Earlier this week, it was reported that Sony will stop manufacturing PlayStation Vita game cartridges in the future. However, a new story originating from Japanese site GameSpark indicates that not all territories will be following suit -- SIE Japan will continue to produce physical games for the handheld.
Translated by Kotaku is a short interview with a spokesperson from the company.
Q. What will happen with the [PS Vita] support within the country?
A.Manufacture of PS Vita [game] cards for within Japan will continue.
Q. Will manufacturing of the PS Vita hardware continue?
A. Since in Japan we want everyone who keeps playing to enjoy an extensive game line-up, at this present point we plan to continue our marketing activity.
It's unclear exactly what is meant by the second answer, but the overall message seems to be that it'll be business as usual for the Vita in Japan.
[source kotaku.com, via gamespark.jp]
Comments 17
Well that confirms it then. Everyone who loves the Vita in the West, pack it up and move to Japan. I hear the Geisha girls are lovely there.
I wonder what is Sony's next move when it comes to handhelds for Japan / Asia ? Once they finally decide to stop producing the Vita does that mean the Switch is king by default because they don't have a competing system ?
Makes sense.
@Spectra I'm cheap as it gets, yet I find prices of digital psvita games more than reasonable. Have you looked at the sales?
@oatmealwarrior92 Yes. They've established ForwardWorks to create mobile games, but I think otherwise they'll be exiting the handheld space once the time comes.
The thing is, before the Switch's success, I think everyone would have agreed there's no handheld market outside of Japan anyway. I still personally don't believe there is either; Switch is a hybrid for a reason.
@get2sammyb Then what does Sony do then for their home market when comes to gaming ? If there's no handheld to sell and the PS4 is doing amazing around the world but only selling a couple million in Japan you have to wonder what's their future strategy . Hybrid console ?
"It's unclear exactly what is meant by the second answer,"
It means the guy answering is either a corporate stooge or a politician. manufacturing <> marketing
As crazy as it is for me to think Sony would get out of the handheld gaming business when it does so well in their home nation of Japan I do think the saturation level of smartphones worldwide means every video game company is getting out of the handheld HARDWARE business but they are all getting into the handheld SOFTWARE business. I used to hate that about Level 5, shifting their focus from home consoles to Wonderflick, but now it just looks like they were ahead of the curve.
Even Nintneod, even though the Switch is a hybrid they treat it as a home console first in game design, is going to drop 3DS game support and treat mobile as their handheld division. Some of those games may also make it to the Switch, but at this point they wont' make a 4DS. Maybe a cheap MiniSwitch for kids, but that will play the same software.
And besides, probably good Sony drops handhelds, lets them focus on PSVR and PSVR 2 on PS5. They can still make mobile games if they want, but they should just focus on home and VR, that's enough. And if they ever do make another "portable" if will probably be a portable PSVR. And based on how convoluted PSVR was to set up, I'm guessing a portable PSVR might look like this.
@oatmealwarrior92 PlayStation is an American company now. They'll take what they can get in Japan and that's the end of it really.
@Spectra I see. That's a shame.
@Turismo4GT been living in Japan for 15 years. Can count number of geisha girls I've seen on one hand. Unfortunately.
I thought this was obvious, that memo was only applicable to the US and EU branches of Sony, and made no mention of Asia. I guess it wouldn't make for as good clickbait and sensationalism if people realised that part though.
Should note that PSVita games are generally region-free (haven't tried it myself tho).
@rjejr I think it probably means, that they will keep gauging the interest in the Playstation Vita's hardware and keep manufacturing it until the sales are just to low.
Nohing suspicious about that. It's just common sense IMO.
Ps vita refuses to die. Long live vita. I love the japanese games. But i guess they wont be getting english sub titles in the future.
@get2sammyb 3DS begs to differ.
@RainbowGazelle Does it? Sold half of its predecessor despite Nintendo throwing the kitchen sink at it.
There's a reason it's been succeeded by the Switch, because Nintendo also realised it needs to do something different in the portable market.
@get2sammyb There was still a market. Selling less doesn't mean there is now "no handheld market outside Japan".
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