“Was I a Good PlayStation Handheld?” “No, I’m Told You were the Best.”
Just over seven years ago, the PlayStation Vita launched in February 2012 in North America. As a follow-up to the PlayStation Portable, it had some big shoes to fill sales-wise. Sony has stopped publishing sales for the Vita in investor reports, but different research shows that it sold between ten million and fifteen million units in its seven years of production. To put that in perspective, the PSP sold 80 million units in Japan alone between its launch in 2004 and its discontinuation in 2014.
The PlayStation Vita’s day has been a long time coming. In 2015, Sony stopped developing games for the handheld. Now, four years later, production on the console itself has come to a halt. For a brief moment last year, there was hope for a renaissance for the Vita. Sony filed a patent for a new type of game cartridge, which led some to think that more games might be coming. This cartridge was later revealed to be possibly used for the children’s Toio. February 2019 was the last month for the Vita to receive free via the PlayStation Plus subscription.
With Nintendo’s Switch, the portable platform scene is being dominated right now, even in Japan where the PS4 is insanely popular. This may be why Sony executives say that there is currently no plan for a follow-up to the PlayStation Vita. It’s not all bad for Sony though, the PS4 does seems to be the console of choice for this generation. From it’s launch five years ago up to the beginning of this year, the PS4 has sold about 94 million units. With Xbox One recently reaching 41 million units sold, that for than a 2:1 ratio for Sony.
Will you miss the PlayStation Vita? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Digital Trends