Shuhei Yoshida, a now-former PlayStation executive, has gone over a few reasons why the PS Vita wasn't as big a success as the company hoped.
Talking on Kinda Funny Games, he goes over a handful of technical reasons the handheld console failed before delving into what he believes is the main contributor to its downfall.
"There are multiple reasons why Vita didn't work," Yoshida says, recognising that it did work insofar as users loved it and loved playing games on it.
"Several technical choices we as a company made [weren't] really good ones," he says. "One of which was the dedicated proprietary memory cards — that was a mistake. People had to spend more money to get the memory cards."
He adds that the back touch panel was "not necessary" and "added additional costs to the hardware", as did the OLED screen, even if it was "beautiful".
Yoshida also reveals that the PS Vita dev kit featured a video out, which allowed developers to plug it into monitors and work on games for the device. However, this was removed for the final unit in order to "save a few cents of cost".
However, the "biggest reason" in his opinion is that Sony couldn't support the Vita with dedicated, first-party games. "We had to split all our resources into two different platforms. And we didn't have that resource," Yoshida explains.
"[PS Studios] had to decide which teams to work on which [platform], and we didn't have that big a talent pool to be able to support two different platforms. And of course, [home] console is the biggest platform; we had to support PS3 and the launch of PS4. Really we had to stop many projects on Vita because we didn't have teams to make PS4 games."
Yoshida also adds that the main reason he believes the Nintendo Switch has been so successful is because the company stopped supporting two platforms and focused on one, and it's hard to argue with that, so we totally get where he's coming from.
What are your thoughts on this? Has Shu identified all the Vita's key missteps? Discuss in the comments section below.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 57
Hey Sony, make another PSP and you'll make major $$$
It’s a pity that the console was deemed a failure. I enjoyed what I played on it and still use it back and fore to this day. Definitely agree with the back touchpad being unnecessary, it had a touch screen so this should have been enough. It was a sad day seeing the Vita being used as a side mirror for an F1 game. Just showed Sony didn’t know what to do with it…
I had one but to be honest I mostly used it for remote play for the PS4. Main reason I didn't use it more was that there were no games that interested me and of course the price for those memory cards.
I did get a PSTV a few years ago at a garage sale but again really didn't use it. I think I donated it to Goodwill a few months ago.
The switch 2 looks so underwhelming that announcing a new PlayStation portable might knock the wind out of Nintendo's sails. Just like Nintendo did when they dropped the 3DS price and released a Mario Kart just before the Vita released.
Still one of my favorite portable consoles. It was amazing.
Yep, mainly lack of games. That back touchpad was a nightmare also. Would have been so easy for them to just start remaking a load of ps1 and ps2 games of course, but they mixed the message by trying to sell it as a graphical powerhouse, when that’s not needed in a handheld.
Shame Sony haven’t learnt. At a time when they should have been making every game both pancake and VR, they have instead just tried to make a small number of ‘made for VR’ games and haven’t been able to keep up with demand (thank god for third parties!)
He pretty much nailed it on every front. I would say the memory cards were the main reason though. There was some solid 1st party software on it even if it was abandoned after a couple years. Those memory cards though... that was a problem that plagued the system for its entire life cycle.
I still love the Vita though. It's still my favorite handheld I ever bought. I personally preferred the separation of game libraries for handheld and home console. I liked having games developed with portability in mind. Just don't get that anymore with consoles like the Switch.
And rumor has it that they're making another handheld 🙄
I wish they would learn their lesson and just focus on console
I'm very appreciative of PushSquare reporting on the Shu interview with KF. Saves me the headache of listening to those guys
Wise words. I love my VITAs. Still use them and can Remote Play into my PS4 from anywhere in the world in 2025.
Ridiculously overpriced, proprietary storage is the sole reason I never bought one.
Doubt Sony will ever make a new handheld, especially with how long games take to create now but if they ever do, at least now we know they have learned what went wrong and hopefully not make them memory cards proprietary!!
Vita is still my favorite handheld even after all these years.
Mobile is where it is at nowadays. Nintendo keeps on going because it is Nintendo. But it would be a big risk to release a standalone handheld for anyone else today.
A PS6 Steam Deck is the furthest they will - and should - go.
@Oram77 Mirroring what the article/interview says, it'll only work if all the games are cross-buy with PS5/6. It's dead on arrival if they have to make exclusive software for a handheld.
I agree with him on splitting your first party games between two platforms.
The Switch is great cause it's the one device Nintendo is focusing on, so you know everything they show off is going to release on there, not on a separate handheld.
Saves me, the customer, money by buying into the Switch's eco system cause I know I won't have to buy a separate handheld to keep playing my favorite franchises. The Steam Deck is also great cause it plays all of a person's Steam library that I already play on my PC.
The other change i would have made to the vita would have been the controls. It just wasn't the same as playing with a dualshock and it needed to be closer to that experience with traditional triggers and clicky thumb sticks.
