Sony’s newest handheld, the PortStation Vita as I affectionately call it, is becoming a perfect home for indie games and smaller titles. It launched with games like the excellent Uncharted: Golden Abyss, a very nearly PS3-quality title, in the palm of your hands. Later on, Killzone: Mercenary for the handheld still stands as one of the best games in the series. Don’t expect much more of that sort of first party goodness from Sony though.
Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida has said that Sony will be supporting the handheld with fewer and fewer first party titles, relying on third parties instead to flesh out the system’s library.
"When we launched the Vita with Uncharted, it was amazing; PS3-like quality in your palm, but as time moved on, you are seeing PS4 quality and people’s expectations for the graphic fidelity has gone up,” he told Polygon.
"It’s very fortunate that the indie boom happened and they are providing lots of great content to Vita. Gameplay, game mechanic wise, people want to spend 10 minutes, 15 minutes getting in and out. On Vita, it’s great with suspended functionality, so these indie games really great for that from a game design standpoint.
"Instead of watching big stories or cinematics, you can spend hours on Vita. So, I think that’s actually the biggest star to help provide great content to Vita going forward. And we continue to make games cross-platform games, especially on digital side."
Asked directly if that all meant we’d see fewer big first party titles for the Vita, Yoshida said:
"I would say, yes, that’s correct."
It seems very much like Sony’s tacit admission that it’s giving up on the Vita as a gaming platform, and relying on its use instead as an extender for its PlayStation 4.
Last Updated: June 20, 2014
Sk3tz0
June 20, 2014 at 14:32
Be cool if they make Separate games for the Vita. Hand Held Style games. type of games that fun to play on the Bus ride home. when u get home u can play ur AAA games on ur Ps4.
Monado
June 20, 2014 at 14:36
Quite sad though, not that I’m too fussed to be honest, it’s still personally my handheld of choice. Been playing Snake Eater in the bus, and it makes me think how great this system is. Others might not think it’s great, but I played the PSP way more than any console and I love the Vita equally as much.
Hammersteyn
June 20, 2014 at 14:45
I also love my Vita, and I feel I’m abusing it by not playing as much as I should.
Monado
June 20, 2014 at 14:46
Lol it appeals a lot to people like me though, so I don’t blame those that have Vita and don’t play it
Rince&exhale
June 20, 2014 at 14:59
It’s sad when anything like this happens. I mean having more options is important to me.
Monado
June 20, 2014 at 15:01
Indeed hey,it’s not gonna die though, hope 3rd party support picks up
Wraith
June 20, 2014 at 16:44
I really hope it does. Only thing is, how many 3rd party developer would want to publish for a platform that even the owner has abandoned.
oOqUiS
June 20, 2014 at 15:09
Snake Eater was awesome on the Vita…..i miss my vita allot!
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 20, 2014 at 14:38
But wasn’t there an article the other day about them bundling the Vita & PS4?
Hammersteyn
June 20, 2014 at 14:44
Indeed, for an arm and a leg
Rince&exhale
June 20, 2014 at 14:59
At least not an arm and a kinect.
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 20, 2014 at 15:02
It’s all fun & games until someone loses an eyetoy
Rince&exhale
June 20, 2014 at 15:03
lol
Weanerdog
June 20, 2014 at 16:28
I learned Kung fu from the eyetoy, I can now do a perfect cow stance
Hammersteyn
June 20, 2014 at 14:39
Better sell mine then
Marius Nell
June 20, 2014 at 14:40
I dont mind. move the indies from my ps4 to my vita and both consoles will be better
Wraith
June 20, 2014 at 14:45
It’s ok, Persona 4 is still awesome. And with 5 coming to PS3 soon, I’m hoping it’ll get ported across as well :).
Monado
June 20, 2014 at 14:46
MY MAN!
AceZero911
June 20, 2014 at 15:36
My two new favourite people 🙂
Monado
June 20, 2014 at 19:56
Another Persona fan joins our ranks!:)
Thats_how_I_Troll
June 21, 2014 at 13:14
3 is a Crowd? ;p
Monado
June 21, 2014 at 15:55
JOIN the Seekers of Truth!! 🙂
AceZero911
June 21, 2014 at 17:39
Two’s company, three’s a party
Anon A Mouse
June 20, 2014 at 14:55
With Sony making losses in 6 of the previous 7 years, there are a few item they will shed. They already sold their PC department, I’m sure a few others will follow. This is their final year of restructuring and will have to shed a bit of weight still.
Rince&exhale
June 20, 2014 at 15:00
Agreed. Do you think they will sort their woes out in the next year or so?
Anon A Mouse
June 20, 2014 at 15:09
I hope they do. Kazou Hirai actually went as far as to apologise to the shareholders for the recent loss. I think he is hanging on by a thread, but if the movie and cellphone departments don’t start to pull finger I see very hard times ahead.
Rince&exhale
June 20, 2014 at 14:58
Eish. So didn’t see this coming.
Francois Knoetze
June 20, 2014 at 15:00
neither did I 🙁 love my vita but my ps4 (and soon my pc) has most of my attention
CypherGate
June 20, 2014 at 15:20
Thats so so sad in all honesty cause you paying a large amount of money for a handheld that will end up playing games that arent AAA. Dont get me wrong there are great Indie titles out there, but would have been nice to get a couple really great AAA’s on the device. Its like saying I might as well buy an Xperia Z2, S5 etc etc. Those can be used for 10 – 15mins of gaming etc etc
J_Joestar
June 20, 2014 at 16:43
Too bad, honestly more interested in getting a Vita than a PS4 or XBone at the moment.
On the other hand, i’m mainly only interested in 3rd party software for it anyways as i don’t care for any of Sony’s 1st party IPs so as long as those aren’t affected it will still be appealing.
Kaihaku
June 21, 2014 at 15:18
I think that Sony made a big mistake in thinking that gamers would want to play home console content on the Vita… Not even because of screen size but because home console games are designed to be played in long chunks of time while handheld console games are usually much more pick up and play friendly. That said, it would be a shame for them to give up on the Vita considering it’s surprisingly robust library of niche titles.
Bryce Ward
June 22, 2014 at 06:21
Sony has always been crappy at making their own games. Sony has been known more for it’s hardware.