If the PSvita is sonys last handheld, how long do you think will it survive?

[MikeRox]

bunchanumbers said:

sc94597 said:

There is a possibility, but it's relatively small.

1. The Vita is comparable to three year old phones in terms of hardware. You can find phones with Vita level hardware for $70. That is how quickly the mobile/handheld hardware is changing.

2. Nintendo is planning a unified platform with "cross-platform" games. If they make their next handheld too weak, then this would be difficult to develop and plan for, assuming their console form-factor is at least a little bit more powerful than the Wii U (and we should assume it is a little bit more powerful than the PS4/XBO at the least.) 

Too be fair we don't even know what Nintendo is doing and whether or not it will be a unified platform. Everything is speculation so far.

OT I'm thinking that Vita will struggle until 2018 where it will finally die out and Sony claims that Vita is a success.

When they confirm that VGC undertracked Vita by 65m units and the Vita actually beat the 3DS?

Dreamcast had a run of 9 years of official 3rd party software releases. Though the close alignment with Arcade hardware facilitated that. There are a few factors involved. I mean digital distribution means the PSP s still getting the odd new release. It really depends as much on when Vita owners stop buying software as anything else.

Nintendo is pretty much irrelevant in that. With it's harmonisation with the PS4 architechture and the current boon in lower budget/less demanding software, if they don't release a successor, it makes sense to keep it about until then as long as the figures add up. Third parties will view it the same.

People keep saying as soon as NX hits, 3rd parties will switch over, but that's not necessarily the case. Sony might turn around and do like SEGA did and drop licensing fees etc. meaning the Vita would still be a more desirable platform to develop even though a more powerful alternative could be on the market. This forum constantly views everything as black and white, the probem is, the answer is usually grey.