Sony has now been in the handheld video game business for 15 years. It first began with the release of the PlayStation Portable in 2004 - a device created to tap the Nintendo dominated market and appeal to older audiences with additional features such as the ability to play music and movies. This eventually followed with a revised and purely digital system known as the PSP Go, released in 2009. When the PSP reached the end of its life, Sony then launched the PlayStation Vita in 2011.
As 2019 draws closer, Sony Interactive Entertainment senior vice president Hiroyuki Oda has revealed the Vita has finally reached the end of its life - with the company not planning to create a new device at this point in time. Speaking to Japanese publication Famitsu, Oda made the following statement:
In Japan, we will manufacture PlayStation Vita until 2019. From there, shipping will end…Currently, we do not have any plans regarding a new handheld device.
A Sony representative has also reportedly reaffirmed to Business Insider that PlayStation will exit the portable market in 2019.
On both occasions, Sony’s portable PlayStation systems have failed to match the sales momentum of Nintendo’s DS and 3DS. Game releases on portable Sony devices have often been few and far in regions outside of Japan. Although Sony ported most of its major IP to its handheld line, it was unable to match the likes of Pokémon and Mario.
Of course, based on the supplied statement, there's still a chance Sony could re-enter the handheld market in the near future. Meanwhile, Nintendo's production for the 3DS will continue through to 2019.
What do you think, will Sony have another crack at the elusive portable market? Or do you think it will finally move away from it now that mobile phones take up the primary share and Nintendo’s Switch offers a high-quality alternative? Tell us in the comments below.
[source businessinsider.com.au, via pushsquare.com]
Comments 246
Leaving it to the professionals!
They finally gave up. It was about time.
Not that I hate them (just a little), but it's clear that handheld market is very little and two systems can hardly coexist. Now, with the Switch cattering to Nintendo style games and also general games for hardcore gamers too... there wasn't actually room for the PS Vita. Which was beaten by the 3DS anyway.
There is a reason Atari Lynx, Game Gear and Neo Geo Pocket, among others, didn't succeed.
No current plans hopefully doesn’t mean it’ll never happen, especially given the success of the Switch.
But they have been burned twice now, a shame really as I like handheld systems that try and offer full experiences - by both Nintendo and Sony.
It makes sense. For the same reason Nintendo effectively abandoned trying to support 2 systems, Sony also couldn't support both a handheld and home console. Something had to give.
So, now you just need to buy Playstation as your home console and Nintendo's device as a handheld? Thats kinda both cheap and useful, thanx, Sony!
Nooooooo
Competition only benefits the consumer, I hope they change their mind.
My judgements :
NDS >>> PSP
3DS >>>>>>>>> Ps vita
Sony handhelds are suck.
Both of them are Failed to impress me.
Their games by mostly = Blah.
Just leave it to Nintendo for King of Handheld games.
Hail to NDS & 3DS !
It's not all that surprising, but I really like my Vita, and I've pretty much given up gaming on phones and tablets. I'd imagine the 3DS doesn't have all that long, and is there a successor planned? Or is the Switch going to take on both roles for Nintendo?
"Leaving It All To Nintendo" It feels like this was already the case with the PSVita
Kind of a shame. The original PSP was excellent and had a lot of great stuff on it. While Sony dumped the vita way too early and left it to others to build it to what it became. Good news for Nintendo though.
@JoeDiddley I don’t know that I would call selling 82 million psp’s burned twice - the ps vita for sure - still sold more units than the Wii U tho
After the way they handled the Vita and it's fans, I personally wouldn't trust them enough to buy a new handheld from them anyway.
And that's coming from someone who had the Vita as his main gaming system for a couple of years.
PSP was great. Vita was just nice.
I have them both and still play them.
I am sad for the Vita but it was inevitable.
People, ignore the hate-weirdo of the forums. It is best to avoid its tantrums.
@misterMike what to expect from mentally unstable people with troubled past
I never liked Sony, i did enjoy their PSP and PS Vita but their biggest issue was selling 90% of their games digital, giving the Vita hardly any internal storage and locking people into purchasing Sony only SD cards that cost almost as much as the console itself if you wanted to have a decent amount of storage.
To be honest Sony had no idea what they were really doing in this space... They were trying to follow Nintendo's lead (as usual), except with more power but that all came to a head with the Vita...
I believe the reason for Sony's hard headed stance on price of the thing and price of SD cards was simply production costs...
I remember reading in 2014 that PS Vita had cost Sony nearly a billion in production costs that haven't been recouped.
That is a HUGE loss.
They are so looking at hybrids. It's obvious.
Hardware will continue to converge.
I liked the Vita more than the Switch - as a handheld. But Sony didn't support it. It was killed by their creators. I think, another handheld by the PlayStation makers would face a similar destiny. I don't think Sony would beat the likes of Zelda and Mario in the portable market anyway. They'll always remain second with okay'ish sales numbers. :/
http://thevitalounge.net/2014/05/15/sonys-fiscal-year-ps-vita-by-the-numbers/
Yep 1.2 billion lost in 2014, Vita accounted for 80% of that loss.
No surprise Nintendo has always been the King of Handheld consoles just like PlayStation is the King of Home consoles, too bad the Switch it's not a true handheld console such a disappointing console to me
but the vita had such cool memory cards
trollololollololololol
Didn’t have a vita but still loved the psp, a revolutionary handheld of its time. Sad news for gamers
Its better that way. And dont go the Hybrid (nintendo switch) road as well. Stay in the home console please that way when sony comes with a new home console i will buy it again next to Nintendo. MICROSOFT kinda lost my interest or they need to step up their game with lots of exclusives.
Ever since the model and screens for the nintendo switch surfaced on the internet and we knew that it was gonna be a hybrid system, you can put money on it that playstation will copy them.......once again
And fail.....once again
They really did give it a go.
Their systems were super sleek, and of very high build quality.
A salute!
The Vita will live on in the modding scene.
Great handheld, shame Sony had no idea what to do with it.
@Anti-Matter you really do bore me.
I definitely get what the article's subtitle is aiming at, but jeez NintendoLife if your timing is awful.
Definitely bummed about this. Sony could have put up a decent handheld business - the Vita was essentially Switch before Switch - if they only gave an actual crap about it. When first-party resources keep going to PS4 and even the PS3 with the Vita barely getting PS3 ports, that's kind of what happens.
Kinda sad, kinda not. The Vita is a great piece of hardware, (far far better than 3DS in my opinion) with the best screen of all the handhelds ever (OLED of the fat version) and is home to a lot of great indie titles. The PSP is a haven of JRPGs (Legend of Heroes series, Ys, Final Fantasies, Star Ocean, Valkyria Chronicles) and a slew of solid PSX titles. Plus the d-pad on the Vita is beyond godly. On the other hand, support for the console from Sony is absymal. Here's hoping the companies that had the PSP and Vita in high regard (Xseed with its Falcom translations, Square, tri-ace) will move their efforts to Switch.
@GKO900 actually i kind of see what you mean... The Switch as a handheld is actually great but as a console its already out of date...
4k TVs at start of 2017 were still rare are now not as rare and by this time next year even less so... Which tells me that the Switch has maybe 12 to 18 months left in it as a viable home console.
But if you own a 4k TV your gonna want a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X to accompany that over priced TV. You won't purchase a console that doesn't use the benefit you just paid 1.5+ grand for.
Nintendo needs to realize this within the next 3 months and act on it quickly... 3 things that need to be done as this approaces:
1 - price drop via no packed in dock
2 - Nintendo neeeeds to find a way to lower the cost of games, if not physical then at least digital
3 - Nintendo needs a proper MH game built from the ground up for the Switch and as a portable.
Edit: a possible 4th thing would be bringing street pass back on the Switch... It wasn't popular here but huge in Japan... It added a lot of value to portable gaming and Nintendo needs to send that message.
I trust Nintendo as a portable gaming manufacturer
Not unexpected, but I actually liked the PSP and Vita more than the DS/3DS line. No one beats Nintendo in the handheld market, and I had both Sony and Nintendo handhelds, but I preferred the single screen systems like Game Boy Advance (which I thought the PSP was the spiritual successor to), the PSP, Vita, and now the Switch. I barely played my 3DS except for Monster Hunter and ended up handing it down to my son when I got my Switch.
If only Sony didn't screw up the Vita so badly with its lack of support and proprietary memory sticks.
To be honest, this is considered an bad news for me since there's no one will complete with Nintendo to keep the portable gaming industry alive. I supposed we are switching to mobile world a lot more quickly than we excepted. I don't mind mobile games with Bluetooth controller supports but we are lacking in those markets.
I got both my PSP and Vita day one. They held so much potential in my eyes... “oh the PSP is like a ps1.5!” Oh good! Maybe I can relive the glory of the ps1 era again yay! Sadly it just became my ps1 emulator machine....
Vita was going to be my ps2.5! No, was basically the bearer for my final fantasy 1-9/dissidia museum. If only it had proper R2 and L2 buttons I would’ve even used it for remote play. Alas
Oh well. I will still miss Sony’s attempts at the handheld market, but Nintendo will always be king on that front.
@Medic_alert Oh hell yeah! I love my Vita, but I’d gladly pay a full retail £49.99 for a proper Persona 4 Golden HD remaster. Heck, with P4G’s cult fan base, I reckon it would help Nintendo shift even more Switch units!
[EDIT]: Oh and there’s one other thing the Switch needs from Vita... its bloody D-pad!
I love my PS Vita and yes Persona 4 golden is the best game! Also i loved Fifa 2015, Minecraft and Stardew Valley.
Uncharted Golden Abyss is looking as good as any Switch game. It was more than a tech demo!
Loved my psp back in the day. But those umd disks were a bad design. And only being able to use Sony memory cards instead of the standard SD cards was another big mistake.
@Kwehst I agreed with you about remote play which is why I was thinking of getting attachment for my first OLED fat Vita to have L2 and R2 buttons.
@Medic_alert Well anything can be better than Wii U lol, but anyways I don't like that it tries to compete with consoles thanks to the hybrid nature of the console which I understand but I only buy Nintendo consoles as my secondary console for their unique games and exclusives like the 3DS which has games like Etrian Odyssey and also had Monster Hunter for a time and others, also it has poor battery, I find the joy cons gimmicky, no local save backups, and in my opinion it's overpriced with some games having the Nintendo tax and more but that's my opinion
@Medic_alert your are a fool if you think your mentality is the majority.
I already know people who work close by to my dock yard, during lunch we talk by the canal, many own 4k TVs... People don't purchase 4k TVs for novelty and you are dumb if you believe that.
Just because we dont care about visuals doesn't make us the majority... Far from it...
People who purchase 4k TVs will purchase 4k equipment to go with it... If you believe otherwise you are again a fool.
If you think 4k won't catch on... Again you are a fool... It already has.
@Medic_alert Now I come to think of it, there’s a bunch of really cool Vita RPG’s that really ought to be on Switch. I’m talking all three Danganronpa games, Vanillaware’s gorgeous Muramasa Rebirth, Dragon’s Crown and Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, plus 2019’s Catherine: Fully Body.
@Medic_alert
I know. I'm specifically talking about the year-dash-year format.
I bought my 4K TV for like 400 bucks CAD... So... its getting cheaper over time. I got 4K Netflix and that's it so far but people I know who got 4K got PS4 Pro.
@Razer I prefer if they focus more on the handheld side instead of trying to appeal to the home console side honestly that market it's already dominated by Sony but on the handheld one Nintendo rules but not with those crazy prices of games accessories and now having to pay online too
Vita is still fun and where Nintendo had always great handheld games overall, PSP and Vita had the JRPGs and VN's and in case of the PSP the raw power made some games better compared to the DS.
But now they are gone which is sad, because there is nobody else on the handheld market now to compete with Nintendo.
But it gives me a little laugh when I read Nintendo is the handheld king, sales wise yes but with the switch they made mistakes (voicechat via phone app, no local backups ect) that even while I really like the system a lot, just make me annoyed because even a "king" makes mistakes...
I'm sure the Switch will get a lot of great games, I enjoy the Switch a lot and it's good to see lots of great games come to it.
