Some sad news for gamers out there that still use the PS Vita. This is because support for the console could be ending next year because production is due to end in Japan in 2019.
Sony Interactive Entertainment senior vice president, Hiroyuki Oda, told Famitsu (via Gematsu) that production for the PS Vita will continue in Japan up until 2019. Beyond 2019 though, shipping will cease and Sony will no longer produce any more handheld consoles.
Don’t get your hopes up for seeing a PS Vita 2 because Oda says Sony has no current plans to release a second handheld device in the near future. Sony is making a lot of money with the PS4 and PS4 Pro consoles as the portable market is already occupied by Nintendo with its Nintendo Switch and 3DS consoles.
Sony’s first effort to the portable gaming market happened in the early ’00s with the release of the PSP console. Even though the console did not sell as many copies as Nintendo’s DS, it was still a success and it produced a lot of fun and great games.
Sadly though, the PS Vita came out a few years later and was pretty much dead on arrival especially when it came out in Western markets. The Vita never saw its full potential because people were already playing decent 3D games on their smartphones and tablet devices.
Sony itself did not release many AAA exclusives for the Vita due to the poor sales and most people just used it as an accessory to the PS4 with Remote Play. That being said, the Vita has still been popular in Japan as Japanese people still love portable gaming.
Anyway, it’s sad to see that the PS Vita is on its last legs and it’s disappointing we are unlikely ever going to see another portable gaming device from Sony ever again…
