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[dracula_x]

similar thing with Nintendo, btw. They choose to support just one console this time, instead of two (3DS+Wii U vs Switch).

I hope this ends Vitabros foolish fantasy of another Sony handheld.
Sorry bros, but trust me it's for the best, you would have ended suffering for the lack of Sony support again, Sony doesn't deserve your money and love, if you want a new generation of handheld buy a Switch or a GPD Win(the current 1 or the upcoming 2 in 2018)

I think, even with a good 1st party support, Vita LTD would be 20 mln max. This is the answer why they dropped it.

 

[MrChocolate]

I hope this ends Vitabros foolish fantasy of another Sony handheld.
Sorry bros, but trust me it's for the best, you would have ended suffering for the lack of Sony support again, Sony doesn't deserve your money and love, if you want a new generation of handheld buy a Switch or a GPD Win(the current 1 or the upcoming 2 in 2018)

Can I play P4G on those? Or P4DAN? Or Hot Shot Tennis? MGS 2 and 3 portable? FFX? No? Bummer then.

It's the same as the Switch/WiiU situation. I bought the Wii U for MK8 and BotW, and I'm happy with it. Probably other people did the same.

The problem wasn't Sony's support, it was the overpriced memory cards. The machine is perfect as it is, for a portable.

 

[AAK]

Sony doesn't have enough resources to support AAA games on both PS4 and a handheld for them to be competitive in their respective markets.

 

[w0s]

...then doesn't do shit when they put it out.

 

[Gitaroo]

I use my switch docked 99.99% of the time, honestly much rather have a dedicated console then one that is barely portable.

 

[User123456]

I use my switch docked 99.99% of the time, honestly much rather have a dedicated console then one that is barely portable.

I'm the exact opposite, and I would lose my mind if Sony released a PS4 laptop. Even 1 hour of battery life would be enough for me. My daily 1:30h commute became a completely different experience after the Switch came out. I can't even imagine what it would be like to play PS4 games on the train.

 

[Oregano]

Can I play P4G on those? Or P4DAN? Or Hot Shot Tennis? MGS 2 and 3 portable? FFX? No? Bummer then.

It's the same as the Switch/WiiU situation. I bought the Wii U for MK8 and BotW, and I'm happy with it. Probably other people did the same.

The problem wasn't Sony's support, it was the overpriced memory cards. The machine is perfect as it is, for a portable.

GPD Win might be able to do FFX.

 

[Faithless Mr.]

Sony's franchises and game making philosophy only work in the home console space. They don't have a notable casual or pick-up-and-play game suitable for portable experience.

 

[Papacheeks]

Sony should keep doing what their doing. They have the market for home console space.

And IIRC they disbanded a lot of dedicated vita studios, and consolidated some of them to their PS4 software studios.

They would have to restructure again, and at this time with them making money off of Playstation compared to the rest of the company I don't think it would benefit them.

 

[LambdaTeos]

I;m actually liking how things are going on
Sony focusing in high end consoles among with other departments such as music and multimedia

Microsoft focusing on an "all in one" entertainment device and computers, an entertainment center

And now Nintendo focusing on a hybrid device, all with different exclusives

I dig this, I dig they focus on something specific

 

[entremet]

I get really tired of this narrative. Sony spent a ton of money getting almost every major AAA ip onto the platform. The market simply didn't care. Sony did just about everything they could, but no company can continue to burn money...

Yep. Sony just cut bait real quickly instead of sink money. The Vita launch library was crazy strong.

 

[Sabercrusader]

I mean, given the support (or lack thereof) they gave to the Vita, I'm not terribly surprised by this statement.

I don't necessarily disagree either. Even though the Vita was actually pretty good, sales didn't really reflect that unfortunately. I would love to see more competition in the handheld market than Nintendo. Sony would be the one to do it, because I don't honestly see Microsoft pulling it off.

 

[Principate]

Yep. Sony just cut bait real quickly instead of sink money. The Vita launch library was crazy strong.

Not really. the issue was B team efforts of AAA titles, ports of AAA games that played better elsewhere but had the portable aspects and mediocre exclusive content.

The mediocre exclusive content is the stickler. People didn't buy the 3DS for it's pure portable gaming but the substantial amount of high quality content you couldn't find anywhere else at a decent price which is why it survied despite a major contraction from it's predeccessor. If you swapped Vita for 3DS and gave them to each company the 3DS would be dead and the Vita would be a success.

