Soundwave on 04 January 2016
Vita didn't fail. It just got hit by the smartphone tsunami first because of demographics. The first adopters to smartphones/tablets were older teenagers and adults. That was the core audience that drove the PSP, which was also $250 at launch and went on to sell 80 million units.
But smartphones ate away that audience first, it was already happening to the PSP, which is why Sony desperately made commercials like this where you can just see the frustration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqgEify4DOU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T5_wDrk8SY
Sony knew they were fucked with the Vita even before it came out, the PSP was just so successful in Japan because of Monster Hunter that they had to release a successor.
