So is the PS Vita dead now?

[DANGEROUS-3]

Sony's Europe boss said they won't be publishing any more first party big budget games for it after only 2 years of life... wtf. The PSP had a 5-7 year lifespan until the vita showed up, and now Sony are starting to abandon it?

I was going to buy one, but do you reckon it's still worth it?
Do you think it will price drop in the near future?
Do you think this is an indicator of Sony possibly moving fwd with a successor? (I get the feeling this is a no)
Do you think there will be a sequel to Tearaway at any point, for example on PS4?

[nakamura]

There are certainly more than enough games to make a purchase worthy. Lots of ports yes but some cool original games and great for downloading PSP games.
At the right price, yes.

[Colin]

It's not dead, but in my opinion it's on life support. Such a shame as I think it's the best handheld I've ever owned. It had the potential, but it just didn't seem to get the attention or quite as many brilliant titles as it deserved. (Though there are a pile of fantastic games) I can't see Sony entering the handheld market again after this one.

[cutmymilk]

Just consider the 2 plus games every month new games!!

[kryss]

Personally I think the release of Farming Simulator 14 at the end of the month will revive it.
Although BestBuy have the english language release of Abiba'STrip 2 for $50 and they're not fooling anyone. Freedom Wars is $30 on Amazon, which is a proper nice price and hopefully the game is worth it.

Point of interest: the next SRW game is not coming to Vita even though the previous two were dual Vita/PS3 releases. So BandaiNamco are not so confident about it in Japan, although Tales of Hearts R is being localised...I don't get the logic.

[Dogg Thang]

There are certainly more than enough games to make a purchase worthy.

Completely agree with this. With a large amount of excellent Vita games (more than people seem to give it credit for), I think it's definitely a system worth having. It has a bunch of its own great games and a load of games that weren't portable before and now are thanks to the Vita. Great indie titles like Fez, Retro City Rampage and Hotline Miami too. Add PSP and PS1 games to the mix and it's an easy purchase to justify.

But to answer the original question, yes, I think it's dead or as good as.

[Kit]

Does the vita take cartridges or is it all done via the online store?

I can't even think of a single vita game I know of tbh.

[DeathAdder]

Anyone have a link to this story? I haven't seen it anywhere else except for a doubtful thread by strider on rllmuk.

[gordon]

Does the vita take cartridges or is it all done via the online store?

Both - you can play games in digital format or buy boxed versions, whichever you prefer. I've gone for a mixture: digital for the small, independent titles and the PS+ freebies, and boxed copies for everything else. I'd go digital-only, but Sony's memory cards are relatively expensive.

It's well worth buying a Vita, in my opinion. I can think of two dozen excellent games off the top of my head, plus a back catalogue of minis, PSP and emulated PSOne stuff; and if you're a PS+ subscriber, you get to try out (and keep) full games you might have thought twice about buying. Plus, if Sony really are giving up on the Vita, prices will start to fall as retailers clear out their old stock.

[fuse]

You can use it to play Spelunky on the tube, which makes it as good as immortal in my eyes.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Sony should've quit the handheld console business while they were (marginally) ahead with the PSP.

[nakamura]

Leave it to Nintendo for dedicated gaming portable hardware.

[Dogg Thang]

See I feel the opposite. The PSP was great and sold in huge numbers. Giving up because it didn't sell as much as the DS would be a world where every industry just has a single player. It is possible to be number two and be commercially viable. The Vita is an awesome machine and some games on it make any other handheld look crude by comparison. It could have been a strong contender. But it just seems like Sony didn't commit. Far from quitting, I think they should have pushed much harder to sell and to develop for their handhelds.

[gambit6613]

I think in terms of new games coming out for Vita it may be considered a dead format but Sony are pushing the Vita as much more of a companion system for the PS4 for the off-tv feature. Plus as a handheld for PSone and PSP games, its perfect for that. I do personally think its a handheld with a pretty decent catalogue of games.

Im still interested in purchasing one again but just waiting for a good deal to come round.

[Nu-Eclipse]

The PSP was great and sold in huge numbers.

No doubting the tech and the sales figures, but iirc, those sales figures could've been even better and Sony went an awfully long time before the PSP made any type of profit - it was being sold at a loss for ages, no? And of course, the less said about the disaster that was UMD the better.

Nope, Sony should've bowed out of the handheld game after the PSP imho.