@Razer billion japanese yen, which is a lot less than dollars, also it was a total loss including the Vita.
The biggest loss ever for Sony was the PS3 because the Cell processor was stupidly expensive.
@The_Pixel_King
Vanillaware games are awesome!
@Medic_alert
That's suck... I remap control by using PS4 accessibility for some games.
@Medic_alert You’re right, most games are perfectly fine making do with four separate direction buttons. And yep, the JoyCon set-up certainly hampers fighting games, but for me, 2D platformers do feel infinitely better with a finely tuned D-pad. Especially the twitchy variety.
Shame. I love my Vita. Pretty fond of my PSP too, although the lack of a second stick hurt it.
I believe, sooner or later Nintendo will also leave the handheld market and hybrid consoles like the Switch will become the future.
@Medic_alert
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.tvtechnology.com/.amp/news/4k-quickly-becoming-standard-for-tv-sales
Only a matter of time before 4k is the standard... Unlike Blueray... This is actually catching on... Its the next level past HD or ultra hd...
@KingdomHeartsFan one of the reasons Vita died are the smartphones, 3ds survived because it had the exclusive Nintendo games mostly.
Still sad because smartphone gaming still mostly sucks after all these years.
@GKO900 thats exactly what i was getting at with my 3 points... All would put bigger focus on Handheld rather than home console...
Nintendo has no future in the home console market... They beat Sony at portable but got hammered in the home console.
As much as I loved the DS family they could never hold a candle to the psp/Vita for me. In fact I play my old psp as much as the switch
very sad imo.
@KingdomHeartsFan sorry i have had this discussion with people before... Before hd became a thing and now with 4k.
Both times with Nintendo fans and imo anyone who doesn't understand advancing technology tends to be... Lets face it... A bit foolish.
But yea sorry for the names... Just wish people would get with the times and see things change...
These discussions reminds me of the ones i would have with smqrt phone doubters in 2009... 2 years later they all shut up.
@Medic_alert
Not even remotely willing to spark up a controversy over this. I made the mistake of posting the comment before finishing it, but the rest of said comment, edited in afterwards, is the part that's actually related to the article itself. The opening bit was merely something I wanted to point out.
Confirms my thoughts. Though, I’d have liked a Vita 2 (but not at launch lol)
@Medic_alert i think you are not giving the average consumer much credit...
Most i know are VERY tech savvy... They dont know much about gaming or latest games but they know their technology...
Many of these people purchase consoles and hardly ever switch them on... Just have them.there just in case... As an entertainment option if needed...
That is 80% of consumers... Most fall under that particular category... Not all buy consoles but most tend to stay up to date with technology and the latest must haves
@Frendo "I saw that Vita was absolutely dead in the western market"
Bad sales? Yes but not really dead.
I am mostly a handheld gamer because I am on the go a lot, so next to my love for Nintendo handhelds I also have a PSP and Vita for games that are playstation only.
Vita was almost the first handheld ever to skip because a lot of people told me it was dead and I too never saw Vita games at a shop.
Till I accidently came across the Vita community...
Vita has 1400+ games worldwide from which 800+ in english, from that excluding limited runs the systems has 300+ physical english games, so for english gaming it's mostly digital.
That's maybe no a lot, but I wouldn't call it dead by far, meanwhile good gamingshops like play-asia (which Gamestop isn't) still have a lot of english Vita titles.
Vita failled a lot, but really it got till last year a lot of great games, some of them afterwards ported to the Switch like YS VIII or Fate/Extella.
Sony gave up on Vita years ago, now they finally buried it. LOL Vita (Life) is finally dead.
Sony wants to focus on just one console so they can put all efforts into making better PS4 games, similar to Nintendo getting rid of 3DS eventually and concentrating on Switch.
@Razer I'd agree if it seemed like it was the truth, but it isn't. Yes, 4k TVs are being sold. Yes, 4k hardware exists. But it's pretty easy to see on hardware sales that people aren't really feeling the 4k craze yet. Buying a 4k TV doesn't mean you'll be buying a 4k console either. I know many people who just wanted a big 4k TV but still grabbed the base ps4 because the purpose of the TV was watching movies. AKA completely unrelated.
The thing is we're in an era where people are split between "4k is the next big thing" and "well 4k is neat and all, but 1080p looks just fine, so why bother?"
I'm in the 2nd camp as well. I see no point in 4k, because I'd never get a big TV and I don't actually feel like it looks that much better for the price point.
Either way, the Switch is dominating hardcore, and that hardware won't go 4k, that's for sure.
That, and we aren't graphics freaks over in the Nintendo camp. Gameplay reigns supreme, and that's how it'll continue. Nintendo doesn't need to make any changes to their current course, they just need to keep going.
@The_Pixel_King Catherine is not coming to the west on Vita
Meanwhile Atlus said few years back that core Persona games or games like Catherine don't fit on Nintendo in their opinion, hench the Persona Q spin off games.
Nah nah nah goodbye
@Rayquaza2510 Really? Oh man, I could have sworn Catherine was coming to western Vita’s 😔
[EDIT]: What with Switch attracting more and more mature gamers, perhaps Atlus will soften their stance regarding what is (and isn’t) suitable for Nintendo fans?
@Blizzia dude Hardcore and everything will go 4k... These things take time but I'll be sure to hit you up when your chewing on your words in a couple of years time.
First HD TVs were available in the late 90s but didn't vecome standard till the mid 00s...
4k came out in March 2016....
So how long do you think before you start chowing down on a words sandwich 😂😂😂... I give it 2 to 3 years at most but considering...
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.tvtechnology.com/.amp/news/4k-quickly-becoming-standard-for-tv-sales
4k tv by many analysts is set to be the standard within the next couple of years.
So you say it won't catch on with gamers? 😂😂... You remember the change from SD to HD... I remember seeing many gamers like you... Many even stopped gaming after too... Dont worry it won't hurt much.
And on this day the NL staff weeped, as they realized they just lost a dozen possible fanboy flaming articles with this tragic news
'All to Nintendo' and the numerous other portable devices... OK, so you mean 'platforms primarily dedicated to gaming' I liked the Vita a lot, I still use it on trips to play the Capcom compilations, Earth Defense Force and various other digital PSP games (along with my GBA SP).
Was a really good system, though the memory card cost was just silly. I'd put the PSP and Vita up there with the GB, GBA and DS as my favorite handhelds, always because of the various great games I played on them, not the brand itself.
That sucks, but I suppose it was for the best. I doubt they'd go the portable console route like Nintendo either. But I wouldn't mind if they did.
Once upon a time there was a gaming site that gave every non Sony game a crap score ...................................................
Enough said 😁
@Razer You can say what you want, but we're only on year 2 of the Switch. It won't grow powerful enough to manage 4k on games even with a hardware revision, and that's that.
We also won't be seeing 4k become the gaming standard simply because the prices will still be ridiculous in 2-3 years. Right now if I wanted a proper 4k curved TV it'll cost me over 3k euro. That's not going to magically drop to what most people can afford, i.e. sub 1k euro, in 2-3 years.
And until it does drop to sub 1k euro, it's not gonna become standard. People just don't have the money. This is also why game consoles have to stay within certain hardware ranges, because the price point needs to be low enough for it to actually sell well.
Feel free to let me know when 4k gaming is the world standard. I doubt you'll be pinging me anytime soon.
At least not within the lifetime of the Nintendo Switch
the PSP 2000 was the last good one for them, they added "tv-out" to the 3000, but other than that, Sony has NOT brought enough with their successive system to the table to make them worth it, if they just added a second set of L&R (L2&R2), it could have expanded the system enough in many ways including ports from the PSX & PS2, Nintendo has always tried to create not just processing and graphical upgrades, but also major ability upgrades and options for future abilities, which Nintendo has always brought to the table big time, they had a (magnetic) disk upgrade and an early "Nintendo Direct" satelite service for the ORIGINAL NES !!!, but most competitive systems have usually not done that, Nintendo has not always had the best processors or graphics, but they gave so much more to the players, it made them look at Nintendo first or as an equal, so it's good Sony is saying goodbye to the portable market
While it's fun to own a product that is the undisputed king (in this case, the Nintendo Switch as a handheld console), competition is what drives quality and innovation, and without at least one competitor in the handheld market nipping at Nintendo's heels, they could easily lose their edge.
I don't think you can say "the PlayStation Portable ... a device created to tap the insanely popular Nintendo DS market" when they came out at the same time.
I really don't get this. Particularly in Japan, where portables are the thing that consumers prefer. Seems like too much money left on the table.
Then again, I wouldn't buy it anyway. Not after Sony burned me so hard by killing the Vita
It was good while it lasted.
@Frendo that sucks, I live in the Netherlands and without prepaying fees (cheaper directly at PA) shipping is €6 for a loose game.
Other options I use for Vita and other games are eBay (only from EU sellers and if from japan than only free shipping and up to €22), 365games UK, Nedgame, Amazon and sometimes places like CeX, Nisa EU or Bol.com
@jhewitt3476 you complain about the lack of L2 and R2 buttons, but did the 3ds have it?
No, also I still remember that terrible circlepad pro thing and the first thing I did when the New 3ds came out was recplacing my old one for it, c-stick should be on 3ds from the start.
@Frendo That's true for the Wii (±100m) to Wii U (±15m) as well, what went wrong? Even DS (±150m) to 3DS (±75m) is quite a big drop. I don't think there's a single reason. But I do think that a sudden surge in interest in gaming among the non-gamers occured during the seventh generation; Every console was successful, considering that ±80m sales was the 'least' successful console (PSP, PS3, and 360). I think mobile/tablet gaming took over near the end of the seventh generation with the introduction of smartphones. Of course, marketing plays a big role, the game library, etc. It's difficult to pin it down on one reason alone, as it's more than likely a combination of a lot of factors, and maybe a little bit of bad luck.
Competition is good. Bad news.
Back in 2005 I leveraged my position at a popular up-market department store to grab a PSP when there were none to be had.
Staff weren’t allowed to reserve them, but I checked stock nationwide and our Nottingham branch had one left. I rang up their back room call centre, reserved it and then jumped on the train from Sheffield to go get it £180 with WipEout Pure.
It’s easy to forget in the age of the iPad and 6” phones that when it came out, the PSP had the biggest LCD of any portable consumer product and it looked astounding. Where the DS clicked once you played Warioware and used the touchscreen for the first time, you only had to gaze at the PSP to want one.
I loved mine to bits. Particular fun was going to coffee shops and using the free WiFi (back when nobody had it at home) to download the WipEout DLC and browse the internet. It seems quaint in 2018 but in 2005, there was nothing like the PSP.
I played the PSP and the DS to death for the next 3 years, but as soon as I played Super Monkey Ball on my iPhone in 2008 I knew the reign of the handheld was over.
It’s an equally remarkable and depressing thought that with my kids and wife hogging the Switch and Xbox all the damned time, my most-played gaming device is the iPhone.
Well, this is both sad & fully expected - Sony never really understood how handhelds work & simply crammed as much power into the smallest casing it could find.
When the original PSP was launched almost everyone in gaming said the UMDs (game disks) were a bad idea because of the amount of battery power they use - the only ones that didn't realise this was Sony & no one wanted to watch movies on that tiny screen when tablets were a thing meant there was no upside the UMD.
The Vita mostly died for two reasons, the software (from a Western perspective) and the memory cards. Sony was absolutely HAMMERED by piracy on the PSP and must have taken a huge hit on profits due to pretty much free game sharing in the PSP community.. Sony didn't make money on the console itself. Therefore when the PS Vita was being designed they decided to "price out" the piracy by introducing proprietary storage & charging a HUGE amount for it.
Finally, Sony never really got handheld gaming - a lot was made of playing CoD on the go... but who would actually want to play a full CoD match on a shaky train, with a poor connection & then quit the match at their stop? Sony never really understood how to make games specifically for the handheld market. This ALSO explains why the Vita did so well in Japan - RPGs have pretty much always worked on the go.
So in summary, the PSP & Vita were technical marvels but not designed well for the job they had to do. It's a shame that Nintendo loses a competitor for the handheld market... but did Sony ever really compete against Nintendo in that market?
