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Sony Discontinues PlayStation Vita: Report

Sony Discontinues PlayStation Vita: Report

By Rishi Alwani | Updated: 14 April 2016 18:03 IST

While Sony has seen remarkable success with the PS4, it hasn't been as successful with its second handheld effort, the PS Vita. So much so that in its financial announcements for 2016, it clubbed the struggling portable console along with the PS3 as a legacy platform and will not be including the PS Vita in its sales forecasts.

Now the company might be stopping production and shipments of the PS Vita altogether. Reports suggest that Sony has told retailers that the handheld is at its end in markets such as The Netherlands.

Bol.com, one of the biggest online retailers in the Netherlands, has all of two units left in stock. Speaking to Dutch website Tweakers (you can check out the English translation here), it claimed that the PS Vita is a console that's been marked as end-of-life. What this means is, you can expect support for the platform to end soon aside from being unavailable for purchase. Officially though, Sony Benelux refused to comment.

As for other regions, quantities have been small to begin with. According to sources at retail here in India, Sony's last shipment of the PS Vita was almost a year ago.

"They brought in around 1,500 last year and nothing else," a game store owner told Gadgets 360. "It might not be end-of-life but it's not selling much anyway."

This should come as no surprise considering that local retail interest to the PS Vita has been tepid at best. The high price doesn't help either.

"The installed base is much smaller compared to any other console," said the erstwhile PlayStation India head Atindriya Bose in an interview with Gadgets 360 last year. "While it's nice to say it's a handheld console, it strikes the price point of the PS3, so which one should you have between the two?"

Sony itself has stopped making games for the PS Vita, preferring to focus on third-party successes like Minecraft and getting indie games onto the platform.

We've reached out to Sony India for comment and will update this story if we hear anything from the company.

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