PlayStation veteran explains why PS Vita portable console failed

Former president of PlayStation internal studios and ex-head of PlayStation Indies Shuhei Yoshida shared his opinion on the reasons for the failure of the PS Vita portable console in the Kinda Funny Games podcast. In the conversation, he highlighted several key factors that influenced weak sales and the rapid end of the life of the device.

Yoshida believes that the main reason for the failure was the lack of production resources at Sony. According to him, the company could not simultaneously support the development of games for PS Vita and PS4, as a result of which the choice was made in favor of the latter, more successful console.

In addition, he noted the problematic format of memory cards, which turned out to be too expensive and inconvenient for users. Another drawback was the touchscreen on the back panel, which, according to Yoshida, did not justify itself and only increased the cost of the device.

The former PlayStation manager also mentioned the expensive OLED screen and video output, which was only available in the developer version, but was removed in the final model in order to save money.

The PS Vita was released in Japan in December 2011, and its support was officially discontinued in the spring of 2019. Over the entire period, about 10-15 million units of the console were sold.