Personally, I want to see a NeoGeo Pocket Ultimate.. NeoGeo Pocket Color quality controls with Sony power?
I liked the Vita, it had a few great games that I truly loved. But for me, a lot of those happened early in the console's life (Uncharted and Gravity Rush come to mind). Over the years, I played it less and less and when I did use it, it was a portable Netflix player (but then I got an iPad Pro which had a way better screen and built-in speaker than the Vita). Eventually I just traded it in for a Nintendo Switch. I really think part of the issue was really expensive proprietary memory cards, that turned a lot of people off the Vita. And of course, not a large variety of genres arrived in the West for Vita. It was a system that had great potential but Sony just never seemed to give it the care it deserved, in the West at least. But I'm loving the concept of Nintendo Switch, being a hybrid system. In the age of smartphones, I think Nintendo has the best way forward in the handheld arena.
I`m probably in the minority here, but I am pretty bummed about Sony stepping away from the handheld market.
As someone who owned a DS, PSP, 3DS and Vita, I really came to appreciate the Sony handhelds for their attempt at pushing out more mature and engrossing experiences, particularly from the Sony first party titles, in contrast with the more casual experiences from the Nintendo handhelds.
That being said, the Vita has been on Death`s doorstep since long before the Switch`s announcement. It was mostly just a lack of support from Sony and major third-parties, that led to its demise.
I`ll always prefer the 3DS and Switch over the Vita, but I liked that system so much that, it really stinks that Sony isn`t willing to try again, but I totally understand why.
@Spectra Nintendo Switch is quickly taking the Vita's place as THE console for JRPGs anyway.
Plus, even though Nintendo was not the first to make a portable that could out to a tv, China's been making those since the NES days usually found at flea markets, and of course Sony PSP 3000 was the first purposeful tv-out upgrade, but Nintendo just perfected the hybrid and they've pretty much done it so no company can make a better hybrid (portables are dead now, its hybrids or nothing), Nintendo just monopolized the portable gaming system market and still remains a major competitor with consoles all in one neat little package, my worry is, will Nintendo be able to make a new hybrid 10+/- years from now, or just upgrades like the numerous ones that the DS/3DS had? will the next gen hybrid bring enough to the table to be considered a separate system ??? with power getting better and smaller, there will be no need for a base console anymore, the next one will be a hybrid, but will it be "The New Nintendo" or "The New Nintendo Switch" ???
@Ristar24 Capcom support was pretty solid on Vita. I was surprised that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was a Vita launch title, and yet it`s still one of the best looking games on the system, that game and the Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken, which I spent so many hours on
Its not about competing with Nintendo now, its competing with smartphones too.
@DarthFoxMcCloud It`s not completely overshadowing the Vita`s JRPG lineup until it gets a Persona game... IT NEEDS AT LEAST P4G
SMT is cool. I always preferred Persona though
@kopaka I hacked my PS4, you get way more millage out if it that way, Switch on the other hand I would not hack just yet until I get a second one.
Handheld gaming is on its way out. Technology is improving to the point that having a dedicated handheld gaming device isn't really needed anymore. Nintendo Switch has proven that. Yes the Switch isn't as powerful as a dedicated home console right now, but you have to admit, it really comes close. Especially in terms of functionality, if not raw power. And game companies are starting to see diminishing returns constantly trying to push graphics and resolution to the max, more and more cost and effort, for less and less actual improvement.
I think we are going to reach a tipping point, sometime in the next 5-10 years, where dedicated gaming devices are actually going to follow in Nintendo's footsteps. We're going to have hybrid devices become the norm. Right now, Nintendo is pushing it with the Switch, it's just strong enough. But with the way computer tech is improving and shrinking, largely thanks to the smartphone industry, I don't think we are that far off from having Nintendo's innovation start... let's say "inspiring" the rest of the industry.
And look out if Apple decides to release a gaming iPad/iPhone. Or if a company like Apple or Samsung were to partner up with Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo and release a device like that. As much as I dislike the mobile gaming scene, a proper gaming tablet or phone,(not a Chinese emulator machine with Windows 10 shoved on it or a weird, laggy Chinese piracy drone) done right, and supporting TV functionality like the Switch, could be an industry changer.
Calling it now: PS5 will be a more powerful hybrid console.
Unsurprising, considering how hard and how quickly Sony dropped support for the Vita. It's a beautiful piece of tech that's more well-constructed than any of my recent Nintendo portables and introduced me to some of my all-time favorite games (Rondo of Blood, Danganronpa 2 and V3, Corpse Party, Gravity Rush, etc.), but it doesn't really have a lot of life left in it.
Let's be honest the PSP would have been better if not for the UMD system, but the Vita was pretty good however they had the issue with only using their memory cards. However I still liked both systems. Sony never game them enough love though, also I wish I could have gotten the remote play to work with my PS4 which was one of the main reasons I bought a vita, however no regrets it's got lots of good rpg's and stuff.
@Medic_alert Sony is no longer producing new Vitas for Japan as of this month either. I just wish that Vita RPGs like Persona 4 and Trails Of would come to Switch
The Vita is a fantastic little device. People have just deemed it dead for years because it didn't get tripple A releases, but it is releasing countless great games for on the go until this day. I find it more practical on the go than my switch (which I love dearly as well).
Even if Sony were to do a hybrid console, nintenderds shouldn't flatter themselves for doing it first. Sega was way ahead of the game with the Nomad.
Man, I wish Nintendo was software only just like Sega.
Even with my smaller hands, I found playing the Vita unbearable. I enjoyed Tearaway and LittleBigPlanet and that was it. It was a waste of money
@misterMike @geordie
3 Reasons why i choose NDS & 3DS than PSP & PS Vita :
1. Both NDS & 3DS have TONS of Cute , Girlie & Kiddie games, just like i want. There are Cooking Mama, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Akogare Collections, Paper Mario Sticker Star, Tomodachi Life, Miitopia, Pokemon, Fantasy Life, Hamtaro, etc.
2. NDS & 3DS have Backward compatibility with previous machine (With NDS Lite i can play GBA games & with 3DS i can play NDS games also.
3. NDS & 3DS Save data on its cartridge. Very handy.
That sort of sucks. I never owned PSP or Vita, but I think competition is beneficial for the industry.
Just put Ray Tracing and DPS on the PS5. And we will call it even.
Two great handhelds and I loved every moment with them.
Aw man, so no Sony Swap? As I grow older and have responsibilities laid upon me, I have less time to sit in front of the TV playing console games. I was genuinely hoping that, for their next handheld, Sony walks along the path Nintendo's taken and produce an Switch-like handheld.
Oh well. I still want a Vita, if only for collection purposes.
I could see Sony conceding the handheld market to Nintendo to give Nintendo a safe space in which to operate.
Because with the resurgence of 3rd party support even on Switch, if they Nintendo were to lose ground in the handheld market and then, in response make a power console the following generation, it could be a very serious threat.
Best to back off and let Nintendo have a less competing space in which to operate
If Sony actually backed the Vita it could have been amazing. When it came out it was an amazing bit of kit for a handheld. If Sony ever did create another one I won't be buying it, I loved the Vita but Sony just abandoned it so fast I don't trust them.
@hippoeater I meant burned more by their standards and expectations rather than mine - as a happy PSP owner
@OberonPrime I disagree to a certain degree in regards to the UMDs, while we can both agree to load time & battery drain Sony definitely stopped releasing movies onto UMD very early into the life of the PSP - partially for price consideration (the UMD format generally meant movies cost more than equivalent DVDs) and partially due to lack of interest. DVDs were cheap, tablets were exploding.
As for mMemsticks, not only have Sony insiders confirmed that they were using their proprietary memory due to hacking & piracy..
"Sony was concerned with security. The PSP was plagued by firmware hacks, and Sony's goal may be to prevent the Vita from succumbing to the same fate by keeping its memory on a new proprietary format." - Muneki Shimada, Sony Division 2 Software Head
..but it was also understandable, Sony tends to sell it's hardware at a loss & makes it's profit back from hardware. Resistence:Retribution was available for free on BitTorrent on the same day it launched. Yes, piracy may have shifted more hardware but Sony that's not where they made their money.
I agree that CoD was a bad example, but it was the game which was hyped up the most & one of the biggest selling points from people I spoke to at the time. Indeed Sony did bring some amazing games to the Vita, but how many of them were tailored to the handheld market rather than being ports of current games?
I 100% agree with you on the marketing though, Sony could have done better with the Vita and dropped it's support too early, though where I disagree is that I don't believe it was ever likely to compete with the 3DS. Yes, the Vita was a good piece of hardware BUT out of all the things it could do it didn't do anything the PS3 didn't and never gave the Sony fanbase many reasons to buy a second copy of a game they were likely to play at home. 3DS games were VERY different to the gamecube/Wii offerings and were UNIQUE handheld fun. PS Vita offered PS3 (PS2.5) on the go.
My personal story is that I picked up the PSP at launch as I am a huge handheld fan & bought everything from the Gameboy, NeoGeo Pocket Color to the Wonderswan & Game Gear.. and enjoyed my time with the PSP. When the PS Vita was announced, I was not excited as it didn't seem they'd really learned anything about the handheld market. I'm only sorry I was correct as I WANTED Sony to succeed.
@The_Pixel_King I know it's a separate purchase, but the Pro Controller has an incredible D-Pad. Since I mostly play in docked mode anyway though, the Pro Controller is great. That said, Hori and a few other third party manufacturers have made either Joy Con with D-pads or cheaper knockoff Pro Controllers for the Switch. There's also the Nintendo Switch Online NES controllers (although they're only good for the NES games, and you're likely better off getting a 3rd party Bluetooth one anyway).
Not at all surprising. Sony has never really met with success in the arena, and what success they had has proven to be a distraction that, like Nintendo, neither company can successfully juggle handling the two platforms acceptably at once, with one always taking a back seat to the other. Nintendo solved that by merging their "behind the times" home consoles with their handhelds into one Swiss Army console. That's not a viable option for Sony that pushes power over all else. This wasn't going to end any other way.
RIP Vita. Switch is the handheld you wanted to be.
Everyone needs to keep in mind though, Ubisoft, 2k, EA, Microsoft are all throwing their hats hard into the streaming arena, so "handheld" for them is going to be pushed as "console quality games on your phone, tablet, or laptop." Whether or not it works in most of North America, is a different question.
Meanwhile Sony's backing away from Gaikai/PS Now and making it available as a download library (except PS3).....their faith in their own streaming seems to be waning.
@OberonPrime Switch didn't kill Vita, 3DS did. More specifically, Nintendo's synonymous association with "handheld" and the volume of key games on 3DS early on made it the obvious handheld seller. Dismayed at sales, Sony, internally turned to their shiny new PS4 launch and at that point abandoned almost any and all push on Vita, painting it as a dead, abandoned experiment doomed to live as a PS4 accessory to make it a me too WiiU. Then when WiiU failed they abandoned that pretense as well. And so went Vita. And instead of trying to really reboot that business they went onto their next #trending pet project in PSVR, always signaling they didn't care much about Vita support since 2013. Meanwhile 3DS was marketed, sold, and seen everywhere with more must-have titles than even PS4 for the first year of PS4's life.
Basically, 3DS surged, Sony panicked, and lost their own messaging and faith in the Vita, moved on to PS4, and never really bothered looking back once they saw success there. And after 2 failed PS portables, and Switch dominating that market already, launching a new one would be a pretty expensive sidetrack as they get set to launch a replacement of their core success.
@kopaka
Nah, I don't "NEED" to buy a PlayStation console, I have Steam.
Sucks that they're quitting the handheld market, I know there are people who liked the Vita but that thing was dead years ago. Honestly with Nintendo dominating the handheld/hybrid space and Steam being the biggest home platform, I don't know how much longer traditional, underpowered consoles are going to stick around.
Poor Vita I liked you and still will. Maybe I can mod it. .
PSP and Vita were fun devices.
If the console market is going strong for Sony, why dabble in the handheld market. Microsoft wants nothing to do with it either.
Nintendo not getting any competition in the handheld market isn't going to be good going forward. You know, competition breeds innovation.
