Dr.Vita talks about Playstation Vita in 2016!
Yep it's again the time of the year when I want to talk a bit about Playstation Vita. ^^

Let's start with the upcoming games!

And at this point I really have to say that the 2016 line-up is looking amazing! It's even as good as 2013 imo (2013 was the best gaming year for the most PS Vita owners). And I am not talking about only Japan, I am talking about the Global Playstation Vita situation. Playstation Vita is getting a lot love this year!

And it begins with the release of Digimon: Cyber Sleuth which released early this year on Playstation Vita in the west. This game is being loved by the players and for a lot people it is the best Digimon game ever released! There has never been a Digimon nor a Pokemon which looked as good as Digimon: Cyber Sleuth. With this great Digimon game Playstation Vita has it's best start ever in a new year!

And the support in the west for the Playstation Vita will continue strong, we are getting a new Assassin's Creed game on Playstation Vita! The last Assassin's Creed game we saw was in 2012 and now in 2016 we are finally getting a new one. Assassin's Creed: Chronicles is coming to Playstation Vita and it is perfectly made for a handheld! It's a great decision from Ubisoft to release a new Assassin's Creed game on Playstation Vita. 

Not only Ubisoft is bringing a popular series to Playstation Vita, 2K Games will release Civilization Revolution 2 Plus on Playstation Vita and according to rumors (the same which leaked Assassin's Creed and Civilization Revolution 2 Plus announcements) we will see XCOM: Enemy Unknown Plus on Playstation Vita soon too. 2K Games are releasing 2 big games which will work great on Playstation Vita! 

Bandai Namco is finally localising both God Eater games in the west!!! God Eater: Resurrection and God Eater 2: Rage Burst are finally coming to Playstation Vita in 2016!!! People were waiting for the God Eater series to release in the west for 3 years!!! God Eater series is not the only thing from Bandai Namco, Bandai Namco loves the Playstation Vita and has a great support for Playstation Vita! We are getting the first real One Piece fighting game ever which is called One Piece: Burning Blood and it will be available on Playstation Vita!!! One Piece fans were waiting decades for this amazing game!!! And Bamco is bringing so much other big games to Playstation Vita in the west like Attack on Titan,  Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization or Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs Force. Playstation Vita will also see great support from Bandai Namco in Japan. Digimon: Next Order, Summon Night 6 and Gundam Breaker 3 are all going to release for Playstation Vita this year  in Japan and they have all a big chance to come to the west!

2016 will also be the ultimate Square Enix year for Playstation Vita! Playstation Vita will get 2 new Final Fantasy and 2 new Dragon Quest games this year!!! Final Fantasy Adventures and World of Final Fantasy are coming to Playstation Vita and the Dragon Quest franchise will debut on Playstation Vita with Dragon Quest: Builders and Dragon Quest: Heroes II this year!!! Japan will also see the comeback of the SaGa franchise, which will make a comeback on the Playstation Vita with SaGa: Scarlet Grace!!! And Square Enix is trying to bring some oldschool fans back with Project Setsuna, which has a lot similarities to the old Dragon Quest games!

There are so much developers working on Playstation Vita games right now and it would be hard to mention everyone, but one who deserves to be mentioned too is definitely Telltale Games. They have always supported the Playstation Vita with their great games and it will continue in 2016 as strong as never before! Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones and Minecraft: Story Mode will all make their way to the PS Vita in 2016.

And don't forget how much Indies (The Banner Saga, Salt & Sanctuary, Hitman Go...) or how much Japenese games (DanganRonpa V3, Toukiden 2, Zero Escpae 3, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, Ys 8, Rise of Mana...) or so much other great things will release on Playstation Vita this year (if you are interested in how many games will release this year one PS Vita, take a look at this thread, 200+ English games coming to PS Vita this year → http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1164968)!!!

And now let's talk about Playstation Vita sales!

People are complaining on this site that Playstation Vita hardware numbers are overtracked on VGChartz without knowing that so many games are still coming to Playstation Vita! Especially Europe numbers seems for a lot people unrealistic. But things like the 600k hardware sold in Spain announcement show that Playstation Vita is still a big underdog in some Europe countries. It is doing 6x more than Xbox One in Spain and is almost at PS4 level there. It's realistic to assume that numbers in countries like Portugal, Greece etc. should be similar to Spain numbers. Getting so many new releases this year will make Playstation Vita hardware sales continue to do good in these regions. All the other Playstation Vita games from the last years will have an impact too, Killzone Mercenary, LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, Borderlands 2 and so many other games on Playstation Vita still have good legs and will continue to do good this year.

