If the death knell of the PS Vita hadn’t been sounded loud enough before, Sony just told the friar to climb the bell tower and ring it out once more. The hardware manufacturer emailed game developers today to let them know that they “plan to end all Vita GameCard production by close of fiscal year 2018,” in both Europe and America. This means that no more PS Vita physical games will be produced after March 2019.
Kotaku reached out to Sony after getting their hands on the email, and Sony confirmed that they would be ceasing development of physical game cartridges for the portable system that’s already hanging onto life by a thread. If you want to get any physical Vita cards for your collection, now is the time to buy.
Sony set a deadline of June 28, 2018 for all product code requests, with a February 15, 2019 cutoff for final purchase orders. Of course, not many brand new PS Vita games are being produced these days, but this will also mean that older games won’t get any refreshed inventory at retailers. The digital storefront for Vita games will remain online for the time being.
The dying portable originally launched back in 2012. Six years old from a technology standpoint is quite impressive, especially for a piece of hardware that lost major support rather quickly. A series of missteps with the handheld console made it largely inaccessible and expensive, even if it was ahead of its time (a look back on the Vita is grounds for a whole article of its own).
Note that the announcement specifically calls out America and Europe as halting production of physical Vita games. At this point it looks like Japan–where the handheld has a much higher popularity–will continue development.
March 2019 also lines up with when Sony will be ending the addition of PS3 and Vita games to the PS Plus Instant Games Collection. We’ve talked about what these big shifts in March 2019 could portend for Sony and the Plus program. If there was ever a time to expect a big shift for the company, the beginning of fiscal year 2019 (April 2019) would be it.
[Source: Kotaku]
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When's the last time you played your Vita?
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Anthony Nash
The last time I played mine was when Hotline Miami 2 launched. I was having a great time and unfortunately, my cat knocked it off a shelf and the screen shattered. Haven’t fixed it and have never played a Vita ever since.
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Blake Grundman
For me it was just yesterday. Granted, I was only using it to remote play Destiny 2 and squeeze in a little extra Iron Banner time while the kids were napping, but that counts, right?
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Cameron Teague
A week ago. I have acually been using it a lot for Remote Play, as it's easier to play around the house with the Vita.
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Chandler Wood
Vita... Vita... I'd be lucky if I could even tell you where mine was, let alone the last time I played it. It has to have been well over a year ago now. I think it's in my bedside drawer. I ought to dust the ol' thing off and give it a whirl again, for old time's sake. -
Elizabeth Henges
I sold my Vita about a year ago, about when the vast majority of the games I liked for the system got PS4 ports. Last time I remember playing it was October 2016 when I lost power for half a week due to a hurricane. I still have a PSTV and my old memory stick somewhere, but I haven't had much reason to pull it out and set it up... eventually the visual novels I want make it to PS4 or Steam, and my backlog is big enough without adding another platform to play in the mix!
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Keri Honea
The last time I played my Vita was when I Platinumed Bad Apple Wars, which I got for review. That was September I think.
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Louis Edwards
I use my Vita quite often for remote play. The wife recently had surgery and was stuck at home with me for 6 weeks, so in order to not drive her crazy with all of the games I've played, I'd let her watch TV while I sat with her on the couch and played on the Vita. Happy wife, happy life.
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Michael Briers
It's been a long time — too long, perhaps. Severed was the last time I picked up a Vita game at launch, and it's going on 12 months since I even turned the damn thing on. *Cue sad music*
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Paulmichael Contreras
Earlier today, actually. I'm slowly replaying Gravity Rush, which I never finished. I'll also probably switch back to TowerFall Ascension just for kicks. -
Tyler Treese
Just a few days ago for me since I've been working my way through VA-11 HALL-A. Prior to that though, I can't remember the last time I played a non-review title on it. If I'm playing a handheld device, it's probably my Switch or 3DS. Vita just doesn't have a good place in my rotation anymore. -
Zarmena Khan
I honestly don't remember. I think over two years ago.