 

[dracula_x]

Not really. the issue was B team efforts of AAA titles

do you really think a project from Naughty Dog or SSM would change something?

, ports of AAA games that played better elsewhere but had the portable aspects and mediocre exclusive content.

what's the difference between this ^ and Zelda/Splatoon 2/Skyrim/Doom/etc. on Switch in portable mode So Doom on Switch, game that wasn't designed for portable at all, apparently is ok, but something like Borderlands 2 or Final Fantasy X on Vita is not. I don't get it.

The mediocre exclusive content is the stickler. People didn't buy the 3DS for it's pure portable gaming but the substantial amount of high quality content you couldn't find anywhere else at a decent price which is why it survied despite a major contraction from it's predeccessor. If you swapped Vita for 3DS and gave them to each company the 3DS would be dead and the Vita would be a success.

it wasn't "mediocre". Everybody's Golf, KF Mercenary, Tearaway, LBP Vita, WipEout, Gravity Rush, Soul Sacrifice, etc. – perfectly designed games for portable + exclusives also.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Not really. the issue was B team efforts of AAA titles, ports of AAA games that played better elsewhere but had the portable aspects and mediocre exclusive content.

The mediocre exclusive content is the stickler. People didn't buy the 3DS for it's pure portable gaming but the substantial amount of high quality content you couldn't find anywhere else at a decent price which is why it survied despite a major contraction from it's predeccessor. If you swapped Vita for 3DS and gave them to each company the 3DS would be dead and the Vita would be a success.

Not really, seems like you're omitting the fact that the 3DS was doing so poorly early on that the whole ambassador program came along.

Nintendo salvaged the 3DS and made it a success because handheld are more important to them.

I mean for the better part of a year all you could play from Nintendo on 3DS was Ocarina of Time and Nintendogs+Cats.

 

[Meffer]

I think it's too late for Sony to even try something like the Switch anymore. The Switch has the appeal and the high demand. And given Sony's past with handhelds like the Vita, it would likely be more expensive and I mean by hidden costs like the Vita's awful memory cards.

 

[Evil Monkey DTT]

Thank God, Sony could only follow when it comes to handhelds when they could rather lead on their main platform.

 

[Meffer]

Not really, seems like you're omitting the fact that the 3DS was doing so poorly early on that the whole ambassador program came along.

Nintendo salvaged the 3DS and made it a success because handheld are more important to them.

I mean for the better part of a year all you could play from Nintendo on 3DS was Ocarina of Time and Nintendogs+Cats.

It was the right choice. The WiiU bombed hard regardless of its games. The marketing did it in.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I use my switch docked 99.99% of the time, honestly much rather have a dedicated console then one that is barely portable.

There's nothing "barely portable" about the Switch. I played Neo Turf Masters and Zelda for many hours in my hotel room and it was amazing.

 

[isaacnukem]

I still want a Sony handheld, darn it. Give it the power to play PS2 games this time.

 

[Lothars]

Thank God, Sony could only follow when it comes to handhelds when they could rather lead on their main platform.

I don't agree, Both the Vita and PSP are easily on par with the 3ds and ds Libraries. They easily put a fight to Nintendo even if it was never their main focus. I definitely can see why they won't try to put out another handheld though and it's a shame.

 

[The Greek Freak]

90%+ of my ps4 playtime has been through my vita via remote play.

If Ps5 doesn't have something better than the vita to remote play to, I likely won't buy one. (I'm not buying a half step ps4+)

I use my switch docked 99.99% of the time, honestly much rather have a dedicated console then one that is barely portable.

Zelda looked like ass on my TV compared to the handheld screen, so I sold my dock week one after using it for less than 15 min and wouldn't want a dock even if i was 5$

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Good, just focus on your thing Sony. Let Nintendo do their thing.. personally I don't want a hybrid console gimped by power.

 

[Interfectum]

Disagree completely. Hybrid devices are the future, IMO.

I see more potential in a refined Switch (more power, better battery, etc) than yet another power console box like PS5.

 

[FyreWulff]

Local Company With No Viable Product Says No Market

To be honest though, the problem with Sony handhelds is they'll put nice hardware out, and then they do one last thing that makes no fucking sense and completely hamstrings the appeal.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Disagree completely. Hybrid devices are the future, IMO.

I see more potential in a refined Switch (more power, better battery, etc) than yet another power console box like PS5.