@Anti-Matter cute and girly games? Tends to have shirtless chibi men as a profile pic?
Why don't you have a seat over here..
@Deadlyblack
Nintendo hasn't really ever had competition in the handheld market though, and they have been doing just fine. Sony's portables never came close as far as sales.
People talking about lack of competition as if Nintendo still doesn't have to compete with Mobile phone gaming.
That's a shame. Even though my first two handhelds were the gbc and gba, I then went for PSP2000 and never regretted it. The games it had were astounding compared to the DS. Heck, even 3Ds games only beat PSP games in terms of graphics sometimes due to real shaders, PSP is still better at complex geometry.
I dunno, over half the sales of a cheaper handheld from the many years long of handhelds for a new player in the handheld domain seems like a success to me.
The Vita was even better, but, sadly, the support dropped pretty fast. The horribly expensive memory didn't help. Though, nowadays, with a hacked vita and an SD adapter, that's not really a problem.
Though, I find it funny that the Vita still got an exclusive (at least until the HD) edition AC game, and the PAP got exclusive AC and GTA games, plus even the DS's exclusive GTA game, while the Switch didn't get any such stuff.
Loss of competition will only hurt the industry. I mean, nVidia has no competition in the top performance market and just look at the prices of their newest graphics cards.
@NEStalgia You mean like the Wii U was a me too PS3/PSP combo, amirite?
Cya
Raziel-chan
No offense but they said no plans before they announced the vita. I'll wait till 2019 and see what they do. I will say if their next handheld isnt essentially a hybrid I will likely pass this time... the vita is one of my smallest game libraries. If I was merely a handheld gamer it would have been fantastic but not enough unique games on its own and at the same time not enough console games from the ps3 either. And the forced touchscreen controls were worse imo than the Nintendo hardware forced ones. I think I felt about it the way most people did about the wiiu. It just didnt...click.
@Arcamenel
They don't, though. At least not for the attention of hardcore gamers. People that will shell out hundreds or more dollars on new games every year. The biggest reason why non-Nintendo fans buy Switches is because they don't want to have to deal with bad touch screen console on their tiny phones. Mobile games are made with the most basic, mindless player in mind. 90% of mobile RPGs have an auto battle feature so you don't even have to play the game. Other games just have you clicking on notifications most of the time and others are very simple puzzle games.
@OberonPrime Thank you, I respect your opinions as well.
While it's true that Sony eventually failed the prevent piracy on the Vita long term, from their point of view they wanted to do everything they could to slow it down... they could simply not afford to release the Vita & instantly lose ALL their profit from piracy. Was it a mistake? Almost certainly. But we can only look at the reality of what happened.
As for Sony offering more in regards to online, you are again absolutely correct, though I don't see this as a great innovation - they just wanted to cram as much into the Vita as possible to try and steal some headway from Nintendo. Unfortunately Sony were simply offering the same experience as the PS3 & the games were not different enough to provide a reason to buy them on top of the PS3.
And yes, the Vita was/is probably light years ahead of Nintendo in regards to online - this is something that Nintendo has always struggled with. However, technically there is physical reason why the Switch can not provide voice chat & friends list. It's all up to Nintendo!
Personally, if Sony wants to go into hybrid console territory they either make the PS5 a 100% hybrid console or don't do it at all. One of the key failings of the PS Vita was not offering enough reasons for the Sony fanbase to buy a Vita AND PS3/PS4. If they released a PS Vita Plus & it's just a PS4 in a handheld shell.... who the heck would buy that instead of just getting a cheap second hand PS4?? It's not like Sony would open a studio to develop portable games (aka like Nintendo had).
@Arcamenel That's not quite correct - Nintendo do have to compete with mobile gaming, but it's a different "sector" with very different factors. Usually people compare like-to-like competition.
However, all consoles and PCs are having to compete with mobile games to a certain degree now. I know plenty of kids who spend more time on Pokémon Go & tablet games than they do on ANY console... that's potential money lost from Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft.
@Royalblues
And Steam? The biggest platform in the world? It has high production games and a great online infrastructure as well.
@Sinton
I have not seen anything that suggests the PS5 will be a hybrid portable console, even John Kodera said might/could but no "would", but he DID promise that nothing, no matter solid console or hybrid will be seen before 2021, so the Switch will have been well established for 4 years and Sony may end up looking like fools. so please explain how you seem so sure it will be a hybrid at all ???
@Spectra
ok, you say Switch is not as good as dedicated handheld and you hope for another dedicated handheld...
please explain why the Switch is lacking as a handheld and if you were the big guy at Nintendo, what would you try and bring to the table for a new dedicated handheld (realistically) that would surpass the 3DS & make it unique and noteworthy enough to be considered a worthwhile investment
@Royalblues
Blizzard's own service, but it's just another program to launch like Steam. It's fine if people don't play on PC, but I just find it funny when people compare consoles like there isn't a bigger dog in the house. If the PlayStation and Xbox had a cool gimmick like the Switch, I might actually be interested in one. The PS4 has Bloodborne which is one of my favorite games of the past decade, but I played that on my fiance's system and don't feel the need to buy one. From a PC gamer's perspective, the Switch actually has value for its portable play. Plus I've been a Nintendo fan since the SNES days. xD
I personnally liked the Vita more than the 3DS. And I'd still say that, so far, the Vita had a lot more games I was interested in at the time, than the couple of games on the Switch that interests me right now. People can be fanboys all they want (and this being a Nintendo-oriented site, I assume many here are), but the reason Sony failed with the Vita is that they built it like we were still in 2004.
Sony failed to acknowledge the rise of mobile gaming. And while Nintendo said they also felt the mobile gaming impact, the fact that their 3DS line was marketed in a general "family-friendly" way, made them the default go-to solution for parents wanting to buy a portable system for their kids. Sony always wanted to market themselves as more "serious, mature and edgy (whatever that means)" which means it was aiming at an oder, more traditional console gaming market (case in point, the Vita was marketed as being more like a "home console but playable on the go").
Problem was, nowadays, that this crowd already have a device they bring with them all the time that can play games - their mobile phone - and while being more of the casual type of games, it is ok for many that don't feel the need anymore to bring along yet another device in addition to the one in their pockets already. Many didn't buy the Vita because they didn't see a reason to pay that much, for something that won't bring them a lot more over what they have already.
In the original, pre-3DS and pre-Vita days, a portable console to play games on the go was like "wow, that's cool". Now, gaming on the go is pretty common. Even our parents are doing it now.
And so, where Sony failed, is that without the "family-friendly" free pass that Nintendo is getting, they had to offer a reason for people to care about the Vita. And this is where they failed miserably.
The whole Vita saga is almost a story on what not to do.
It is sad, because the Vita was, hardware-wise, awesome.
And Sony exiting the game only means less competition, and that is NEVER a good thing, as companies tend to stall innovation when there is no competitor out there.
I've never owned any of Sony's handheld systems, but I've heard decent things about the PSP. I was considering getting a Vita at one point, but there wasn't quite enough there for my interests. I think the Vita could have done better if a few things had been handled differently.
I've known about this news for awhile, but it's still sad. I've always liked that there was an alternative to the 3/DS family. Unfortunately with the rise of mobile gaming, that space is harder to manage than ever.
@Realnoize
The Vita was very cool hardware-wise, but the overpriced memory cards are why I never bought one. That, and aside from a few pretty cool Sony exclusives like that Uncharted game and Tearaway, there wasn't much that enticed me. I'm really picky on JRPGs and have only completed like seven in my life not counting Pokemon games, so it didn't really have much going for me personally. Sony has no-one to blame for the Vita's failure but themselves tbh
They won't be miss.
@Razzy WiiU was an attempt at putting the DS in the living room space, it had nothing really in common with PSP+PS3. If anything MH3 tried to emulate that with WiiU + 3DS, which makes sense since MH had just come from PSP.
Back when WiiU came out, following Wii, both Sony and MS were hedging hard against it being a runaway success. Sony did the "With a $200 PSV addon it's just like a WiiU" and MS did the "With XBone and Smart Glass on a Surface RT, it's just like WiiU!" thing. Then WiiU crashed and burned and they all stopped talking about it.
@Medic_alert I am absolutely desperate for them to port Persona 4, to anything current really but Switch would be perfect.
@NEStalgia
That Xbox Smart Glass Minecraft demo was REALLY cool, I hope they still do something like that in the future. I loved my Wii U, played it mostly at my computer desk, virtual console games on my GamePad. That's why I can understand the Vita fans and the pain they feel, it sucked that the Wii U wasn't a success.
@Rayquaza2510 I guess you didn't read what I said, I didn't have a problem with the 3DS, not having those extra buttons, my reference for the R2 & L2 was that if the PSP 3000 or Vita had added those, it would have brought more to the table for fans of Sony, especially when porting PSX & PS2 games, otherwise even adding the TV-OUT though good idea, it was a poor execution, even if you had the 30' extention cord, it really wasn't that special, you were still tied, now Nintendo took care of that with the fully remote operation, so yah, the portable Sony is done
@Dalarrun I got the double-whammy. I bought 3DS day one and loved it, but was a super hyped Day 1 preorderer of Vita to get that "console on the go" experience. Fully expected it to kill my interest in 3DS. I even have the special edition launch bundle with the 3G and the custom hard case, lol!
Aaaand....then it fizzled into nothingness. So then WiiU came out and I was super hyped....an actual console with the screen like Vita...not on the go, but around the house it was the dream I'd waited for!
Aaand....then it fizzled into nothingness.
Thankfully the third time is the charm and the Switch actually does what both of those did and is not actually fizzling It's the consoles my last 3 consoles wished they were
Vita is my all time favorite gaming system, and my favorite library of games, as well. I consider PSP and PS1 Classics part of the library. Vita improved PSP games due to the extra control and visual options. PSP games look and play better on Vita thanks to the exactly 4x resolution over PSP, unlike DS games on 3DS. The proprietary memory sticks were a major design flaw, and I think a significant contributing factor to its commercial failure.
I always liked Sony's hand-held hardware designs. It's a shame to see them pull out of the market, at least for now. I wouldn't be surprised if they were experimenting with a Switch competitor, but they're not in a good position to make that work due to having higher-end consoles. Lots of other people piled on Sony with criticism of the overpriced memory cards for the Vita, so I don't have to add to that. But I will because it was so incredibly stupid. Having a proprietary memory card is one thing, but to have them priced at such a ridiculous level was a massive deal breaker. I considered getting a Vita, but the situation with the memory cards never seemed to improve and so it was the main reason I never got the system. I believe the Vita also had a sealed battery which I do not appreciate in such a device, but that's another matter.
This article is timely because I'm currently on retro-buying spree with my PSP, building up a small collection of games.
Its sad to see Sony leave, but they completely fumbled the VITA after the relative success of the PSP. Sure it never touched the DS, but it was a good system with lots of good games on it.
Their "support" for Vita has been token at best since about 2015. After the PSTV flopped in the west they all but gutted support of the portable outside of Japan and Asia. What you had left in NA and Europe was a small dedicated group of western publishers like NIS, Aksys, and Xseed localizing a handful of japanese titles for the west.
All this is them finally killing even PS Plus support for the system. More or less their final nail in the "legacy" platform coffin as they've called it the last few years. You can blame the grossly-overpriced proprietary memory cards, their stupid insistence of offering a 3G capable model of the handheld that you couldn't even play online over cellular networks with the subsequent data service needed to use it being too expensive to afford and not worth investing in, a medicore at best launch line-up, and the advent of tablets/smart phones amongst other things as to why the system flopped at retail.
Credit to Nintendo with the 3DS though. They saw early sales of their system lagging in 2011 after about six months and aggressively dropped the price from $250 to $170 and it took off from there.
Good, Sony had little quality control on the handheld. Downloads would take hours and both systems I had crashed constantly.
For those hopeful that the PS5 coming no sooner than 2021 (as stated by John Kodera of Sony) may possibly be a hybrid, the Nintendo Switch will have been well established for 4 years, so what (realistically) could be brought to the table by Sony to make it special and unique enough to be seen as a competing system and not just some attempt to ride on Nintendo's coat tails ???, now also consider, by 2021 Nintendo will 90% likely have a significant upgrade to the Switch, adding some things, so consider THAT when contemplating your answers
@Realnoize "Sony relegating the platform to a "legacy platform" about less than two years after launch."
