Just Not That Kind of Business Anymore
It’s the 25th anniversary of the Playstation! In light of this momentous occasion, Sony has been celebrating on their end with interviews, sales, and bits of trivia. Buried among these numerous curiosities is a line from one Jim Ryan, the current CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
During a long interview with Game Informer (which you can catch up on in full here), Ryan mentioned the Playstation Vita. Specifically, he said that we’re probably not seeing any more Playstation handhelds anytime soon. According to Ryan, “PlayStation Vita was brilliant in many ways, and the actual gaming experience was great, but clearly it’s a business that we’re no longer in now.”
While this won’t be a huge surprise to anyone who’s been following Sony’s trajectory for the last few years, it’s still a painful confirmation. For many fans, the Vita was an essential part of their regular gaming lifestyle. To have its lineage confirmed as cut off is surely a heavy blow for many fans. Sure, the portable consoles were mostly for Japanese imports and indie titles, but a lot of those games were awesome. Where will fans of those games go now that the era of Playstation handhelds is properly behind us?