PS Vita a 'Legacy' platform: Why do people act surprised?

Blogger Wololo goes over the Bombshell that was dropped earlier this week, and why the writing has been on the wall for the Vita, for quite some time.

[Nitrowolf2]

I don't think anyone was really surprised by it tbh. The vita is an underrated handheld imo that wasn't taken advantage of. It could have been something more than a ps4 companion device, but like many have always been saying it didn't have the lineup many had wished it had, especially considering some of its unique titles started getting ports to the ps4.

GRAVITY rush imo is one of the best handheld games I've played in a long time, and it's a shame that it most likely won't continue its life as just a ps handheld game

[crazychris4124]

Vita is an amazing piece of hardware and I wish more Western companies could have taken advantage of it but it doesnt help when you charge through the nose for memory cards. 32 Gb Class 4 micro sd cards are selling for around $15-$20. Whats so special about Vita cards that they go for $80 at most stores??? (on sale at Amazon for $62) Cmon Sony there is no justification for charging 3 to 4 times the price of regular micro sd cards.

[Dirtnapstor]

Sony should have stuck with the standard SD cards. This is one of the big factors as to why I've yet to invest in a Vita. Waiting for that $100 price point. Thanks to PS+ I have a nice library. One day it'll get used.

[WitWolfy]

The memory cards arent that bad. You're telling me you'd buy a $200 handheld no problem; but wont forkout up to $40 for a decent sized memory card??? If you cant afford the hobby GTFO!

I for one wished they made the wifi a tad stronger. THATS ABOUT IT!

[ShadowWolf712]

Vita memory cards were specially designed to make hacking the system incredibly hard. It's also why you needed the Content Manager to transfer files.

I'm not saying it wasn't still overpriced, but that's what made them unique.

[gamer7804]

I agree, the non-standard sd cards were a huge mistake, combine that with pstv and you need even more space.

Sure you can say it was designed against hacking the system, but do you know what is more dangerous than having home-brew/hacking on your handheld? - not having any first party or 3rd party western support...

[pivotplease]

Got the Vita and forked out 100 for a 64gb card. That's 300. The same price I played for the PSP like 12 years ago and that came with a 32MB card I believe. That and many of the system's killer apps have been free for me or at least really cheap because of sales. Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Killzone (bought this), Wipeout, Disgaea 3, Soul Sacrifice, Sly Cooper, etc have all been free now. Go and buy Persona 4, Tearaway, and LBP Vita then add in your already purchased Psone and PSP games and you have a massive library and are playing most of the worthwhile games too. All for well under 450 dollars.

[Sly-Lupin]

Yeah. Sony really dropped the ball on the Vita. It's pretty clear that, from the beginning, they had no real desire to make the platform a success.

What's sad(ly ironic) is that Nintendo's 3DS was in a very similar position to the Vita, but Nintendo made a concentrated effort to turn things around and make the 3DS a solid gaming platform by producing more games for me t.

Sony should have done the same. Instead, they tried to market it as a home console peripheral, to predictably dismal results.

[joeorc]

You an others do not freaking get it; it still seems you cannot get the real problem was perception of the platform on the whole was written off before the platform could really have a decent chance.

Pretty much ever freaking 1st party game Sony has released for the d@mn system was seen as Just a watered down port, of a PS3 or some Indie game that does not matter. Or I would just rather play that on a living room console anyway.

No amount of investing into the platform would have made that perception change because the consumer already made up its mind!

On the platform already after Nintendo priced dropped 3DS and than after that the price point was used as a direct indictment of the PSVita as being way to expensive.

Top it off that 3DS game development is in no way as much in man power or costs as it does to make a AAA game for the PSVita.

The fact with mobile smart phones from apple and Google android OS getting Games published for their platform like Rock stars GTA III, Vice city, San Andreas, but yet Nintendo 3DS does not have them or the PSVita. Do you really think Sony has not seen that?

[AudioEppa]

I'm not surprised, there was only one game I actually played on it (broken sword 5 ep1) but now it's my laying in bed look up illegal movies/tv shows and watch youtube device.

I love it lol

[Rimeskeem]

The Vita is such an amazing piece of tech. But some tech can only be truly great if it has enough support.

[dark-kyon]

uggh,more psvita doom topics,every year is the same.you guys don't get bored of write the same every year.

[rsnotz]

Doesn't sound like a doom topic to me. It's more like a fact. The vita has been in death throes for a while now. Sony saying or not saying it doesn't matter.

If the only topics that show up are doom topics it should tell you something about the state of the Vita. There just aren't any recent success stories to publish. If there were we'd see them wouldn't we?

[dark-kyon]

The system is dead for peoples what only care about westerns games,this is happening since two years ago,nothing at changed,but for people what care about indies,smaller games and japaneses games the system isn't dead.

https://docs.google.com/doc...

[rsnotz]

I've had my Vita for long enough to appreciate whats available and frankly I have more games for it than most other consoles I've owned in the past. However I'm not delusional to believe the vita is in fantastic shape. It's not. Its dead outside of Asia and Japan.

You can post links to games yet to release but if there's nothing in there to excite people who dont have a Vita those links do nothing for the Vita.

People like you and me know what the Vita has and what makes it special but there are also tons of people whose Vitas are gathering dust.

In effect its dead to everyone outside of a limited number of people that itself grows smaller as many are beginning to abandon the Vita.

