If a product fails its always the responsibility of the owner. At the same time, its extremely naive to think that Mobile gaming didn't play a significant role. The reason most people don't understand is because they ignore the fact that Sony and Nintendo are not the same company, they cannot do the same things, and in a way they are polar opposites.
Using Nintendo as example doesn't work for three reasons.
1) Sony is not Nintendo
2) Nintendo has lead the handheld market since its inception, if anyone is going to survive a hostile environment, its the guy whose been in first place forever.
3) Even the 3DS took a hit, just cause it sold 50 million, doesn't mean it didn't take a big hit.
Notice how the 3DS's highest peak is smaller than the lowest peak of the NDS, and It follows right afterward. There is the argument of normalization, but it the Vita went through the exact same phenomena. Not to mention its already in decline after a year, as opposed to the NDS which didn't maximally peak until year 5.
The memory cards, while obsene, make perfect sense when you consider the fact that the PSP was an outright failure for Sony as well.
Sony is not Nintendo. Sony makes money from software, Nintendo makes it from hardware. Guess which one you can pirate. Guess which company's handheld had the greatest piracy rate of any console.
If Sony's Vita was even a greater hardware loss then the PSP, then having piracy wasn't an option. Even if Sony was as fisically safe as Nintendo.
In this day and age, with the Internet, ignorance is a choice! And they're still choosing Ignorance! - Dr. Filthy Frank
