PlayStation Vita PS Vita Sony 1

Despite being the successor to a platform that moved over 80 million units, the PlayStation Vita has been a commercial flop. While the handheld is fantastic to use, it never quite got the support needed to make it succeed in a changing world where smartphones rule pockets around the world. And as part of an interview with The Verge, PlayStation America chief Shawn Layden has admitted that the device is all but done in the West.

“The PS Vita is still a viable platform, chiefly in the Japanese and Asian markets,” Layden told the site. “We still have developers in Japan who are building for that platform. But it just didn’t get over the hump in Europe and America. It’s hard to know exactly why, but it didn’t garner a large enough audience here for us to continue to build for it.”

There are plenty of armchair analysts who will tell you that pricey memory cards and a dearth of first-party software are to blame, but in our opinion the market just isn’t interested in dedicated portable gaming devices anymore – especially if they don’t have ‘Nintendo’ on the box. That said, the Vita still has very vocal fans – including Layden himself.

“It’s still my favourite portable,” he continued. “It travels with me all the time, and I play Hot Shots Golf consistently.” Nice shot, Shawn.

[source theverge.com]