gaming PS Vita not for sale in my country anymore.... almost

[Limeblossom 482]

It seems PS Vita's future in my country is almost coming to an end. Most retailers didn't brought in new ones and even on the Dutch webstores they're almost gone. The only version they have is the first edition with a 400 euro price tag.

[Unikitty 1,212]

And nothing of value was lost. :^)

[Scrubbed user 3,417]

I still have my Vita. I did like playing games on it, but I got bored of it very quickly since the game library was kinda small, and I didn't get very games for it. Would be kinda cool if I could hack it to run emulators or something.

[Megas 28,133]

Seems like they're gonna stop selling it everywhere but Japan soon, since that's the only place where it actually sells nowadays. Really sucks that it didn't do better I absolutely love the Vita, especially since I'm a big JRPG nut

Edited April 14, 2016 by Megas

[Limeblossom 482]

Seems like they're gonna stop selling it everywhere but Japan soon, since that's the only place where it actually sells nowadays. Really sucks that it didn't do better I absolutely love the Vita, especially since I'm a big JRPG nut

The PS Vita still has the position of a king when it comes to JRPG.

 

But competing with games like Pokémon was a bit difficult for the PS Vita. A Spanish studio made the Invizimals games, which all felt flat on their faces due to their lack of interesting combat modes and treating it's players like brain dead babies.

 

Luckily there's a game based on a popular anime brand in Japan that did really good; Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth. The release was only in Japan, but Bandai decided to give the west a chance after a fan petition and the amount of dedication for the series. And the game did sold really good, giving the Vita extra fuel to stay alive.

 

P.S. When planning to watch a Digimon season, please watch the subbed version.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

Sony really screwed this up entirely. I had a Vita back in 2012, I actually really liked the system overall. The UI was terrible, but it had a lot of functionality. The games at the time were pretty cool and the ability to play PSP games and PS1 games on it was pretty awesome, but the system just had no momentum. I remember when Sony said they had tons of devs lined up to make games for the Vita and that apparently didn't go anywhere.

 

It is a shame that a potentially great system was squandered. 

[Discordian 6,021]

I really wish the Vita hadn't bombed like it did. There's tons of great games on it but those games tend to be very niche so only a certain group of people are gonna be into it.

 

The Vita is by far one of my favorite systems from this generation so far. Maybe even the best. With games like Soul Sacrifice, Demon Gaze and Gravity Rush it just blows me away at every turn.

[Guest]

Considering the Vita has been struggling this isn't a surprise, however this is a sign that if you think the Vita will have a future as an emulation console you may want to buy one now.

[Vertigo_95 572]

I truthfully had no idea what I was thinking when I bought my Vita. My brother had one so I had to get one as well. I enjoyed it when I got it, but it died down as of recently. The lack of support from Sony with 1st party titles is what did it to me, and I'm not so big on JRPGs. I'm now putting it to use with the PS4 Remote Play, more than I have in the past. I still consider it to be a good thing that I got it the moment the price dropped, and not at full price.

[Troblems 5,622]

I love my Vita. I play it constantly. I adore JRPGs, so it makes sense I have one, but I love the system. There's regular flash sales, so I rarely pay full price for games, and I've played a lot of games that I would have otherwise not even heard of because of it. I think it's a great system, and it's unfortunate that it was so poorly marketed and distributed.

[superdogz1999 551]

The reason the Vita is being discontinued was because of two major factors, Nintendo's 2DS/3DS and gaming on smartphones/tablets.

You see these days, consumers really want something touchscreen and the Vita does not have a touchscreen.

[AlbaTross 1,586]

I personally love my Vita as a fan of Japanese and indie games, which is where the system really shines. It's a shame that it hasn't done as well as it ought to have. Maybe better first party support would have helped.

Luckily there's a game based on a popular anime brand in Japan that did really good; Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth. The release was only in Japan, but Bandai decided to give the west a chance after a fan petition and the amount of dedication for the series. And the game did sold really good, giving the Vita extra fuel to stay alive?

Actually, that game was released here. I have a digital copy. It's a really solid game. I'm kind of surprised it wasn't dubbed, but at least we got the game.

You see these days, consumers really want something touchscreen and the Vita does not have a touchscreen.

Actually, it does. It's actually mandatory to use the touch screen to navigate the main menu. Most games don't take advantage of it though.

[Discordian 6,021]

I personally love my Vita as a fan of Japanese and indie games, which is where the system really shines. It's a shame that it hasn't done as well as it ought to have. Maybe better first party support would have helped.Actually, that game was released here. I have a digital copy. It's a really solid game. I'm kind of surprised it wasn't dubbed, but at least we got the game. Actually, it does. It's actually mandatory to use the touch screen to navigate the main menu. Most games don't take advantage of it though.

O_o I've never had to use the touchscreen on my Vita except when a game specifically told me so. The only game that ever required it for even a few minutes was Gravity Rush. I use the d-pad to move through the Vita's menus just fine.

[AlbaTross 1,586]

O_o I've never had to use the touchscreen on my Vita except when a game specifically told me so. The only game that ever required it for even a few minutes was Gravity Rush. I use the d-pad to move through the Vita's menus just fine.

