Manufacturing of the PS Vita will come to an end in Japan in 2019, according to Sony Interactive Entertainment senior vice president Hiroyuki Oda. Japan is the only remaining market where the PS Vita is still being sold, but this will come to an end after seven years since it’s release. For the moment, Sony has no plans of releasing a successor.
Sony has announced that it is to end physical production of PS Vita games, according to Kotaku. The move means physical game cards will eventually stop, but online downloads via the PlayStation Store will continue. Sony also recently announced that PS Vita game would no longer be offered as part of PlayStation Plus from March 2019.
Sony continues to keep the PS Vita alive and kicking, at least in Japan. Today, Sony announced two new colours in the PS Vita range, that will be available from 1st December 2016. The two new colours are Silver and Metallic Red, and will retain for ¥18,980 in Japan (approx. £140). The trailer and photos of the two new colours can be found below.
Drinkbox has announced a collection of games for the PS Vita, and will be launching in North America and Europe this week. The Drinkbox Vita Collection launches on 13th July 2016, and features three games, including Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack and Guacamelee!. Pricing for the collection hasn’t been revealed yet.
The Twitch App is finally available to download for the PlayStation Vita in the UK and Europe, allowing people to watch live streams and recorded content on the handheld console. The app is compatible with both the PS Vita and PlayStation TV, and is 16.7 MB in size. Naturally, gamers won’t be able to stream their gameplay from the PS Vita to twitch using the app, as the PS Vita doesn’t support live streaming like the PS4.
Sony has effectively sealed the fate of the PS Vita going forward after announcing that it is stopping development of first-party titles to focus on the PS4. SCE Senior VP Masayasu Ito revealed that there are no first-party titles in development, and since third parties are still developing for the PS Vita, Sony will be focusing on the PS4 instead.
While the PS Vita is a great portable console, it hasn’t had much success around the world. In the four years that it’s been available, it’s faced heavy competition from the Nintendo 3DS, and gaming on portable devices such as mobile phones. In fact, Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida says that because of the latter, a successor to the PS Vita is unlikely at the moment.
Sony have announced a new PS Vita model at their pre-TGS press conference this morning, which has the same internals as the current PS Vita model, but has received a cosmetic make over, and will be available in six colours. The new model, called PCH-2000, is 20% thinner and 15% lighter and will be available in lime green, light blue, pink, white, beige and black.