This is the big one. You're right about the lack of killer games, the low budget studios for "AAA" games, and all that. But the above, and the memory cards were above all else the real killers.
Memory cards....imagine if Switch required Nintendo Memory that cost roughly double a microSD? And then made most games download-only? That brutalized it.
But the worst was the "legacy" status. They launched Vita in NA in Feb 2012. They killed Vita in NA February 2013 at the PS4 launch event. After how they treated that, and the following E3 it was clear they'd already abandoned Vita internally. It never felt the same from that point on. And from March 2014 on it really felt completely abandoned.
Worse, they re-released a new model that took away what was it's most celebrated feature: The OLED display.
Vita makes WiiU look like a flying success of a product cycle. It was hard to blunder a console as badly as treating it as irrelevant a year after launch. Even WiiU at least tried to look relevant for 3 years.
@NEStalgia
Heh, I'll drink to that! I adore my Switch and can't wait for Pokemon/Animal Crossing!
Having no competitors isn’t necessarily a good thing for Nintendo. I do agree that Nintendo’s handhelds usually comes out on top, but the proof, that existing other companies always fall behind, will be gone if Sony truly steps away from the handheld market. In a way, it’s a small loss for Nintendo.
@Phle Nintendo's had no competitors since early 3DS in the handheld space. Vita's really been dead in the water for years. Or more specifically Nintendo's had no dedicated handheld competitors. Mobile on one side and PSXBox on the other still are strong competition. Significantly more competitive than Vita ever was, at any rate.
@sdelfin Switch has a "non-replaceable battery" as well, but it's only loosely true since it's only a few screws and a cable disconnect to get to it....if you can find a (Chinese knock-off?) battery to replace it with.
@DarthFoxMcCloud Hey buddy, I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Pro Controller. Only thing is, the vast majority of my Switch gaming is in handheld mode. I’ve watched a ton of YouTube vids about the DIY JoyCon / D-pad conversions that you mentioned. I think they look great.
In truth though, the regular direction buttons work just fine. I’m just old and grumpy and stuck in my pixelated 2D ways! 😉
It's a shame, but not unexpected. I enjoyed my Vita when I had it. Was even considering picking up a used one had they not announced all the Final Fantasies coming to the Switch. There is no real reason for me to go back to it sadly. Oh well.
@Anti-Matter
Damn dude your comment reminded me of 2008 era fanboys
@NEStalgia @sdelfin
since when has "non-replaceable" batteries ever been an issue ??? not only will Nintendo have to replace them in OEM repair services, iphones have had those for decades, yet you still see phone repair shops that get 75%+ of their business from battery replacement, so I'd never be concerned about that as a deciding factor for anything
@jhewitt3476 Yeah it depends on the device. It's still a big issue (hang out around Samsung phone forums some time That said every single Samsung phone battery (replaceable) I've ever had has swollen to the point of bowing the screen out of the frame. Not an ideal situation if you can't just yank it.)
But yeah, OEM repairs are a joke, by the time you're done with shipping and "3-12 weeks" for repair, it's best to buy a new one and bin the old one. But the screen repair shops, that do batteries, yeah, that feels like the old TV repair shops....that's a good bet where it holds up. I remain hopeful with my Surface, Switch, and such that those shops will come in handy. The trick is actually getting available batteries. iPhones are available (knock-offs). Big Surface batteries are a lot harder to actually locate, and who knows about Switch so far. Now that it's popular that might get a lot easier (Vita OTOH........)
@fadedcolors
What ??
Did you even read My 3 Reasons i choose NDS & 3DS ?
It's All about the GAMES i'm looking for.
PS Vita DIDN'T even HAVE any Cute games like Wan Nyan Pet Shop , Nintendogs, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Yokai Watch, Fantasy Life, Tomodachi Life, Miitopia, etc.
When i saw the full list of rated E & E10+ of PS Vita games, i found NO Games i want to buy. Just NOTHING to buy.
So, why should i care with ps vita that gave me NOTHING while NDS gave me MORE than 40 games & 3DS gave me MORE than 50 games ?
90+ games of NDS & 3DS that can be played on New 3DS XL for me it's a HEAVENLY Handheld ever. And there is a White New 3DS XL also, Mmmmuaaah !!
A Blow kiss from me to Nintendo DS & 3DS.
That’s too bad. If they hadn’t stuck with insanely overpriced proprietary SD cards and had invested in speeding up PS store downloads it could have competed better with Nintendo.
PR swerve possibly. But what better device can Sony come up with than current mobile devices including Switch that isn't copied by them? I say swerve possibly because wasn't Yoshida or some high Sony rep at the Switch reveal taking a whole lot of photos of the device up close?
@Dalarrun
I agree. Sony can only blame themselves. But I'm still bummed out that they're not even trying anymore. Even just for the sake of having some competition in the market.
It wouldn't be too hard to develop a product that would be interesting. While the Switch is a move in the right direction, I'm still thinking that the concept could be improved a lot more. Just picture a phone-sized device with a slide-out gamepad (similar to what the Xperia Play had, but better), running a custom version of Android with a dedicated PlayStation game marketplace (secured), that can be used like a regular phone as well.
The idea nowadays, and part of the reason that the Switch was so successful, is that combining home console and portable console is seen by people as being smart and practical. Everyone can clearly see the advantages of such a setup. Now Sony would just need to find a similar idea, one that people would think makes sense. And to me, having a single device that acts as my mobile phone AND a dedicated portable console would be an idea I'd be all over. I mean, bring just one device instead of two. And even if the gaming side of it ends up not supported anymore in the future (because Sony is pretty good at quickly dropping support of less performing products), if the device in itself is a solid, quality one, it will still function as a nice phone.
There ARE possibilities Sony could explore. Problem is, they may lack the imagination to do so properly.
Sad.
@Anti-Matter I completely understand where you are coming from, like me, it's 80% about the games, and on ALMOST every system I've owned, I purposefully wait 18-24 months after the system comes out to see about the number of games I might want, I made a mistake with the PS2, it never (for me) put out enough games, I paid more for the system than the total number of games for it and spent 90% of my time playing my older PSX games on it, but within 6 months, the Switch had so many games I knew I wanted, I went out and got it and 3 games on day 1, I now have 16 & plan to add another 7 in the next 5-6 months, so i am most certainly not disappointed by this system nor do I forsee becoming so
@Zuljaras Well said. I like great games. Nintendo does a lot of them, so I've tended to buy more of their stuff. But (get this!) there are also great games on other systems! If I get the opportunity to enjoy those, too, that's wonderful. Being so myopic that one says otherwise borders on creepy.
@YeshaYahu5417
There are lots of better devices they can come up with. While the Switch is very good, to say it's perfect would be simple fanboyism. We can always improve on something.
Just think of the stuff that people bring with themselves all the time. Everyone I see have their mobile phone already, that can play some games. Aside from that, some people bring with them a tablet as well. I see a lot of those in the commute everyday. I do bring mine too. But then, if I'd want to do some more "serious" gaming on the go, I also bring my Switch in my backpack. That's THREE devices right there.
The Switch is great because it merges toghether the concepts of home console and portable console. You buy one and you have both. It's practical. It's smart.
Now what if someone puts out a good mobile phone with a slideout physical gamepad? What about if that phone runs on Android so you already get access to tons of apps you already use, but also have a dedicated marketplace of "console games" to play on the go? This would mean gamers like me could buy ONE device, and only bring one with me instead of two. I'd have my portable console with me at all times, as I have my phone with me at all times.
We just need to think things further.
Releasing a new dedicated gaming portable today (that doesn't do anything else) wouldn't be smart. But combine that with something else to reduce the number of devices people have to bring with them, and you may be onto something. No?
@YeshaYahu5417 It was Yoshida. But it's a hard point. The Joycons could no doubt be copied in some patent avoiding way, the internals of the system are nVidia, and Sony trying to copy nVidia work directly just isn't going to go anywhere, and there's really no alternative vendor other than maybe Qualcomm, but they exist for the sole purpose of price gouging on behalf of CDMA carriers (and Samsung is their OEM which doesn't come cheap.) Now that Switch is becoming it's own icon any attempt to copy it would look as blatant as copying a DS. I daresay they missed the boat on that. Not that they care, they own console right now. They'll only care if that falters (and in a new gen, anything is possible.)
I can see why, but considering Nintendo is abandoning the values that handhelds used to harbor (less power, but cheaper to buy and develop for), I would've figured there was still a viable market to be exploited. I know plenty (including Nintendo) feel the Switch covers that void, but as a handheld it is the most delicate thing they have ever created.
If I had a Switch back when I had my gameboy it would've been dead within a year. Nevermind the cost makes "each person has their own" prohibitive.
@NEStalgia I expected Switch would have a non-replaceable battery, but, after seeing the teardown of the system, I give them credit for making the internals accessible and fairly modular.
@jhewitt3476 since when has that been an issue? It has always been an issue. And iphones haven't existed for decades. I've always criticized Apple for doing that and hated seeing the Android manufacturers go in that direction over the last several years. It may not be an issue for you or many others, but it is for me and for some people. Sealed batteries were not common until Apple made it popular and profitable. Now, many laptop computers are designed that way which seems quite silly to me. It's a trend I've never liked. You're free to not care about it, but it is an issue for some people. However, for portable game systems, it is better for the battery to be easily accessible since the devices can see use for years and are not meant to be as disposable as cell phones which have a much faster upgrade cycle.
@Muddy_4_Ever I don't really think having a specific set of preferences and going with a company who best suits your needs is "myopic", it's practical, there are some games that I like on other systems that aren't or won't be coming to my current systems (3DS, Wii, Switch), but at the same time, especially with the exorbitant prices of even last gen PS3 & 360, I can't afford to buy those systems just for 3-5 games, Nintendo has always provided a larger variety of the games I like, so I have almost always stuck with them, not out of loyalty or "myopia", but because my wallet can't take buying three of the same types of consoles, 1 main and 1-2 others so I can play 3-5 extra games.
I have 3 Nintendo systems, but they are different, Wii, 3DS & Switch, so I felt legitimate in my owning them, but even then, it took me years to acquire each system individually, I didn't just go out and buy 1 every year or two
@Realnoize Trouble is Sony is garbage in the phone industry overall, even Vita's a success next to their phone division. And Xperia wasn't so successful. Cant' blame them for not trying that. (Plus the mobile hardware is either obscenely expensive, or obscenely underpowered next to Tegra...and Tegra needs air cooling which won't work on a phone.
Other problem is size. Switch, honestly is really pushing below the real required screen size for running HD console content on a small screen. Text is often far too small, UI elements meant for large TVs are really questionable on many games on a 6.3" screen. Cramming that onto a smaller screen might make most games totally unusable. Mobile game UIs are tailored and simple for small screens.
If anything Switch needs to get bigger, not smaller. But there's not much room for that beyond eating the bezel.
But remember, everyone's going to focus on streaming services for console gaming on phones. Every time Ubi/MS/EA says streaming they show a phone. I bet your carrier data plan's body is ready?
@NEStalgia too many people misunderstand what the patent really does, a person/company a specific and unique design, circuit, case, locking mechanism, ect., but they cannot patent a function, so a pair of removable, wireless remote controls are perfectly doable so long as the exact design of a thing is not copied, good example...
3rd party tv docks and dongles for the Switch, they are usually very different, but have the exact same function, and Nintendo can't do Jack Squat about it, same with copyrights, you can copyright characters and unique aspects of a story, but an empire trying to take over a galaxy, led by a cyborg that weilds a lazer sword and uses magic or telepathy/telekinetics even finding out the unlikely hero is the relative of the villain cannot be copyrighted, that's how it goes
@NEStalgia
I think Sony as a whole, has a problem in the way they tackle their hardware. If what they launch is a huge success, they'll support it no problem, but if something is getting lower sales than anticipated in the FIRST quarter after its release, they're axing it.