I say this because remote play was such a pain for most games as you were always trying to make do with the control scheme and some games were simply impossible to play.
@ATaco Aesthetically, I think the Switch 2 looks pretty nice. If the chassis was aluminum, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was an Apple product. We'll see how things shake out price/performance-wise, though.
They removed the video out to save a few cents??? 🤣 WTF 🤦🏻♂️ Sony could've had a Switch-like success story with the Vita, had they kept it... and done away with those pesky memory cards ofcourse..
So his conclusions are the same as almost everybody's
Pretty much confirms what we all knew. Had to double down on PS4. I don't regret buying a Vita, though. Has some of my favorite games of all-time and was the place for indies until Switch arrived.
I still think those damn memory cards are what really screwed the Vita from the start. Way too expensive and now they’re a nightmare to track down. I do enjoy the Vita TV I got, but I’m hesitant on buying more games because I can’t get more storage. It really should have used microSD, using specialty cards just felt outdated by that time I would say. However while I don’t have a lot of systems, the Vita is definitely one of my favorites.
@Oram77 Pretty doubtful, honestly. Especially in a market with the Switch and portable PCs aplenty.
I think something like the Portal, but with native support and still sold as an accessory, can do decent enough. And I stand by that the Portal dropped the ball on what a modern portable PlayStation should be. But a straight dedicated PlayStation handheld has little reason to be successful, especially when the PSP initiative never was.
I would personally love them taking the Vita's design, sprucing it up, making PSP/Vita BC as well as PS5 streaming a priority, and enabling native PS4 play. But do I think that product will sell like hotcakes? No. I also wish Nintendo would focus on dual-screen gaming again for the Switch 2. But I know the market wouldn't really respond to such features.
@LavenderShroud I agree. With the initial launch and mandatory purchase of that happy proprietary memory, they really doomed the Vita's life. Even tho I adore my Oled Vita. It's still my goto for SotN playthroughs. Props on holding onto a Vita TV. I've been considering getting one and using a card adapter for the old games, cuz lugging out the big box PS3 is a chore.
Still have mine, hours of hours of entertainment. Used it as a emulator machine for a time, but the ergonomics leaves a lot to be desired. But hot-damm what a great product at the time, prioritary storage did suck though.
Proprietary media, always been Sony's achilles heel, Video 8, Betamax, Minidisk, UMD, Vita Memory Card.
Losing the video out to “save a few cents” was a huge mistake.
I have a gen1 3G Oled model that I brought in 2012 or whenever it was and still use to this day. Love the Vita! ❤️👊
@RoomWithaMoose I mean. Sony are literally are working on a new hand held, so who knows what tech will be attached to it.
Have to say, I agree with everything Shuhei says. Vita failed because:
1) The proprietary memory cards were too expensive and not big enough, storage wise
2) The back touch panel was a stupid gimmick
3) The pulling of first party support sealed its fate
@Oram77 By all evidence right now it will be an upgrade of the Portal.
I'll never forget getting mine one Christmas and playing AC Liberation, Gravity Rush and P4G for many festive hours.
The Vita still always comes with me whenever I'm staying away somewhere.
@charbtronic lol. I was thinking the same thing. I haven't listened to them in quite some time. Visited the channel for the first time in a long time a week or so ago. One of the videos was literally them trying to sell you on why you should vote a particular way in the US Presidential election.
Bought a Vita just to be able to hack the thing and play old games on it. But agree with everything Shu said. Putting proprietary EVERYTHING on a device at the tail end of that being a thing was a terrible decision.
@Oram77 I doubt it. They failed before. They do not have the studios to make the games Unless they have a similar set up to Switch. However handheld gamers have made it abundantly clear about what kind of games they like to play and Sony failed to find that market.
Good points he makes. I'd also say its exposure was a problem too. I've mentioned to a few people over the years about the Vita and met with a "what's that?"
Extra shoulder buttons too could have helped.
I still have my OLED Vita and occasionally charge it just to play Jetpack Joyride, some RPG that i'm not yet finish, and fighting games like Power Stone Collection & SF Alpha 3 Max.
Vita is a good handheld but i hope Sony just focus on home console.
2 biggest for me were the touch panel and memory cards, both of which he touched on.
The oled was required and worth the price of admission.
Generally speaking the device was really good, but just a bit quirky.
@ATaco Nintendo has done what Sony has done for their entire history. Iterate hardware.
The PSVita is hands down one of my favourite systems ever. It failed because of proprietary memory and lack of support from Sony.
Nintendo used to be able to spread their development teams across two platforms but as games became more sophisticated needed to simplify too.
I've felt like they were worried about it's success before launch. Some of their own games felt lazy even at launch. How do you launch a kart racer without online multiplayer, then later on a resistance game that was somehow worse than the one on the previous handheld, and don't even get me started on some of the terrible ps2 ports sony published.