That's what Sony does best pushing things on that front, there's no reason for a hybrid console from Sony that is.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

The way i see it, the biggest problem for Vita that contributed to its lack of success was Sony's inability to convince Japanese publishers to port their hot new 3DS releases onto the platform.

The prevailing majority of portable games delivered by the biggest Japanese publishers, all seemed to be 3DS exclusive, leaving Sony and the Vita to rely on first party and a few third party developed games, that simply weren't enough to fill out the games library.

The Vita eventually went on to gain traction in Japan and win some solid third party Japanese games, but again the biggest portable names like MonHun, Ace Atourney, Prof. Layton, Ghost Trick, etc were always absent.

Sony should have done more to get Japanese publishers to treat the 3DS/Vita in a similar way that global publishers treat XB1 and PS4; i.e. as two halves of the total market. There really wasn't any technical reason why almost all third party games released on the 3DS couldn't have been easily ported to the Vita to extend their reach and customer base.

Sony simply weren't committed enough to this—e.g. through offering co-marketing deals and the like.

 

[LAA]

Well I mean it is going to be limited if they want to put limited focus/resources into it yes. If they put as much attention to a handheld like PS4, I think it can succeed.
I think Switch is proving that there is a market for it and finding it interesting/surprising to see some wanting Switch versions over other console versions, and I mean the likes of Fifa/L.A. Noire here, So think Sony should be more interested than it seems they currently are.

But I do think Sonys vision of Switch is essentially remote play/PS Now, and it probably isnt neccessary for them to try again, and I would say to simply give Nintendo competition to be at its best would be good, But honestly it doesn't seem any competition seems to do anything for Nintendo, for better or worse.

Would be sad if Sony never made another portable though, felt like PSP was the first to show we can have console like experiences portably and now Switch took it a step further and shown we can have console experiences on this.

 

[The Greek Freak]

That's what Sony does best pushing things on that front, there's no reason for a hybrid console from Sony that is.

Vita 2 with 4 proper shoulder buttons, better screen, no internal storage outside of it's own OS, and solely for the purpose of remote play.

I would easily pay 3-4 hundred for it.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

This is what I believe they're going to do next gen to maximize profits and get ahead.

A 6/8 teraflops PS5 hybrid might change the game with PlayStation branding.

Sony is not going to bring out a 6\8 TF console in the next 3 to 4 years .
If they do MS will eat there market share rather easy .

Disagree completely. Hybrid devices are the future, IMO.

I see more potential in a refined Switch (more power, better battery, etc) than yet another power console box like PS5.

Disagree when it comes to the west .
Plus Sony has been growing other markets when it comes to home consoles.

 

[MarmiteBadger]

I think it's better for Sony to just focus on the Playstation.

 

[jroc74]

He explained that he doesn't see the Switch as a pure handheld. It's a hybrid, a whole new type of platform.

It's not that complicated.

That plus I read it as it wouldn't be a good idea for Sony.

Not overall.

 

[UberTag]

Suits me just fine.
Sony continues to excel at what they do best... and Nintendo gets most of my money.
That's winner winner chicken dinner for all parties concerned.

 

[jroc74]

Given that Sony seems unlikely to drop the mainline Playstation console, short of a Wii U-level disaster, it kind of doesn't make sense for them to pursue a hybrid console as well. Every time Sony tries to split its attention between two devices, one of them inevitably suffers.

Yup.

And honestly, one could say the same about Nintendo.

The Wii, ds era will never be matched. Before then their handhelds were always the big sellers.

Been saying it since it was a rumor... It makes more sense for Nintendo to do a hybrid than Sony.

 

[butman]

Sony should release a PS2 Portable Classic with the best 30 games upscaled to 720p.

 

[Neuromancer]

Sony should remember how to properly support a handheld and see the market potential. What did Sony expect would happen when they gave up on the Vita?

They probably didn't want to continue spending a ton of money on a bet they'd already lost.

 

[bobbychalkers]

There's no room for Sony in that market and it doesn't make sense for their brand to pursue a hybrid (unless mobile tech dramatically improves over the next year or two).

 

[18-Volt]

The market or mobile devices didn't kill vita, there is a high chance this guy, Andrew House killed it. There is a market for it, system had a huge potential but the support has never come. Instead of announcing brand new projects for the system, Sony went on cancelling those that already been announced. 1st party support for the system was abysmal and almost all Vita first party launches have been done stealthily. Vita was definitely killed on purpose.