Remember the PSP Go? Sony announced it stop supporting it a year an a half after release. Remember the Eye Toy and the whole 2 to 3 games that were made for it? Remember the PS Eye camera? Remember PS Move? God that flopped so hard that Sony is now trying to recycle the old tech in its PSVR. The Vita, Sony dropped it (unnoficially) about a year and a half after launch. And now, PSVR is barely present anymore in retail stores, with many companies saying they're not investing in VR anymore (what we see now are VR games that were started two or more years ago and released now). I expect Sony to announce its dropping the PSVR platform sometimes in 2019 to focus on other things.
Sony is pretty good to quickly abandon anything it did as soon as it doesn't get the success it wanted.
@Spectra well, true, the "hybrid"designation was not Nintendo's original idda to call it, but was their obvious intention
as for continued support for the 3DS, they put out the "New 3DS only a few years ago and how would you feel if a company made you something then just gave up on it after a short bit....oh wait, Sony did that with the Vita !!! !!! BURN !!! !!!
no, it's good for business that they keep their current customers happy by keeping them in the loop until they can afford to change over if they want, it's called customer loyalty
They'll go out by dumping a five gallon bucket filled to the brim with microsd cards into an incinerator. They do this regularly with an ice cream bucket, but this is supposed to be a celebration. You wouldn't believe the applause from the hardware department when those cards go up in flame.
Afterwards they bring out the knives and make a blood vow to never make good decisions about handhelds anymore. It's a popular tourist attraction to see the yearly Sony of Japan handheld games meeting. But I heard that the hardware department wasn't allowed to attend this time, people thought they'd get too rowdy.
@Razer Your arguments for 4K televisions and the Switch are the exact same ones I heard a dozen years ago with the Wii and HDTVs. Yet, the Wii sold like gangbusters for years after launch, outselling the HD twins week after week for quite some time.
Switch is outselling PS4 and XB1 week after week, and is reaching software sales parity with multiplatform titles it shares with X1. You know a few people in your personal life who are more well informed tech enthusiasts. Good. Anecdotal evidence doesn’t trump sales data and facts though. Most consumers don’t give a crap about graphics and buzzwords they don’t understand and care to learn. They care about games and zeitgeist, and that has never stopped being true in the entertainment industry.
@jhewitt3476 In theory. In reality Apple won their suit against Samsung for developing a rectangular communications device with a screen. Because their patent was accepted while being sufficiently broad to cover basically anything that could be a similar device.
@Realnoize Yeah, and it's not just their gaming hardware, but Sony hardware across the board. Unless it pushes a media format in which case they'll keep making it decades after nobody has bought it (cough Minidisc)
At least PS Move lives on for PSVR. They repurposed their Wii clone successfully there My favorite is that book AR thing they had that you see yourself inside the story. That died fast.
VR was always going to be a fad, and I argued with so many people here that insisted it was here to stay! They did a huge PSVR push last Black Friday, and it looked like it was finally going to take off. To be fair, PSVR actually is really cool as affordable VR, and I wouldn't be too surprised if they renew focus on that on PS5 with a new model. VR itself is still doing well in the high end (Occulus, Vive) so if Sony can close the gap from the dismal resolution of current VR, they'd be in better shape for it, but it does look like the "this time it's for realsies!" hype in the industry has waned yet again (Remember when investors asked Nintendo non-stop when they were going to get into VR and finally join the trend? Lol.)
But yeah, Sony seems bent on one-hit-wonder every time. I guess it's not hurting them for now. But only because Nintendo and MS screwed up so badly in 2013.
@Liam_Doolan Sony had a handheld?
@NEStalgia I disagree. If anything, the ps4/vita combo was a further development of the ps3/psp combo. It didn't really copy any of the wiiu pad's features, it was still mostly for remote play. I wish people would stop forcing this narrative where every single thing Sony does is a ripoff of what Nintendo does.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Good. The Vita sucked. I owned both versions. Won't be missed.
@Spectra Nintendo killed the dedicated handheld with the release of the Switch, it's compact, powerful, portable....if they attempted to make another dedicated handheld, people would ask "why ???", what's the point ???, what can Nintendo add that would make it a viable alternative to their Switch ??? they did the 3D thing, it is cool, but most people play their systems with it turned off anyway for various reasons, it's a nifty, but not even a huge thing, the 3DS only sold 3/4 of what the DS did, so they won't add that to the next dedicated (if any), so again, I'm asking again of YOU, if you were to design a dedicated handheld, (REALISTICALLY) what would you do that would make it a viable alternative to the Switch, and not make people wonder "what's the point of this ???"
don't forget price, the Switch is ONLY $300, so you have to make people look at you and feel that any price (realistic) difference $200-$300 is worth passing up the Switch, adding one or maybe two things better be REALLY significant or people will just look at you stupid
customer loyalty isn't always the same as providing customer demand, I agree with taking away the Virtual Console
@SuperWeird had Sony added the L2&R2, it could have made a killer emulator console, it was easy to hack, but most people who hacked it were just hoping to put their PSX & PS2 ISO's on it and play that way
"Leaving It All To Nintendo"
And Apple/Android
@Razzy Your forgetting the original push by Sony and MS (Vita/Smart Glass) for "second screen experiences". They dropped that after WiiU tanked and then it became all about remote play/game streaming, but originally they were pushing the "second screen experience" like WiiU, as were 3rd party publishers such as Ubisoft. But it was a brief period of trying to preventatively copy Nintendo's booming Wii repeat success before they all realized that ship sailed.
@Razer remember Nintendo had powerful consoles, and people ignored it for the ps2, which had an inferior console, that's why Nintendo went their own way. Nintendo could always make a powerful console, if they wanted to.
now out of fairness to those I've said "WWYD?" for the next gen portable, I will put my 2 cents in for some improvements...
I've had every portable since the original Game Boy, as they came out, this system (Switch) is light, powerful enough for the games I like, resolution is great, the various everything I love about it, almost as if I designed it myself, but I would like to see a couple things added...
TWO micro sd card slots: especially for those digital download fans out there, these games and their updates can get pretty ridiculous and NO ONE wants to swap out cards
an individual web browser like Chrome, I have streaming media accounts like Netflix and I want to watch them, but not have to wait for Nintendo to lighten their demands on those individual companies so they can add an app, lucky Hulu fans, what about us Prime and Netflix fans ???
make some joycon strap button add-ons that had a rechargeable battery in each to extend the docked or table play life
a high res player facing video cam and microphone would be nice
yah, that's really all I can think of
@Spectra
There wasn't really any recent talk of a 3DS successor though. It was more a misleading headline from NintendoLife. Someone asked them about the future of dedicated handhelds and they just said they were considering many possibilities, which is basically a nothing answer that could just as well mean there definitely won't be a new 3DS as there will be. Personally I think the next dedicated handheld will be a smaller, more portable Switch Lite of some sort (as a hardware revision is, as always, 100% coming at some point and I doubt it's going to be a larger model). It wouldn't make much sense for Nintendo to unify their home and handheld divisions only to just disunify them a couple of years later. They're trying to keep the 3DS alive as much as they can now and eek as many last sales as they can because why wouldn't they, but once the Switch Lite hits I think that will be the end of it. I mean, mainline Pokémon is now a Switch game. And the Switch is basically already the new handheld in Japan even without the smaller version. Plus, after the 3DS and Wii U, neither 3D nor dual screens are really worth pursuing at this point. Their Switch/Switch Lite and Mobile ecosystem should have everything covered.
@ekwcll
I think that Nintendo, on that aspect (making powerful consoles) is much smarter than Sony or Microsoft. Sony and Microsoft are not making a lot of profits (if any, some suggest they even lose money), on console sales, making most of their profits on game royalties, accessories, PS+ subs, and so on. Same with Microsoft.
Nintendo, from what I've heard, since the Wii days, tried to do things differently and make sure that they do profits from console sales right up front, so they depend a lot less on everything else to make a profit. I'm pretty sure the Wii U still made profits for them. A lot less than anticipated, sure. But still, I think this approach is much smarter.
Look at Sony. They try so much to put high-performance ($$$) hardware in their systems, that when things don't go as planned, they don't have any margin to support it for long.
Nintendo didn't abandonned the Wii U, despite sales far less than stellar. Sony dropped the Vita about a year and a half after launch. Same with the PSP Go back then.
Thing is, remote play via the Vita is a pretty useful thing, it's Sony's solution to getting current gen games out on a portable device, sure by having to rely on streaming, its not perfect, but it is a viable solution for those looking for it. But of course the price of a vita is a significant barrier if all you want is remote play of your PS4. So what I propose is that Sony creates a device JUST for remote play from the PS4, it could look very similar to a Vita, mostly gutted, only able to turn on and connect to wifi and your PS4, with the added necessary L2 and R2 triggers. Something like that could probably be sold for around $100. It wouldn't do amazing, but it would be something I'd be interested in, bundle it with a PS4 for an extra $100 and I'd absolutely consider getting that bundle.
@jhewitt3476 That mostly sounds good, I'd also love to continue to see glasses-free stereoscopic 3D in future handhelds as well. As long as its always optional like it is on the 3DS, I see no reason not to include it (would be for handheld mode only obviously), but I have always loved that feature of the 3DS and I'd be disappointed if that tech was only ever utilized for the 3DS and no other portable gaming systems going forward.
@duffmmann this is exactly what I want! If I had a great hd screen and nice, full controls, I'd buy it for remote play.
It's one of the most used functions for me, I play remotely more often than not.
I hope something comes along. Didn't know the vita didn't have two shoulder buttons on each side...
@erv Yeah, you have to use the touch pad on the back of the Vita to substitute for L2 and R2 when using it for remote play. It works, but it is not ideal.
@NEStalgia
That whole screen size issue may be relative. I had a GPD Win, which allowed me to play full blown PC games natively (not streamed) on a handheld the size of a 3DS (more or less), and it had a 5.6" (or about) screen at 720p. I had no problem playing the likes of Burnout Paradise, Mass Effect, Borderlands, many LEGO games, Final Fantasy X-X2 remaster, and so many others... that were all made to work on bigger screens from the start.
Sure, it's small, but then I noticed that I naturally held this console differently than how I hold my Switch. I held the GPD Win closer to my face, while I hold the Switch a bit further away, lower, with me looking down on the screen.
I'm not seeing this as a big issue. Even Mass Effect, with all that small text, was perfectly playable. So I don't think this is that big of an issue.
Well that makes sense, they just don't stand a chance against Nintendo dominating the portable market with two devices.
@PlayerOne Nintendo said this year they are workin on the 3ds
Successor
@Realnoize I'm pretty near-sighted. Close-up I can see things like a microscope. And even for me UIs start getting difficult to use on 6.3"...not just the small UI text these days, but details in game action you're supposed to be paying attention to (sniping a far off character in Wolfenstein for example) just isn't meant for anything so small. Very many games become useless if you go any smaller.
Most 1st party Nintendo games on Switch take that into account and have chunkier than average UIs by design, but games designed for other consoles and PC tend not to care much about that.
That brave new world of sub-6" displays for console gaming doesn't really sound very appealing at all without games being designed for it. It's one thing on an ultra high res phone with reading small text in emails and such, but when the action gets going, and a display that's not as high res density it just falls apart.
Plus it ignores a vast swath of population that's far-sighted in a time when they want to grow the customer base. And remember, someday we'll be the far sighted ones who can't see the thing!
@jhewitt3476 lol Nintendo said this year they were working on a 3ds successor.and that the switch was not its replacement.lol they also said that at e3 this year
I always loved the Vita's hardware, it's a shame the software was never there for me to pull the trigger on buying one. Shame that that's the end of it.
@OberonPrime I completely agree that healthy competition is a necessity for any progress to be made, though I don't know if I'd describe it as leaving "money on the table". While the PS4 has been a huge success, the Sony conglomerate as a whole has been leaking money like someone trying to carry the Atlantic ocean in a sieve... they can't afford to take too many risks.
While the PSP was a moderate success & brought in some money, the PS Vita has sold well in Japan but gave Sony a financial hit in the the rest of the world.. we can't forget that Sony failed HARD on the Xperia Play phones. Unlike Microsoft that didn't make any money on their Xbox until WELL into the 360's lifecycle (probably as people usually had to buy more than one ), Sony has to be careful.
