It's never nice to hear that a project's been cancelled, but the writing was on the wall with this one. Tactical role-playing title The Banner Saga was announced for the PlayStation 4 and Vita all the way back in 2014. The former launched in January of last year, but the latter was never given a concrete release date. Clearly, something wasn't right.
Unfortunately, a troubled development has resulted in developer Stoic and publisher Versus Evil cancelling the handheld version. According to a blog post authored by the aforementioned publisher, the studio -- even with support from Sony -- couldn't get the game to work very well on Vita.
The post reads: "The game needs a lot more time to get it to the conditions we expect for Vita and Banner Saga fans. To add to this, it does not include a lot of the finishing touches and updates the Stoic team has since launched on the other platforms. Essentially, it would take more time and funding to make this port a reality and despite the best efforts from multiple studios, we have all agreed that this is the best course of action for right now."
It's a shame, but this scenario was looking increasingly likely as the weeks and months went by. Were you still holding out hope for a Vita release? Close the book on this one in the comments section below.
[source versusevil.com]
Comments 16
Sad. Maybe i can port to the switch. Looks like a great portable game.
Gutted, I guess the Vita just doesn't have what it takes for some of these games. Such a shame.
Sigh...
One of the many. I'm still waiting for those promised Telltales games. I mean I know they've been cancelled, but they could have at least told us so.
It's a shame, but it looks like the VITA is starting to quickly fade out more and more...shame for a great portable system, but with the Switch doing well, I see some kind of similarity for the PS5!!!! PS5 system and VITA 2-type-handheld element!!!! I could go for that!!!
Sounds odd, its not really that taxing a game, its a straightforward turn based type thing, loved 1/2 on PS4 just waiting on part 3. One of my games of the year too.
Bit annoying. I had always held off buying the ps4 release so I could buy on vita as its a perfect fit. Particularly given the games mobile origins on hardware less capable than vita. In the period between now and it's announcement, any interest in the game has been well and truly lost and I have no intention of getting it or is sequel.
As @naruball said, at least we know. Doubt telltale will ever confirm that tales from the borderlands and Game of thrones have been cancelled ; and I expect papers please is cancelled too
Vita, despite being on the way out, still has some great games to come including yomowari 2, Ys 8, danganronpa 3, y2k, shakedown hawaii, cosmic star heroine, undertale, bloodstained and digimon cybersleuth 2 (among others); along with recent games like Tokyo Xanadu. Certainly won't be leaving my side any time soon.
@Rob_230 Even if no game came out for it ever again, I have such a huge backlog that I could play for years, maybe even a decade. I'm happy with the support it got. Cancellations or no news still suck, though.
@naruball totally agree. Its one of the best consoles ive ever owned. My backlog is embarrassing ; I havent even played some of the so called big hitters yet like metal gear 2 and 3 HD. I genuinely think I could be playing new games, like you, for a decade. And then after that, I still have final fantasy 1 through x-2 on one memory card that I can pull out anytime, anywhere.
It is, for me, the perfect console at the right time in my life
@Rob_230 Nice to know that positive and appreciative people such as yourself exist. When it comes to vita, I notice mostly negativity online and dismissal of everything it has to offer even from people who own one.
Not the kind of game one would expect to lack satisfactory performance on Vita (when titles like Valkyria Azure Revolution manage to come out simultaneously with PS4 versions), but that's another reminder of a case-by-case basis with many intricacies only the developers can assess. Oh well, in Switch we trust. Vita still has a nice bunch of games coming in, and its current library (especially counting the PSP digital lineup) can keep one busy for months by itself.
(Which feels especially true when the recent sale leaves you with both God Eater games, Toukiden Kiwami and Yomawari/HtoL#NiQ pack on your memory card. Roll over, Steam... XD)
Well guess i won't be playing it then. 😔
I liked the post they made about this. It's clear that all parties worked very hard on this, but the mods made to the engine made it borderline impossible to get going.
I think they were very transparent, and while it's disappointing, you have to respect the call they made.
@naruball ah tell me about it! Its so frustrating isnt it. I play mine every single day on my way to and from work. I couldn't be without it. I generally buy most of my cross -platform games (ffx, world of ff, steins gate, and future releases such as danganronpa 3 and ys 8) on vita, as I just dont have the time to game for long periods in front of the TV any more!
It frustrates me so much that even now, people say the vita has no games. Its completely insane. It has the most diverse and interesting line up of any console I have ever owned
@get2sammyb I do agree with you Sammy; and have to respect the devs. they do sound genuinely disappointed that they have let people down.
At least they didn't say the Vita doesn't have enough buttons to play the game.
Played this on PC recently. It's kind of rough, but I enjoyed my time with it.
@naruball Agree on Telltale games. I played all on I could on Vita and would love more. I'm not the biggest Telltale fan BUT they work better on mobile then home console.
They clearly aren't coming out but I would like transparency like these guys are doing with the Banner Saga.
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