Sony may have shifted focus from the PS Vita quicker than fans would have liked, but they still hold the belief that this handheld represented a significant leap in the evolution of portable gaming. On their website, celebrating three decades of PlayStation, Sony highlighted their aim to deliver “console-quality” gaming in a compact device.
Let’s delve deeper into PS Vita’s journey. Throughout the years, many have debated the reasons behind its failure. The Vita was arguably ahead of its time, and Sony claims it introduced “revolutionary new features” to handheld gaming, supported by a solid and varied launch lineup.
Sony emphasized the ambition behind the Vita: “Bringing a true console experience into gamers’ pockets worldwide meant innovating on a smaller scale, from how players connected with game worlds to creating an integrated ecosystem with home PlayStation consoles.”
Curiously absent from their narrative is the number of PS Vita units sold over its lifetime—a piece of data that Sony has never openly shared. In contrast, they proudly cite the PSP’s impressive sales, which surpassed 80 million units, also mentioned on the same page.
Although unofficial estimates suggest PS Vita sales hover around 15-16 million units, this figure partly explains Sony’s pause in pursuing the handheld market. However, there’s optimism in the air with reports from reliable sources suggesting Sony might be gearing up for a comeback in portable gaming, buoyed by the enthusiastic response to their PS Portal.