Personally, I can't see Sony attempting something in the handheld market until well into the PS5's lifecycle & even then will they be willing to break off a portion of their software development team to EXCLUSIVELY work on games for it... something that is 100% necessary.
Now if Microsoft bought out Sega & put their hat into the ring.. then we'd be talking!!
Oh and I've leant my Vita to my younger brother.. personally I bought it to play some exclusive Japanese games - before I saw how much they cost!! Some more expensive than the console right now!
@Slim1999 To be fair, they've said from the start the NX would be an 'ecosystem' not a single piece of hardware. A portable only Switch iteration that plays the same games would certainly position itself as the cheaper alternative 3DS successor they were referring to without adding a whole extra system to support with releases.
@Slim1999
Someone asked Nintendo about the future of dedicated handhelds and Nintendo simply said they "were considering many possibilities", which could just as easily mean there definitely won't be a 3DS successor as there will be. NintendoLife's misleading headline may have suggested that they confirmed a new 3DS, but they never actually said anything of the sort. Unless by 3DS successor, we're talking about the inevitable Switch Lite/Switch Mini/Switch Portable or whatever, then yes, that will most likely be the 3DS successor. After all, it would be pretty strange to unify their home and handheld divisions, make a hybrid console, put mainline Pokémon on it, and then disunify them a couple of years later.
@Slim1999 The "3DS Successor" is likely going to be whatever replaces the Switch rather than something that competes with it. Nintendo simply don't have the resources to adequately support two handheld/hybrid devices. Trying to manage two separate ecosystems was part of what led to huge gaming droughts during the WiiU's lifetime. Given that it takes a long time to develop new hardware from concept.. whatever this "Successor" is, could pop up in around 5 years time, when the Switch will be getting towards it's end.
@Haywired Any "3DS Successor" would in reality be a "2DS Successor" as Nintendo themselves aren't really keen on the 3D gimmick any more. I'm glad they got it out of their system!! While, as a above, I doubt Nintendo will butcher their own sales by bringing out a new handheld to compete with the Switch... I can see they maybe producing the Switch Lite aimed at a younger "joycon snapping" audience.
@Slim1999 No, they most certainly did not. They have said, as they have always said they are "always considering possibilities." A fun way of saying "we have no comment at this time."
We do not know what hardware they will produce, but a 3DS successor that serves no function but to compete directly against Switch's momentum makes absolutely no sense at all. Switch may be "too big and fragile and expensive" to suit absolutely everyone's tastes, and we do not know if bigger/smaller skus of switch will be made available as other models in the ven of 2DS, but they are absolutely not going to produce a whole separate software ecosystem again, undermining the entire streamlining of resources and assets the unification into Switch was designed to achieve. If you like a smaller compact piece of hardware, there's a fair reason to believe a new SKU of Switch hardware that's physically smaller but plays most Switch games may come into existence around the time of Pokemon 2019. But if you're looking for a whole second platform with a whole software ecosystem, that's extraordinarily unlikely to happen. Switch's whole point is to get out of that cycle they could no longer afford to sustain (and clearly neither does Sony wish to.)
@Slim1999 and as for the same reasons I've mentioned before, unless Nintendo would coume up with something fantastic and astounding and unique, it will just be a dumb idea, short of making a "Nintendo Wii-DS", able to play the disk games and DS/3DS backwards compatibility, I can't see what Nintendo could put out that customers wouldn't see as "what's the point ???"
@Slim1999
“Nintendo said this year they were working on a 3ds successor”
They really didn’t.
@jhewitt3476 I don't think a new Nintendo handheld would need to do something completely innovative, it could instead continue to stand as Nintendo's separate 2 screen experience with optional stereoscopic 3D. If the improved processing power coupled with the framework being similar to the Switch, it wouldn't be hard for devs to create a slightly different version of all their titles that can then optionally make use of a second screen and stereoscopic 3D. I understand the idea of redundancy that would be happening there, but I think the 2 devices could coexist as different feature driven systems capable of playing the same games just in different ways.
Probably for the best Sony steering clear of handhelds.
Nobody can support two distinct systems anymore.
Their strength is in Home systems.
They made such a mess of the Vita it’s unreal. Gorgeous hardware but so many mistakes. Overpriced proprietary memory cards. Half hearted backwards compatibility. Not enough buttons to do Remote Play properly. Not enough buttons to play PS1 Classics properly. Dropping it like a stone after two years of second tier support.
Everyone has their strengths and Sony are not great at handhelds.
Anybody wanting Nintendo to make another handheld with its own distinct range of software is wanting them to commit hari kari. A smaller more durable version of the Switch would be fine but anything else means development of software for two systems and would be a disaster.
It's a shame, because Sony's portable game was great! PS Vita especially is a fantastic product all-in-all. (Although I never owned Vita or PSP) And Nintendo needs healthy competition.
I dunno about you folks but I've not seen the 3DS in stock for a while. They seem to be only producing the New 2DS's at the moment, at least in my humble part of the UK.
Hey, I gotta give Sony some credit. They put up a better fight against Nintendo in the handheld market than anyone else ever has. The PSP in particular sold fairly well and had some classic games on it.
@The_Pixel_King HEHE, it took me a while to get used to it too but honestly, like you I've gotten used to the separated directional buttons on the standard Joy Con. It is nice to know that there are options though, and maybe someday Nintendo will themselves sell left Joy Con with a standard D-Pad (hopefully if they do, it's cheaper than buying a Joy Con pack is now).
@Anti-Matter please please stop.
@duffmmann Sony already has a Remote Play app that works on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Everybody already owns a Remote Play-only device to use with PS4. (and it works better than the Vita's does, considering more powerful hardware for streaming, and the ability to use a real controller rather than rear "touch" buttons for r2, l2, r3, l3.)
@FragRed 8th gen killed "pillars" with the Wii U and PS Vita not being successful like the 3DS and PS4.
@Slim1999 They said that they weren't counting out a 3DS successor so they would secretly have a plan B if the Switch abruptly falls off a cliff (not going to happen at this point).
I love my Vita, and am sad it's being discontinued.
Alot of people say that the 3DS's rocky 2011 and the Vita's downfall was entirely because of the smartphone boogeyman when they were both because of choices that both Nintendo and Sony made.
So we're just going to pretend like mobile phones aren't where most people go to play portable games now? Even Nintendo has caught on to that and is trying to cash it. I don't think a lot of causal even buy portable game systems anymore, as they were never really in it for long and in depth games anyway.
That said this could change. Also I still hope we get another dedicated handheld from Nintendo and I absolutely find it hilarious that everyone here thinks they know it would fail. The truth is that no wants to have to share new releases between the two no matter what people say about being happy with the indie flood we get now.
the game system does not make the games, the games make the system, the people have demands, the companies try to make a system that allows the games the people want to exist, the better the abilities of a system, the more the people can get, the more the people get, the more they want, but......
unlike the world of cars, the same company coming out with two almost identical SUV's, at the same time will look like fools, as the sales of the one SUV is cut in half and the sales of both vehicles will not be worth the money they put into either
Nintendo will be fools to make a separate portable system
Sony stopped supporting Vita years ago. When was the last time they mentioned it in their E3 conferences? Sony handhelds were only ever ported PS2 games or spin-off portable editions of other popular PS2 or 3 games. There was very little developed new for the systems, and when the audience Sony aim for is mainly people who want powerful consoles and the best graphics, they aren't going to downgrade or even double dip to play a game on the move.
I like their handhelds (PSP & PS Vita) but like Sega it seems Sony never really put any passion into both of their handhelds, kinda feel like they had to do it cause Nintendo does it. A lot of what they offer in both are mostly ports of games already on their consoles or other platforms, even PS Vita's best game Persona 4 Golden was a port. Exclusives are few and far between and unless you really dig deep will you find something truly good on those systems. Games like the Star Ocean 1 & 2 remakes, Crisis Core, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, the portable GTA games, and God of War were great exclusive to get a PSP but with PS Vita's non-backward compatibility with PSP physical games, Vita owner who wants to play those had to shell more money for an old PSP system as those games were never sold on Sony's PlayStation Store thus can't be play on PS Vita.
Even PSP Go owners were outrage as not all PSP games went digital. Then there's the memory card situation, where they use proprietary memory card rather than common SD cards. Also add the fact that Sony had no killer app title, a Pokemon killer would had help their handheld so to go head to head with the DS & 3DS but Invizimals was an afterthoughts and not really a phenomenon like Pokemon and that game series was never released in Japan, a region that is known to gobble something like that up. Also the fact that Sony lose the Monster Hunter exclusivity to Nintendo doesn't help either and with Dragon Quest going back to Nintendo ultimately doom Sony's handheld attempt all the way. In the end it was a great run but someone had to wave that white flag and it seems it's for the best.
Too bad Sony squandered the Vita so bad. It had a decent library early on, but thanks to Sony killing 1st party support 2 years in and most 3rd parties jumping ship, it was a huge disappointment. The outrageously priced memory cards also hurt it, no way I was going to spend like $60-$80(!!!) or whatever they were asking for only 32 GB worth of storage.
@NEStalgia but none of those are the ideal form factor. I know those options exist, but i would not like to do remote play with my smartphone for many reasons including the drain it would be on my phone's battery and again the not nearly as pleasing form factor.
Back in 2004, it was exciting to see Sony taking on Nintendo in the handheld market as they had been absolutely crushing Nintendo in the home console market. PSP might seem like a failure when compared to DS' 150 million units sold but it really wasn't. PSP sold, what, 85 million units. That's more than 3DS and I doubt it'll reach that.
At one point I was really interested in the PS Vita hardware and liked some of the games I tried my friends. Rest in peace PS handhelds and continue your home console domination while I continue playing my new favourite system, Switch.
Nothing takes away from the fact that my Vita Slim is a stunning bit of kit, and I still play Switch, Vita and 3DS in equal measures having a mind-blowing collection of quality games on each of them that will keep me playing for as long as I wish.
If Sony had committed themselves fully to the Vita and continued releasing high calibre games it would have eventually held its own as the PS4 companion console they marketed it as too late.
The reason Nintendo is more successful in this market is they don't move on until their systems have been given their due lifespan (yes I'll get to the Wii U). Look at 3DS - in Sony's hands 3DS would have been abandoned in its first few years. But Nintendo kept throwing high quality releases at it until even the critics and skeptics (regarding the hardware in particular) just had to get one - because there where simply too many awesome games to ignore. Wii U was different in that it was wholly unsuccessful. Nintendo did give it a lot of first-party support, but it had too many issue's as a mass-marketable product that no amount of support could save it. But the Wii U wasn't actually abandoned. I don't even think a lot more third-party support could have saved the Wii U. It was just one of those doomed systems for a myriad of reasons.
But the Vita wasn't like that - its own manufacturer very publicly gave up on it very early on, and who the heck would have faith in a system the manufacturer had abandoned. Plus the greed centred around those ridiculous memory cards. Actually most of the Vita's successful years continued despite Sony. Sony effectively and unnecessarily murdered the Vita in its youth, the bloody fools. It had everything to live for.
One thing we forget. Competition is good. Let's hope Nintendo doesn't rest on it's laurels if it's the sole handheld producer, or we better pray Sony re-enters the fight.
@KingdomHeartsFan "Hey Roxas, heard about Birth by Sleep?" There might be someone you remember. Got it memorized?"
Lea
@duffmmann Well a tablet or laptop gives it a "tabletop" form factor. A phone, there are tons of accessory clips to attach it to a normal controller, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no advocate of it, and it doesn't work for me either, but that's the direction the industry is very visibly aligning with cloud streaming in general, and I can see why. Few people are going to buy a several hundred dollar game streamer when they already have a several hundred dollar game streamer in their phone. Plus, Switch kind of has the market cornered on adding all the buttons onto a slate. Might be troublesome for Sony to do it without crossing patents. It kind of comes down to "if you really just want Switch's form factor, why not buy a Switch?" If they couldn't sell a dedicated handheld today, I really don't see how they could sell a dedicated streaming device that looks like a phone with a controller when most already have a phone and a controller. DualShock Phone Grips would really do the same thing, no expensive hardware to market, and, the PS4 streaming app really does work better than the Vita's streaming. 2.4ghz WiFi really limited that. A controller with a folding screen is....basically nVidia Shield. Which already has a streaming service in the cloud. And Switch is already really the replacement of that....
