or it due to the 3ds is over now and Vita is the closest to the switch next to Xbox one
If people want to make game for it then why not? Sony has no reason to stop anyone from doing that.
Why do people even care at this point lol Vita's been dead for God knows how long, just move on to PS4/PS5 publishing if it's such a big deal, I doubt they'll be getting a whole lot of money back from publishing on the Vita.
I've moved on almost entirely to VR but when I do play pancake games I remote play with Vita.
As long as remote play stays available my Vita will always get much use.
@CK97 It keeps getting games so i have too disagree completely. Im certain if Sony would make a revision somewhat faster hardware and sell it at €150 and sell like hotcakes.
I'm kinda hoping the Switch Lite takes off and spurs Sony to say "Yeah, we want some of that."
@SirRealDeal please tell me by “pancake games” you mean non-VR games as in “they’re not 3D, they’re flat” 😂😂😂
It just sounds so funny to me lol
@clvr Yes, that indeed.
@SirRealDeal hahahah, love it 😄
I use remote play on my Vita every day (with Gems of War).
It’s also my favorite platform for the always entertaining Ratalaika games.
I'll just leave this here.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2019/07/11/the-nintendo-switch-lite-is-basically-the-playstation-vita-reborn/#55c1138c747c
I only own a PlayStation TV and have yet to even set it up yet, despite owning at least 3 games physically (only one of which I can use on it).
Unsure if I want to play Uncharted: Golden Abyss etc enough to buy even an used Vita.
I played a couple of games on Vita, but I sold it in 2015 and haven't really missed it at all to be honest. Golden Abyss was good, Modnation Racers was absolutely brilliant, think I played NFS Most Wanted on it too. Once I got the PS4 though, it gathered dust pretty quickly.
@rjejr Yeah, and it'll sell because it's made by Nintendo, not Sony. I really think that Sony should give it another go. Clearly Nintendo has proved that there is still a profitable market for dedicated portable gaming systems, and have gone as far as to pretty much pinch the original concept of the Vita with this (non) Switch Lite.
@Turismo4GT For the past few years I really did think Sony would launch a new handheld, possibly geared towards streaming PS4 and PS5 games, sort of like an Apple Touch, or a Dualshock w/ a screen. Maybe just in Japan. But over the past few months I've kind of abandoned the idea, even in Japan.
Thing is, yes, Nintendo can make and sell a handheld, but Nintendo also stopped making a home console, Switch is a handheld w/ TV out. Sony makes home console games w/ photorealistic graphics and 5.1 surround sound. They proved w/ the Vita they aren't interested in making handheld games.
So, Sony gets the home console market, Nintendo gets the handheld market, MS gets the FPS fanboi market. And most of the world games on their PCs or phones anyway.
Not really any reason for Sony to make one. Sony's secondary market is PSVR right now. A PSVR headset is their portable system equivalent. They seem to winning there. Labo VR is only going to go so far as competition.
I love my Vita. Plain and simple.
I mainly bought the Vita as a remote play portable device so I didn't have to lug my laptop around.
Then I discovered Persona4 Golden.
Now, the Vita will forever be a treasured thing.
I then bought the MGS HDC and a few other games. Downloaded my PS Plus games. Bought a 64GB memory card and now when I visit my parents on weekends I toss it in my Limited Edition PlayStation backpack from InsertCoin along with the Switch.
I only wish it had more PSOne games on there. Would love Dino Crisis, Guantlet Legends, Spider-Man Enter Electro, Nightmare Creatures, Star Wars Jedi Power Battles. Among a few others.
I love my Vitas (I have old, aqua blue and neon orange as pictured in he article) and I’m still happy to get the few physical’s that are still released but it will be a sad day when it completely stops.
The Switch Lite aesthetically looks cheap and way less elegant/cool compared to my aqua blue or neon orange Vita.
The problem with the Vita wasn’t the machine itself, and it wasn’t 3rd party support.
The problem with the Vita is the games Sony is geared up to make don’t really work on a limited power device with a small screen, designed for short bursts of action instead of long story scenes.
The Switch works and Ninty’s other handhelds work because make games that fit naturally in that headspace.
It's a real shame that the Vita was never given the marketing it required. I mentioned Gravity Rush and Uncharted: Golden Abyss to a number of people and said I had been playing them on the PS Vita and the response was: never heard of it (the PS Vita and Gravity Rush). So sad.
I like the idea of relaunching as a cheaper machine and maybe a lot more onboard storage or SD card compatibility. Personally, I think the PlayStation Classic should have been a Vita base console. Setup so that it initially shows a PlayStation One environment, but has an easy access link to the PS Vita/PlayStation TV interface. The CD lid could have housed the memory card and Vita card ports.
One can dream (then create it in Dreams). Media Molecule could then create a PS Vita (playing) client for Dreams and have a PS Vita compatibility mode on the PS4 in Dreams that can port games to PS Vita.
The main problem with the Vita probably was that Sony was in extreme dire straits, when it released. I even remember a time on the Vita PSN shop, when the prices started to go from, say, 15.95 to 15.99 just to get that extra little money out of the transaction.
The Vita is my favourite handheld of all time. I play it regularly and still collect the odd physical title. Always going to be a bizarre footnote in console history.
I love the Vita but it doesn't surprise me if it's done being it's old hardware and a new updated system is needed (waves to Sony).
Still love my PS Vita. Still gets a lot play. The console just never breaks and the battery seems as strong as day 1.
I still have enough games to make it to the end off 2021, before I consider retiring it.
We've got s 2DS XL but it's just fells nasty compared to the Vita - especially the awful UI (still, it plays Mario Kart so my little one's happy!)
Even the more recent Lego games on the Vita just felt so much slicker than the 2DS versions.
Personally, I think Sony should look into a PSP-5, tie it in with the PS5 and just support the thing for a couple of years at least!
The Vita was abandoned too early thanks, in part, to the PS4 juggernaut. Then again, the PSP was struggling alongside the DS until Monster Hunter made it fly off the shelves in Japan. I think Sony just don't know what to do with one when they make one.
Let's not forget, the PS Store functionality disappeared off the PSP long ago but you can still buy PSP games via a PS3, Vita or PC (still not available for transfer via a PS4?) so I think the PSP & Vita library will be available one way or another for a while yet.
That said, don't Sony have to 'officially bless' any game before it gets on the Store? Might be that the Vita team will just be closed down?
Awesome bit of kit. I still use mine often.
The Vita was really cool. But it was also kind of a seriously missed opportunity. I feel like Sony totally failed to push it in the west. The only thing that got worse advertising than the Vita was the Wii U. In college I knew 2 people who had Vita and like dozens of people with 3DS. And the people I saw with Vita were usually just using them as MP3 players.
But it's really cool little machine that really deserved better.
Sony should revive their gaming phone idea they had back in the day. A Vita phone would be hella cool! I'd gladly trade my Galaxy for a Vita phone!
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