Are Standalone Portable Game Systems Dead? Yep.

Recently, reports that the Vita would be Sony’s last portable gaming console began to flood news outlets. This news is fairly major, as even though the Vita hasn’t sold well as they likely intended, it hasn’t been deplorable in the grand scheme of things either. The Vita is in the top 20 all-time console sales, even beating some fairly big name players. Above that, Sony has also sustained the second longest handheld market to Nintendo, going back well into PS2 days with their original handheld – the PSP, which evolved into the PSP GO, and eventually was shelved for the current Vita. The PSP did okay in it’s own regard, however certainly underwhelms when compared to what the Vita brought to the market… But even with that; the numbers tell us a trend that isn’t awesome for non-smartphone hand held lovers.

[fsdgf]

I don't think handhelds are dying off at all. They're not pulling DS or Gameboy numbers, but they're selling well and getting plenty of titles, especially from Japan

[HD8bit]

Hey!
No doubt handheld numbers for Nintendo are still doing well, especially in some parts of the world.
I simply assessed, in my opinion, the trend is a downward one.
I love healthy debate though - and for what it is worth, I would prefer for them to stay around. I just firmly believe we may be at the end of their time, as we know it :(

Thanks for the reply and input :)

- Matt@HD8bit

[Sly-Lupin]

I want to agree, but I'm not sure I can.

N4G, and most gaming communities on the Internet, are largely populated by "adult" gamers... so we often forget that kids are, or should be, a major target demographic.

What's happening is that the new generations of gamers simply aren't going out of their way to buy handhelds. Kids these days already have phones... it's easy to play games on a device they already own... so there's less incentive to buy a dedicated handheld platform.

This is why the handheld console market is so reliant on the "killer app" model. The younger gamers who primarily play games on their phones or tablets will get handheld platforms exclusively for titles like Pokemon or Monster Hunter... but, as we've seen time and time again, the "killer app" model simply is not sustainable.

If handheld gaming is to continue to be "a thing," serious effort needs to be put into appealing to younger demographics. A lot of gamers here like to balk at the notion that handheld and mobile games are in direct competition, because, for us, they aren't... but for the new generations of gamers, they very much are.

[bennj]

he's not even talking about 3DS in an article about handheld consoles... ok...

[HD8bit]

Hey there,
Thanks for the feedback. When I was referring to "DS" in the article, I was referring to the DS as a platform (this including the 3DS).

I hope that helps clarify!

Have a great day!

- Matt@HD8bit

[recto85]

100%bs4cilcks The only reason for low sales is that both 3ds and vita are old system and most ppl who are interested in portables already bought them. End of story, you already have big library of great games on both systems and probably at least a year (or two IMHO) of upcoming new titles.

[Nonscpo]

AGREED! by this point in their lifecycle most people that wanted one have already bought one.

[InahimeHondaSengoku]

Nice clickbait sir! Hope you do not bring the bad side of the debacle... :)

[DonBugen]

Number of times the word "Vita" was mentioned: 15
Number of times the word "DS" was mentioned: 3

I'm sorry, guys. The Vita really was an awesome system, and Sony had a ton of great games in their run. But the discontinuation of the Vita doesn't mean that portable systems are dead. The Vita only sold about four million consoles in its lifetime. The 3DS, in comparison, has sold 53 million.

What does that mean, in comparison?

In it's lifetime, the Super Nintendo sold 49 million.
The Sega Genesis only sold 40 million.
The original XBox just sold 24 million. GameCube was 21.

Whereas Vita's four million units makes it slightly more popular than the N-Gage. It's the WonderSwan of this generation.

53 million units is respectable. And Nintendo's few DeNA games isn't a 'transition' - it's diversifying. It would be stupid otherwise to be bringing in a partner to do these games rather than to just make them in-house.

The death of the Vita is -not- a sign of the handheld market dying. What we're seeing is reminiscent of when PlayStation and the N64 together put Sega's Dreamcast (only 10M, compared to 102 and 32, respectively) out of business. Two larger competitors are taking up much of the market, and the third is dropping out.

But maybe it's easier to blame the failing of your favorite system on "the market" rather than a failing of the system or audience.

[Kal-V3]

The Vita sold 4 million units, in JAPAN alone. It about 10 world wide at this point. Cant confirm but i do know it was at over 8 million about a year ago.

We get it, you don't like the Vita, but a lot of us still play it regularly and still buy games to this day and into the future.

Its not 3ds numbers but you comparing the Vita to the NGage is just...how do i do this nicely...not correct.

[DonBugen]

Ah, I'm sorry - you're correct. In fact, they just crested 12M recently, if my source is accurate.

Still, that does put them in the Dreamcast / Game Gear range. Not a very comfortable area to be in.

Look, I actually do like the Vita. It's a cool little system, has a lot of power, and has a lot of really great games on it. It doesn't fail because of anything *wrong* with the system. It fails because of who it's sold to.

Its main demographic is the same as the main targeted demographic of the XBox and PlayStation - teen to twentysomething males who have a lot of time on their hands. These people are far more likely to spend their time and money on a console title, and the Vita has a much more expensive price for entry, especially when you consider the cost of memory. Nintendo
s 2DS is far cheaper, and for most people, the cell phone is the cheapest of all - free, as a cell phone is considered a necessity.

Sly-Lupin makes a good point about kids. Kids really do determine the strength and success of a handheld, and most of the Vita's strongest games are aiming at least at the 'teen' range - though generally, the price makes it prohibitive for all except for those who earn their own income.

[Kal-V3]

It's all good, Don. :)

[Kal-V3]

I love handhelds. love playing them on the go. :P

[JevonDee]

I personally hate playing games on my phone. Touch screen just doesn't feel right and blue tooth controllers have too much lag/delay. Plus ads ads everywhere! Maybe I'm just a cranky old man who can't get with the times. But I do love my psp.

[snoopgg]

I never bought a vita, cause the support just wasn't there for the games I like to play. I would rather play them on the ps3 or ps4. I did buy a ps3 and had alot of games for that handheld. The support was alot better on the psp in my opinion.

[Davi123]

Nope! One of the biggest mistakes of Sony, was create a portable console in mind for "apps". Apps is for a smartphone. Like the F2P games. If Sony, just had keep the work, they had done with the PSP, the results would be completely different!

[Shinobi100]

I'll kill a m***** f***** who even suggests such a thing. Says Duke Nukem. #HandheldsForLife