@Razer Games, not specs, sell the console.
Switch is more than fine without 4k.
Sigh. The Vita. a amazing hand held killed by a memory stick. The max size memory stick for the damn thing is still near the cost of the handheld itself.
Thank GOODNESS. PSVITA is a huge waste and PSP only had good third party games. Why was VITA even made in the first place?
PSP was just an thief's paradise and the Vita had shoddy support from day one. Sony just doesn't have the means to support it by themselves like Nintendo does. Hope this means that the few good games that those handhelds did get start to shift to Switch. I would like to see stuff like Soul Sacrifice and Patapon on Nintendo.
@Luffymcduck 3DS may not hit that, but Vita is far behind in that respect. The portable market numbers stopped being so comparable to what they were in the past with the advent of the smartphone. Let's be real here, a LOT of people that bought a DS back in the day, likely wouldn't have, if they had a smartphone instead to play quick little games on the go.
The Vita could have competed with the 3DS but sadly zero lessons were learned from the PSP's performance outside of Japan and just like the PSP, Sony of America+Europe forgot the thing even existed as E3s came and went with no new Vita announcements.
I had no idea the Vita was still supported. Totally thought it died years ago...
It's a shame about the vita it's got the best line up for visual novels and would have been a lot more popular without the ridiculous priced memory cards and the fact after the first year they pretty much forgot the west and most games where Japan only
The biggest killer of Vita was Sony themselves. Making a dedicate memory expansion only Sony also didn't help sales. So from the getgo Sony already was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for the Vita. For all it's hardware advances their business model made sure to give it a early retirement. Whether or not they bring something new in 2019 is to late now with NSW on the market. Now publishers will want a new platform and the NSW is right there to pickup from the Vita. NSW isn't a 4K device nor going to beat a Dedicate PC Desktop/Laptop gaming rig that isn't what it is aimed at and Nintendo knows that. No xbx1 or ps4 pro will every beat a PC Desktop/Laptop gaming rig and if where talking 4K the laptop gaming rig some already have 4K. We can talk all about 4K but at the end of the day what did that accomplish? nill. A NSW 4K would be a short end to battery life and trying to push 4K on NSW is asking for Thermal overload and short quick end to your hot platform. 4K for enthusiasts but for the rest like 1080 works just fine. I play NSW on my 32" 1080hdtv and they look just fine. What xbox, ps4 can't do is go portable and if you can't do that-why would developers come. They know if they can get on a NSW they get both ends a Docked unit and Portable to advertise their games to other players whom will buy their game because of that. In this day and age it's not your platform but how portable you can be and that will sell more.
If you ask me, this is for the best. Sony has always been great on the console front as all 4 Playstations have always left me feeling satisfied but the handheld side has always felt lacking and underwhelming when compared to Nintendo.
Honestly, I applaud Sony for making the right choice.
Tbh it feels like Sony left the handheld market 3 or 4 years ago, they left the Vita out to dry damn near immediately
@Anti-Matter
I'm in agree with you, the PS Vita is so fat and uglee! It would never be bette than hanheld console of Nintendou!
......They're gonna make a hybrid system aren't they? lol
One other reason Sony is leaving the handheld market is because they are afraid of the mobile market. Smartphones and tablet had become increasingly popular and powerful to handle games that even the PS Vita could offer so to that Sony is shaking in their boots and worry they would lose even more money decided it's best to just leave the market altogether. I'm sure in a year or two they would probably leave the VR market too as I don't see anyone talking or playing VR anymore. All that's left for Sony is the PS4 and the upcoming PS5 if they are still alive enough to make that one.
I was actually hoping for a new PSP, especially after Switch has revitalized the handheld market. Portable versions of some PS exclusives would have been a no brainer for me, being ofter on business trips. Oh well...
I think Sony had the money to redo the Vita to make it better and more competitive but they are like the US going after the Large SUV and only to find out the Gas Price Spike took the gas out of their SUVs. Sony thought their name would sell and it did but when they found out what limits Sony imposed that signaled it early demise coming. We can talk how great it was but to Sony it wasn't and that was made quite clear they only would backup the PS4.
The Vita was such an amazing device and I still love mine to this day. So many good games on it and it has awesome performance with decent battery life.
The failure of the Vita was all on Sony, since they never gave it the proper attention it deserved. All focus was on the PS4 and PS4 alone. Vita was just a stepchild from the get-go. A real shame!
@Beetoe The PSVita was the "new PSP" but it wasn't a hit; while the PSP sold some 75 million units, the PSVita is stuck at something like 16 million.
I am a big fan of the PSVita/PSTV - high quality games in a handheld, and the ability to play the same games on a TV if you want to. Fortunately the Switch does both of those things as well, and like the Vita it also seems like it will become a home for quirky indie games and JRPGs.
I do miss the Vita's beautiful OLED screen and the cool cellular data feature, as well as PS1 and PSP backward compatibility... You can play Final Fantasy I through X on the Vita, as well as FFVII Crisis Core (!!) Persona 1 through 4 (including 2: Innocent Sin!) Disgaea 1-4. The list goes on... It's like the ultimate classic JRPG handheld! The Switch is off to a good start though with FFVII/IX/X/XII/(and XV pocket HD) and Disgaea 1/5 as well as upcoming games like Grandia 1 and 2. I wonder if we'll see some Atlus games - we did get SMT4/Devil Survivor/Persona Q on the 3DS.
The PSVita also supports voice chat (!) natively, to both VIta and PS4, as well as PS4 remote play. I think playing games on the Switch has actually made me appreciate the Vita more. Though I never want to go back to expensive proprietary memory cards. ;-p
I would say that Sony isn't leaving it all to NIntendo though.... they're leaving it to Nintendo and ... smartphones. You know, those things without buttons where everything is "free to play." I've heard that Fortnite and Pokémon GO are popular on those devices.
edit: I guess you did footnote that mobile phones are the "primary share" of the handheld game market with the Switch as a "high-quality alternative."
@Spectra Pfft, the 3DS is far more of a JRPG machine than the Vita will ever be! Between the 3DS and backwards compatible DS libraries, you can find the good majority of every notable JRPG ever made! There's Pokémon, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy, Advance Wars, Etrian Odyssey, Golden Sun, Chrono Trigger, Bravely Default, Stella Glow, RPG Maker, even Xenoblade, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. How could the Vita compete with all that in just what was supposedly its strongest genre?!
The Vita was a cool system. I see it as the handheld Wii U underappreciated.
No surprise, Sony crippled the Vita from day one with expensive proprietary memory. RIP
I actually like my Vita. Its more portable than the Switch, and with Remote Play you could game on the go to an extent. Obviously not on level with the Switch, but many times I'd be playing The Last of Us, Witcher 3, or Dragon Age Inquisition and connect the Vita to head down to the laundry room or kitchen. It is sort of a proof of concept that Nintendo ultimately delivered fully on. But I still respect the machine. And between the gems that did land on it, including the recent trend of importable English language Bamco SRPGs (chiefly Super Robot Wars), and PSP/PS1 classics, I have a pretty solid library of quality titles for it. And even if they pull the market support and your memory card fails, you can store everything including install files on your desktop.
I owned both a PSP and a Vita (not anymore though). Both were great, specially the Vita, but Sony killed it right after it was born. Uncharted and Killzone on the Vita were awesome games that demonstrate the capabilities of the system, but Sony just didn’t care.
@Razer Nintendo can't reduce digital costs without reducing physical costs. Relationships between publishers and retailers will be damaged if digital pricing is less than physical RRP which is why digital always costs the same or more than physical
@Medic_alert I guess... I still think it needs time to get ironed out. Apparently the 2070 can't handle it one way or the other (based on 2080 benchmarks)
By the time the PS5 comes out there be a better idea if RT is a bust. The BF demo looked amazing.
@AlexSora89 I've owned three Vita's and have a Switch. The Vita was never a "Switch".
Had both, preferred Nintendo's handhelds in both cases, but Sony's had some great games and features. Some INCREDIBLE flaws as well (UMD discs, PS Vita memory cards,...), and terrible first-party "support" if you can even call it that. But they held a lot of potential.
With the next gen around the corner, a portable device wont be able to play those games, so this makes sense from Sony's perspective.
@Amsterdamsters
If it's a PS3 you can stuff in your pocket and plug into the TV, the seed of the idea is already there. And yet Sony gleefully flushed its potential down the drain. Their loss.
@AlexSora89 The Vita was not as powerful as the PS3...not even close. Now if you want to go your route, then the Sega Nomad was a Vita before the Vita as it was as powerful as a Sega Genesis, you could plug it into your TV or put it in your pocket (big pockets required) and play on the go (for 30 minutes until the batteries died).
@Amsterdamsters
Never heard of it, IIRC. You have my attention.
@brunojenso You (and the many, many others who have mentioned it) are absolutely right about competition is healthy and necessary for technology to progress (as well as other reasons), the PSP's & Vita's tried to bring to the handheld market what Nintendo refused, a genius idea, horrible execution, Nintendo knew they were losing the console market to Sony and MS, but they still had the handheld almost monopolized, but they knew they couldn't live off pocket play alone forever, but neither Sony nor MS had really brought anything to the console for some time, they mostly just kept getting better looking and faster, but that's really it, the one or two minor nifties they add individually with every new console really aren't noteworthy, Nintendo has always tried to concentrate on giving the software producers they greatest tools for new and better gaming, Nintendo has gotten back in with a portable console, high power, great graphics, large games, but you can also take it with you, the best of both worlds in one console, and because Nintendo has not "Raised The Bar", they completely changed the measurement standard, Nintendo knows this, Sony's John Kordan (I think), has says he has not decided if it will be base console of portable console, he did say the new PS5 won't be seen for 3 more years anyway (2021), and MS has just kapt silent period, the thing is, they now know they can no longer get away with just faster processing and better graphix, they would HAVE to come onto the stage huge, like "Macho Man Randy Savage" huge, and honestly, I'm finding it difficult to come up with anything special enough to set a base console apart so far people will ignore being able to pocket Nintendo's powerful console, they will have to come over to the hybrid nation or die
I say "die" as gaming console makers, because the gaming consoles are getting so powerful and so expensive, they are in danger of having people just give it up, you see, in reality, the Sony and MS consoles are glorified P.C.'s, but the power of even gaming P.C. 's is going up, but their prices are going down, and they have more capabilities than your next gen base game console.....
people will see this and buy Nintendo's product and/or just buy a new laptop/P.C. and where the customers go, the game software producers will follow.
so they HAVE to evolve or give up, since they make a lot of money on gaming systems, there's an 85%+ likelihood the next Sony will be a hybrid, as for MS.....who knows, not even sure if they know what to do
now even if the PS5 is portable, they STILL have to come big, because in 2021, the Switch will have been not only well established for FOUR years, but will probably have a physical upgrade adding new/more capabilities, so what can Sony possibly bring to the table to compete with the current and next gen "Nintendo Switch - Omega" (or whatever)
I think I've said it before, but, the only REAL improvements I'd like to see in the next-gen Switch is....
1: the joycon add-on button strap things, make them a little bigger and make them with rechargeable batteries in them so you can play much longer
2: TWO micro sd card slots, and up the total max of 1TB
3: minimum 64GB internal memory
4: local broadcast tv reception
(it would sell like hot cakes)
a "non-hardware" improvement that can be added to THIS system is letting all the major streaming media services put apps, not just ones willing to over-pay for "the privilege"
You know, Nintendo's offerings have always been far superior to Sony's in the handheld world, but I'm pretty sad about this. I hope third parties will continue making Vita games for awhile. Even though I prefer my 3DS, the Vita is really one of the most underrated systems ever in my opinion.
@LuciferOnReddit but ps4+switch is almost the same as pc+switch. Of course, you may talk about the graphics, but we're on a Nintendo fansite.
Ah come on: We all know a PS4handheld/hybrid will happen. What with the succes of the Switch and all...
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