[donwel]

Click-baiting mate, if they're not writing Vita doom articles they're writing Wii U doom articles and if either of those aren't bringing in enough clicks they bring out the SJW crap. Standard practice for modern games journos.
Though doom articles have been around for quite a while, let's not forget what they were like with the PS3 last gen, they were like vultures.

[x_RadicalAura_x]

“What Andy mentioned as ‘legacy platform’ was part of the write-off for PS Vita components for the first generation of the PS Vita, which is no longer available in the market,” a Sony spokesperson said in a statement provided to GamesBeat. “And he did not directly mean the current PS Vita and PS TV models, which are available in the market. Our portable business will be continued, and many users are now enjoying PlayStation 4 remote play features as well as original PS Vita game titles on PS Vita and PS TV.”

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2015...

N00b journalism at its finest. lol

[dark-kyon]

For them don't matter,they know what the only thing about vita what get traffic are the doom articles.

[blackblades]

Just about to say the same thing, they clarified it, looks like people didn't get the memo.

[ShadowWolf712]

So... a lot of faux outrage over nothing.

[Blues Cowboy]

Sorry, but the backpedalling was pretty suspect. "Legacy platform" is rarely used in that context.

[x_RadicalAura_x]

No, actually it's really not. Prime example are Apple products. E.g. A MacBook Pro from 2008 is considered "legacy/vintage" product revision according to Apple whereas brand new 2015 MacBook Pros are still available today. Differentiating the PS Vita 1000 vs. PS Vita 2000 and onward in the same manner would be no different.

[gamer7804]

I heard that response, and honestly, it has cover-up written all over it. If you look at the other things he was saying, he was speaking to the entire platform, which rules out that he was meaning only the first hardware version. Evenmoreso the fact that he mentioned pstv also being a legacy device. This was an investor's meeting, basically telling them not to worry they are going to focus on where they are successful and not on the platforms that aren't. (they weren't manufacturing the old vita model at that point anyways, so its impossible he was referring to the old vita)

Watch for e3, it will have very little to do with vita. (i love my vita too, i use it almost every night)

[ShadowWolf712]

They never have a lot to do with the Vita though. They give a rundown of a few titles coming, that's about it.

What do they possibly have to gain from "covering up" that a "dead" platform is dead? They're not gonna gain much by doing so.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Hey look the same article as b4 disparaging VITA and Sony, pretty redundant theme on n4g.

Why not articles praising how great VITA's gaming library is or mentioning how well Sony has connected with it's fans this gen or how Sony has done a better job reaching out to developers and procured more pc games, f2p's, indies, and exclusives.

VITA is amazing if u own one, the dual analog, great games, multitude of features, dual trophies and trophies on the go, remote play, cross-play, cross-buy, cross-save.

VITA has outsold Wii u, do we call Wii u a "legacy device"?

Ppl love to parrot others, do you grt satisfaction by saying "the VITA is dead" you same ppl have been saying it for two years now, doesn't make it true. I can do it to "xbone rip 2013-2013". Let's make fun of the wacky zune next and then the ouya, it'll make us feel better about ourselves right?

[andibandit]

"Hey look the same article as b4 disparaging VITA and Sony, pretty redundant theme on n4g. "

pretty much goes for any of the consoles/manufacturers.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Hoping against hope.

[killerluffy123]

be gone

[KryptoniteTail]

Sony clarified that suppirt for portable division will continue. What's interesting is that they didn't specify just Vita, which indicates that a successor is possible.

[feraldrgn]

People just don't read properly anymore.
He meant the Vita 1000 model (OLED) is a legacy platform,
he wasn't talking about the Vita 2000 (Slim).

[gamer7804]

(copied from above)

I heard that response, and honestly, it has cover-up written all over it. If you look at the other things he was saying, he was speaking to the entire platform, which rules out that he was meaning only the first hardware version. Evenmoreso the fact that he mentioned pstv also being a legacy device. This was an investor's meeting, basically telling them not to worry they are going to focus on where they are successful and not on the platforms that aren't. (they weren't manufacturing the old vita model at that point anyways, so its impossible he was referring to the old vita)

Watch for e3, it will have very little to do with vita. (i love my vita too, i use it almost every night)

[feraldrgn]

http://venturebeat.com/2015...

Rest easy, they clarified they only meant OLED.

Ps. There's an igavania kickstarter that finally got a Vita stretch goal.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

[Toiletsteak]

Announce a price drop and i will buy one for remote play.

[Jalva]

Nobody is surprised, they're just in denial like they have been for the last 2 years, anyone with a fully functioning brain could see that the Vita was dead a long time ago.

[Nonscpo]

Just because they don't put out games your interested, doesn't mean the same applies to everybody, some of us do enjoy indies and Japanese games.

[Viper7]

Whats with all the mumbo jumbo about Vita lately?
It's still doing relatively Well in Japan and it's games are frequently hitting the Top 10 in sale charts there.

Handheld gaming is a joke in the west compared to how big it's been in Japan. However both Nintendo and Sony are in danger of getting their systems overshadowed by Mobile platforms with mobage games like Puzzle and Dragons stealing the spotlight.

I am guessing that Vita will get a sharp spike in sales (Japan) when it reaches the more affordable 100-150 USD price point with few bigger releases (japanese).

Aside from few indies, western developers don't really care for 3DS/Vita. The best games for those platforms are almost exclusively from Japan.

[Nonscpo]

The article ends with a note claiming that hackers are the systems only salvation? What about all the localizers and indie devs bringing quality titles to the system? I swear when it comes to the Vita, the ride never ends!