@sanderson72 1 and 3 were definitely the big reasons why, no more 1st party support was the final nail in the coffin.
@Geostone It's just a rumor and i have big doubt Sony gonna do a dedicated handheld again. At best, they gonna do accessories like PS Portal.
@Geostone The Wii U sold 13 million. Maybe that's apples and oranges, but 2 million isn't really more than mild profits. Certainly not enough to assume a "PSPPortal" would be a worthwhile venture.
PS VITA is only lack one thing that PSP have: the amount of 3rd party kids games.
PS VITA games library looked horrible in my opinion because I only play kids games and PS VITA games library filled with bunch of adult games, visual novel games, boring mainstream sport games, etc so it doesn't look appealing for me at all.
3DS games library is way much better than PS VITA because 3DS have a lot of kids games and especially the girlie games for kids like Style Savvy, Nicola Kanshu, Sanrio games, etc that looked way more appealing for me.
Yes. It sounds about right.
The back touch screen was definitly a bother and these resource arguments can be extended to PSVR as well. They really need to stop doing that.
@Geostone Thanks for tagging me, great video! I just love Shu. He's the remaining heart of the "real" PlayStation.
@ATaco what really utterly destroyed the psvita was Nintendo making a deal with Konami to release an exclusive Monster Hunter on 3ds on the psvita's launch week. The 3ds ended up selling more than the psvita and it was all doom and gloom from that point on.
I'm surprised hardly anyone brings it up considering not only how popular Monster Hunter is, but how much it helped psp specifically to be a success in Japan with a snowball effect worldwide.
@naruball
Does seem like Nintendo had a plan of attack to utterly demolish Sony's efforts to continue to break into the handheld market.
@ATaco exactly. And it worked brilliantly. As soon as 3ds started to struggle to sell well, they had its price significantly cut which made the psvita seem expensive. I kept reading, "I'm not buying at launch, I'll wait for the inevitable price cut", only for Sony to refuse to reduce its price and Nintendo to look much better in comparison.
But there were more missteps to Sony's strategy. The refused to promote it in the US with a superbowl ad, because it was "too expensive", when several single player games have received sb ads over the years. They had very little faith in it and it showed.
Wouldn't be convinced they've learnt their lesson though, psvr2 is even less supported than vita was...
The OLED screen in 2012 was pretty awesome, but it was also an OLED screen in 2012. Quite an expense. The rear touchpad was used in an interesting way in maybe a few games. L2 and R2 would have been better.
I think a big sticking point for many was the overpriced, proprietary memory cards.
I got a Vita towards the end of 2013, having to pay £40 for a 32GB memory card stung. Reading a DigitalFoundry article (from March of that year), where they were testing Vita memory card speeds, Richard mentions that a 16GB Vita card was £40 and class 10 microSD around £10.
I guess there was a price drop when the 32GB card launched in the UK/Europe later in the year (my order was in Oct '13). But even if 32GB microSD cards were double or triple the price of the 16GB, that would still be cheaper than the £40 I paid.
And based on their testing, the Vita cards were the "equivalent of Class 2 to Class 6" vs the 16GB class 10 microSD for £10. So the price couldn't even be justified with performance. A money grab from Sony and just one of the reasons that it struggled.
Reminds me of an old VG podcast with Simon Miller, where he talked about working at Sony when the PS2 launched and exec bros laughing and essentially high-fiving at the high margins of the memory cards. And Simon sitting, quietly seething, having just bought a memory card...
I am always baffled why hardware designers don't get that some features sell a system, even if many people don't use them. Like if there was a video-out port so that people could play on their TV screens, most people would probably never use that (or use it like twice), but it would help people feel confident in their purchase if they knew they had a "fall-back" to play it on their TVs.
@Rodimusprime1313 good point. And if had strong numbers in the first couple of months, it could have easily snowballed into a success. But alas...
"And I don't know any games that actually support the back touch pad."
The excellent Tearaway comes to mind.
@TerranIV very well said. It's one of those things that people in the marketing department need to highlight to the higher ups. Just like a strong library of first party games, even if the average gamer only plays CoD and sports games.
@DaveSimonH yeah the memory card situation was the single biggest problem. Psp had a similar situation, but it had less impact because most people were still using the uhds.
Lack of initial success meant the games cartridges were considered limited collector's items pretty much straight away, which made vita feel too premium for most people I think.
I still own the OG Vita. I enjoyed the console but I do like the 3ds more. Battery life and having the other screen for a map was just a great design. The power of the Vita is awesome, and the memory cards were overpriced, but if they found a way to make a Vita 2 that could play native PS4 games and stream PS5 I would grab one.
Honestly, it was the expensive memory cards that turned me off from buying a Vita. I thought it was a sleek little device and it had some games I was interested in but I wasn't about to buy those memory cards.
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