 

[redcrayon]

The Vita eventually went on to gain traction in Japan and win some solid third party Japanese games, but again the biggest portable names like MonHun, Ace Atourney, Prof. Layton, Ghost Trick, etc were always absent.
.

Ghost Trick, Ace Attorney (no matter how much some people love them) and Professor Layton (in its 3DS years) are hardly on the same level as Monster Hunter. Yokai Watch and Dragon Quest are probably a better comparison if we're looking for third party portable big hitters from Japan.

 

[Father_Brain]

Vita was DOA before it even launched. The writing was on the wall as far back as TGS 2011, when their biggest announcement after Nintendo snagged the MH franchise was FFX HD, a PS2 remaster that wasn't even exclusive to the platform.

Sony did as much as they reasonably could to turn it around in Japan, but there was no saving it anywhere else. It was completely out of touch with the realities of the post-mobile handheld market.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I’m fine with that, as much as I loved the PSP and I still love the Vita I’m okay with knowing that it was their last try.

I’ve owned 3 Vitas, and played countless hours on it. It’s my favorite handheld of all time.

BUT at the same time I don’t want it to hurt PlayStation as a brand.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Ghost Trick, Ace Attorney and Professor Layton are hardly on the same level as Monster Hunter. Yokai Watch and Dragon Quest are probably a better comparison if we're looking for third party Japanese 3DS games.

In terms of commercial sales success, sure. But they're still quality niche games that diversify the library.

The value of them is similar to having games like Supermassive's Until Dawn and QD's games on PS4. These games tend to only sell 1-2m copies a pop, but those could represent another 1-2m additional owners of your platform who bought it because it was the only place they could find those games.

Diversity in games library matters just as much as having the biggest named franchises on the platforms... I mean, look at the XB1 for reference.

 

[zerokoolpsx]

Seeing how Sony treated the Vita, its better if they focus on PS4 instead.

 

[BigEmil]

If they did make another portable they should make it a 3rd party only machine and market it that way get like GTA etc on board

 

[Shinriji]

I get that Sony killed the vita to concentrate on PS4, it was the right call at the time (as much as I like the vita). But at the same time, I don't think that the first party output on PS4 grew to reflect that decision. Japan studio shitty output is the same or worse than when the vita was "stealing PS4 resources".

And now they are stale as a hardware company. PS4 is almost 4 years old, VR is on route to be even more niche even than vita ever was and the VR honeymoon period is over. Something new to captivate the audience is necessary and a new hybrid device could be it.

 

[borges]

I have to agree. Even now with Switch success, powerful mobile devices (like iPhone X, but less pricey as well) are going to cover that demand.
Theres already successful stores with millions of users having their credit card there.

 

[Waji]

They didn't give up on it. They supported it way longer than they should have, Monster Hunter moved to Nintendo, and also the market as a whole moved on to phones. Hybrid is the only way to go. Making a handheld only game system in today's market is a fool's errand.

Huh... no.
They didn't. Third party did somewhat, more or less, in Japan, but not Sony.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

I’m fine with that, as much as I loved the PSP and I still love the Vita I’m okay with knowing that it was their last try.

I’ve owned 3 Vitas, and played countless hours on it. It’s my favorite handheld of all time.

BUT at the same time I don’t want it to hurt PlayStation as a brand.

Commercial failures like the oft forgotten PSPGo and the Vita won't negatively impact the PS brand, so long as Sony continue to make all the right moves with their "bread and butter" home console platform which essentially drives the brand.

Sony could (and I wish they would) explore another portable console, have it fail woefully and it wouldn't matter to how consumers see PS; since in most consumer's minds, PS = PS4.

I mean, tbh, it's debatable whether a home console failure really damages the brand either. How many failures has Nintendo had and yet still here we are with the Switch selling gangbusters.

When it comes to gaming console brands, I think the games people associate with those brands are what's more important; hence why Xbox traditionally performs poorly in Japanese and European markets (since the games associated with Xbox are less popular there).

 

[Devilgunman]

I'm glad Sony isn't chasing what Nintendo is doing. They're doing great with the PS4 and should continue doing that. They should already figure out ways to push VR to mainstream. I still believe VR is the future but the current hardware aren't cutting it.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

It's a waste of time and resources on Sony's end. I know plenty of Gaf members love their portability and whatnot.. but the home console is what brings in the cash plus they're always aiming for that power.