Not only all the upcoming games are helping Playstation Vita sales, I think Minecraft: Playstation Vita Edition is a big reason for the good numbers in Europe too. Minecraft: Playstation Vita Edition sold more than every first party game on PS4 in Spain!!! This is very very impressive and the game will continue to do good because it has insane legs! Playstation Vita is getting really popular for children with these kind of games. And Sony is realizing it and are making exclusive Playstation Vita games which are perfectly made for children. Looney Tunes PS Vita bundle, Muppets and Invizimals PS Vita bundle or Phineas and Ferb PS Vita bundle are all great ways for parents to buy their kids a Playstation Vita.

Another thing which could be really relevant to Playstation Vita sales is Playstation Plus. Playstation Plus subscribers get every month 2 new Playstation Vita games for free. 2 new Playstation Vita games every month means 24 Playstation Vita games every year. And we all know if you want to play online on your PS4, you have to be a Playstation Plus subscriber. So you can imagine that after some time you will own a lot Playstation Vita games without even owning a Playstation Vita as a Playstation 4 owner. This makes a lot people who only owned a Playstation 4 buy a Playstation Vita too. And Playstation Vita supports a lot important features like Playstation Now or Remote Play which could be interesting for Playstation 4 owners too.

Always good news to hear that the Vita is doing well. Would be nice if games like gta actually end up on the vita. Too bad that won't happen. The first things some kids ask me when they see my vita is if there's gta.... to which i reply there's remote play ^^. Then again Japanese games are my passion. Most of the games I see up there come from Japan though. Great news that they are localising these games though.

I agree.

Dragon Quest Builders, Dragon Quest Heroes 2, World of Final Fantasy and Project Setsuma are all great games.

Also Enemy Unknown? Wow that looks like a perfect match, but i'm sure the frame rate is going to be terrible.

2013 was the best year for Vita? Psh. It was a good year no doubt (Hotline Miami; Killzone; Tearaway) but 2014 stomped all over it.

We got a load of surprise localizations (DanganRonpa; Sword Art Online; Tales of Hearts) alongside the last of Sony support (Borderlands 2; God of War/Ratchet/Sly HD Collections; Soul Sacrifice Delta); some fantastic indies (Cel Damage; Rogue Legacy; Velocity 2X). Plus I live in Europe so we got the leftovers of 2013 localizations :P (Toukiden & Ys).

Seriously though, I don't think any year is going to come close to that one for me. 2012 was a bit of a bust (too many rushed western games); 2013 and 2015 were decent but both had issues (too many lulls in 2013; too many disappointments in 2015).

However, 2016 looks great. The big change this year is that Bandai Namco are continuing on with Vita support (which is nice) and Square Enix are finally releasing games on the console again, like you say. Coupled with some surprised western announcements (Asssassin's Creed; Civ Rev); the remaining indies we haven't got yet (Attractio; Banner Saga; Drift Stage) and the localization houses in overdrive (Aegis of Earth; Trillion; Yomawari) means I'll be playing the console a lot this year, at least.

The only part of your post I don't agree with is the sales part. I think Vita is pretty much done in the west after this year and I still think it's overtracked here. The thing is being pulled from shelves left right and centre, at least here in the UK and I believe it's the same in a couple of European countries. While it's not impossible to find, it's certainly difficult and that stunts its chances of selling to the volumes that VGC is suggesting.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles sale will prove that people want a new real Assassin's Creed game

Noice got one last year and am loving it looking forward to the new stuff, also WHY DID YOU LEAVE OUT ODIN SPHERE?!?

It looks like the Vita is getting some good games this year, though it really bums me out that the Digimon one is digi only. I would consider getting it sooner if they also released physical copies.

If there was one game I am excited for, it's DanganRonpa V3. Can't wait to play that game.

How could you forget the most important exclusive this year: Dead or Alive Extreme 3

YES! Vita has had quite the run for a "dead" console ;)

2016 looks to be a great year for the system, I still believe it will sell better than it did in past years.

Bamco,Sega,Marvelous,etc continue strong support and now even Square Enix has started supporting it. A lot of people wouldn't imagine it to survive into 2016, but here it is :D

Just bring us the games and I'll continue to support!

Don't forget Dead or Alive Extreme 3~  :D

i preordered so many games and bought so many games already in 2016. I love the Vita and its more alive than ever!

MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies, Digimon, Grand Kingdom, Ys, One Piece, Odins S., World of Final Fantasy, Assassins Creed Chronicles Legend of Heroes, EDF2, (Limited Run Games like Saturday Morning RPG), Aegis of Earth, Senran Kagura, Lego Games, Trillion, Stranger of Sword City,Atelier Games, aall the indie and PSN Games coming out!!!