When the PS3 and PlayStation Vita stores were handed a reprieve, now no longer closing this summer, the question on a lot of peoples’ minds was whether or not this would affect any of the games that had just been cancelled. Would we see those PS Vita games after all? It seems like the answer is no. Porting specialists Sometimes You have revealed the original Vita game submission deadline remains in place, meaning no new PS Vita games will be released after the summer.
The PS Vita store was originally due to close on August 27. When developers were notified of the closure, they were told they had until July 12 to submit games to the PlayStation Store. Those who hadn’t already gone through Sony’s QA processes only had until July 6 to submit the title, although Sony also added they couldn’t guarantee games would get a review slot in time. The last day any Vita games would be released is July 20. According to Sometimes You, these deadlines remain in place, so while players will still be able to buy Vita games into the future, no new Vita games will be released on the platform after July.
Sad news – it seems that the old deadlines for new digital releases on PSVita are still valid. That is, the store will continue to work for customers, but the games will stop coming out this summer? #VitaIsland #Vita2021
— Sometimes You ???️ (@Pinkerator) May 6, 2021
When the news of the store closures was officially announced by Sony, it emerged that many Vita developers hadn’t been told of the closure in advance. Several games were cancelled for the handheld as a result. For example, Lillymo’s future Vita titles were cancelled because “the store will be closed before our next game is ready.” These games are expected to remain cancelled now it has been confirmed the deadlines remain in place. Sometimes You also confirmed July 12 is also the last date that patches can be submitted to Sony for Vita games, so ongoing support for Vita titles will end too.
The writing had been on the wall for Sony’s latest handheld device. An anonymous former Sony employee has since confirmed the company even considered ending support for the handheld back in 2016/17 because the Vita was viewed as a failure, especially after it missed many sales targets.
[Source: Twitter]