Really? I've never tried using the d-pad for the menu. I had no idea that even worked. But yeah, it's a really underused feature.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,164]

I'll be honest; if it wasn't for the Vita I would never have had the chance to play the original Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. Such a fantastic game. <3

 

In the end the system had a load of potential, but it was never marketed in the way it should've been, and thanks to those proprietary memory cards the cost was a bit much. Heck; I only got my Vita thanks to a special on Amazon.

[Guest]

Honestly, I saw the Vita's failure a mile away. It failed for many reasons, while on paper the Vita seemed like a good idea as a little handheld with the power to produce almost PS3 level graphics, it was almost a dream come true, but when it came to actual execution the system flopped for many reasons:

 

1. Too expensive for consumers. Priced almost twice as high as the 3DS on launch, no internal memory so requiring the purchase of an expensive proprietary memory card increased the price before the system could even do anything out of the box. To top this off, the system's games were relatively expensive for handheld games.
2. Uneeded features that just didn't work properly. 3G support was by far the dumbest idea the Vita could have brought to the table. Almost less than a year later, 4G became the big thing and being AT&T exclusive only hurt the amount of 3G models they sold. To add salt to the wound most people didn't bother getting a data plan for it to begin with due to the device being super limited.
3. Smartphones quickly obsoleted most of the PS Vita's extra features as they became more powerful and versatile.
4. Closed locked down design made previous PSP owners less interested in the system. With a proprietary transfer software, USB, and locked down OS with no ability to design even themes turned the modding community of the PSP off and made them look the other way on the Vita.
5. Pick up and play just doesn't work as well on console sized games. Making the system not work so well as a handheld.
6. Pathetic 3 hour battery life hurt its usefulness as a handheld as well.
7. The system's power and graphic expectation created a unique problem for developers. It meant that handheld games needed bigger budgets to meet the standards of what people expected of the handheld so you were looking at console budget games on a handheld so the risk of making games was higher so they had to up the price of Vita games over their 3DS rivals. When that happened on top of the expensive price of the unit it discouraged people from buying it and when less people owned it, it makes the risk of making games for it less appealing with a tiny install base. The never ending catch-22 problem.
8. And finally you throw in very poor quality console ports and you are left with full price for an inferior version such as the infamous Borderlands 2 which only supported 2 player co-op and was watered down significantly.

I mean there are probably a dozen more reasons I can think of as to why the Vita is failing, but the truth really is that as much as many don't like to admit it, the Vita was a better idea on paper than in execution. I remember being excited for it when it came out but ultimately decided not to get it when it came out.

 

To be honest though, the age of dedicated handhelds may be coming to an end soon anyways, and smartphones definitely harmed the Vita. Similar to the PSP which while did not flop, only sold a fraction of the original DS sales. The PSP's extra features like music and video playback quickly because useless when smartphones arrived on the scene. The Vita is meeting a similar fate for some similar reasons.

 

I am hoping though that when Sony stops updating the system it gets jailbroken and people find ways to mod it like they did with the PSP.

[Limeblossom 482]

Actually, that game was released here. I have a digital copy. It's a really solid game. I'm kind of surprised it wasn't dubbed, but at least we got the game.

It's awesome they released the original version, not the dubbed stuff. I mean, look at the dubbed anime we got in the Netherlands. It made me avoid watching until the original version was online.

 

@@Key SharkzYes, there are some things with the Vita that are obviously not helping the handheld. Look at the touch pad in the back. An unnecessary gimmick . We could've done the Vita far better.

Edited April 29, 2016 by Limeblossom

[AlbaTross 1,586]

It's awesome they released the original version, not the dubbed stuff. I mean, look at the dubbed anime we got in the Netherlands. It made me avoid watching until the original version was online.

 

@@Key SharkzYes, there are some things with the Vita that are obviously not helping the handheld. Look at the touch pad in the back. An unnecessary gimmick . We could've done the Vita far better.

I'm personally pro choice when it comes to dubs and subs, and am cool with the Japanese audio, but I know people who won't touch a game that doesn't have a dub. Also, while it makes sense for indie studios to release games without dubs, it makes zero sense for Namco Bandai. Plus it's flipping Digimon. That said, I'm glad we got the game at least. Namco Bandai just kind of shot down any chance of it being as mainstream as it ought to be though, which is a shame as it really is good.

 

The touch pad in the back isn't a damaging feature as it's not even noticeable, and easily forgotten. If we had games that actually used it, maybe it would be handy to have, but as it stands, it's even more useless than the microphone on Nintendo's handhelds. Doesn't the Vita also have sixaxis type motion control? I suppose not using features isn't the end of the world. The Dualshock 4's touchpad is never used and no one complains about that. What the system needs is more mainstream games. It's a great Otaku system, and has decent indie support, but it doesn't have as much appeal as the 3DS.

[Guest]

 

 

The touch pad in the back isn't a damaging feature as it's not even noticeable, and easily forgotten. If we had games that actually used it, maybe it would be handy to have, but as it stands, it's even more useless than the microphone on Nintendo's handhelds.

 

Problem is that it increases the cost of the system for a feature that isn't being used, so it lowers the value of the console.