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[kennyamr]

The Vita is worth buying, even today, just to play Persona 4 Golden on it. That's its BotW.

 

[The Horror the horror]

Yet if you don't like Vita's lineup it's like you have to shove it down fan's throats, this disbelief that why are you still playing this console because it's got nothing I want so why are you even still considering it?

I just don't understand it. It's like people are getting riled up that other people are having fun with a niche console with a niche library that's still getting plenty of releases. What's wrong with that?

I think it's because the Vita didn't start off as a niche console nor was it ever intended to be a niche console. Its original design and mission statement to consumers promised console-gaming on the go (which the PSP fulfilled, IMO), and niche jRPGs and dungeon crawlers aren't exactly console-defined experiences; in fact, they're of your typical handheld sort. The 3DS, hell the DS, can float those sort of games.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Gravity Rush
Killzone: Mercenary
Borderlands 2
Call of Duty Black Ops
Assassin's Creed

Those were the type of games Vita owners got in its first or second year with a promise of more like them to come during the course of the console's lifespan. Granted, when I got that Borderlands/Vita bundle during that Black Friday sale years ago, I jumped in with the expectation that the system would continue to get more games like the ones listed above, peppered with more handheld-friendly titles like Lumines Electronic Symphony, Hotline Miami, and Freedom Wars, but then things dried up in that front.

I do agree that Vita critics need to come to terms with what the machine is NOW. It's the reality of the situation and I'd be lying if I said that all of it has come as a shock.

 

[Ouroboros]

I just bought my 3rd Vita (orange)

Spoiler

don'ttellmywife

and I preordered Summon Night 6. Is it really dead?

 

[Sponge]

The Vita was way too underpowered to fulfill the promise it made. Not all console games could be ported down to the thing.

 

[Skyzard]

Question might be a better fit for the WiiU which is more similar to the Switch.

And probably not.

 

[Kresnik258]

A platform's health is judged through its sales and games output.

So it's unhealthy, sure. Probably even near death, something I can't really disagree with.

That's still not dead.

Regardless, this isn't a matter we're going to agree on I don't think, so it's probably best we just leave things here.

 

[CamHostage]

Sony stopped caring 4 months after release. Vita was released in February 2012 in West. E3 2012 for Vita was pathetic. It had less screen time than their PlayStation Mobile initiative with HTC. Only two games were shown: A logo for Call of Duty Vita and 3 to 4 screenshots for AC Vita.

To be clear, portable games were never highlighted at Sony's E3 showing, except for the very first PSP show in 2004. The best you ever got was a title announcement or two and a sizzle reel. They've had years with both great and bad portable slates that they never talked about, just showed clips of and then had out on the floor to try. Handheld titles don't show as well, the audience that watches conferences isn't as into those games as AAA console titles, investors and journalists tend to be of the same mindset as the watchers, and the games themselves tend to be developed on a different timeline and so are less done at showtime.

Portable games are also rarely a highlight of Nintendo's showings, and when they were, it was always a bad sign that Nintendo's console line-up was weak.

I do feel this had a big hand in it. All of the console's flagship games were overshadowed by something else. Uncharted released months after Uncharted 3. Killzone Mercenary released just before Shadow Fall. Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty were alongside their console counterparts.

To a point, I agree, but do remember that both Sony and Nintendo had success in the past piggy-backing portable games with high-profile console games. It worked in cases on PSP and GB (I can't think of times when Nintendo had both Cube/Wii and DS titles together, they might have already been aware that the trend was not working like it used to.) The logic was that there were not just one but two games in a high-profile franchise to go check out (it saved on marketing too,) and sometime they even tied in together with link features. Gamers might have changed with their tentpole focus, and games have gotten longer and more involving (especially with online play,) crowding out whatever interest there was in dual-platform brand launches (didn't help that portable games were becoming "console-quality", which made them less special even if they added to story canon.)