It appears like Sony lost interest in handheld gaming.

PSV performed quite badly in Japan in the past few weeks, like only under 9k units per week. Software sales are also not at a sustainable level anymore. It´s already in its last legs. It´s already losing ground within the PS ecosystem against PS4, against a console in Japan. It won´t get any better with the launch of the Nintendo Switch, that will beat the advantage of having the best handheld console graphics from the get go.

If the Switch can be half the system the Vita is I'll definitely happily buy one.

The Switch seems to be a good successor for the Vita, if they don't fuck up weight and battery life.

I think Vita won't last another year. 2016 was not very good already except for Dragon Quest Builders that gave it a nice push in Japan, but I don't think something like that will happen again.

Also, it's getting old already. The big handheld games will come to Switch next year, so... Yeah, there's not a chance in my opinion.

They haven't figured out how to sell their handhelds, or phones.

A PSPhone would just mean Sony hate having money.

Sony has currently its hands full with supporting 2 systems: PS4 and PSVR.

But after "upscaling" the PS4 hardware with the PS4 Pro option, it could be possible that they will offer a "downscaled" PS4 handheld, when the time is right (compatible with all digital PS4 games, so no need for extra versions of these games and a full library on the go).

Until then, they should keep the Vita in stock of the retailers... that doesn't cost them anything and the Vita is still popular for third party developers.

There are more Xperia phones sold than Vitas but unlike the Vita Sony isnt getting any money if people buy things from Google Play store

A thread about Switch selling like Vita already?

My, the doom is starting early with this one.

Hardware sales are worrying, but your point about software sales is exaggerated.  

Vita games which have outsold their PS4 counterparts this year:

- Dragon Quest Builders (300k)
- Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball (170k)
- Attack on Titan (110k)
- Gundam Breaker 3 (105k)
- Hatsune Miku Project Diva X (90k)
- Toukiden 2 (90k)
- Utawarerumono 3 (55k)
- Summon Night 6 (50k)

Hardware sales may be falling, but software sales are a long way from being "not at a sustainable level anymore".  All of these games are relying on the Vita SKU to pull up the total sales of the title - in most cases Vita version is vastly outselling the others.

It's going to be at least a couple of years until software sales are at a level where it's no longer worth the investment; it's certainly not the case when the Vita version is the best selling version.

Next up - World of Final Fantasy & Sword Art Online.