I can see where Sony is coming from but why is Nintendo able to still succeed? Maybe the Vita would never do as well as the PSP or DS but is half as good too much to expect? The 3DS shows there's still an audience for dedicated portable gaming.

"has negatively impacted the sales potential for dedicated gaming devices like the PlayStation Vita, Sony has said."

If that was true, 3ds wouldn't be selling.

im guessing after this mega failure sony will not make another handheld. they will just make consoles and make their phones portable gaming machines using PS now.

They didn't create compelling software, didn't put much effort into marketing, and were reluctant to devote any of their major developers towards handheld development. They didn't take the Vita seriously, and it failed. Pretty straightforward really.

According to the article, its overpowered.

"The truth is that the number of people that want the core experience [that Vita offers] is not as big as the number that simply want any sort of game available on the move and, because the likes of a tablet and smartphone are so multifunctional in their use, they will always be very appealing,"

most of the consumers in the portable market dont want complicated games, they could have done better (in terms of sales) if they went with weaker hardware, longer battery and casual games you can play on the move.

Vita is targeted towards hard core people who wants on the go console experience but 3DS is different which is for the fans of Nintendo(DS) and doing great due to its cheap, more kids friendly, not focusing more on console quality graphics(there is no competitor in this category) and Nintendo IP's popularity. I don't expect 3DS doing great in future due to mobile technolgy like Nvidia Tegra k1 and other things which will attract more people and deveolpers.

We all know why it failed and it's the software which Sony's own divisions do not want to support fully

they thought third parties would do their job like they always do which is a problem

Wow I had no idea Sony was going after the Words with Friends and Candy Crush Saga crowd with the Vita. Makes it even more of a complete failure I guess.

He's right and wrong. Yes, smartphones and tablets have hurt the handheld market quite a bit and that will continue. But Nintendo has still found success and the 3DS has crushed the Vita, which he doesn't mention. That's a mix of compelling software, price, and lack of hidden costs (i.e. the Vita memory cards).

So basically, the PSP was the Wii of handheld games?  I mean Nintendo can't count on "casuals" to support the Wii's follow up and Sony can't count on the "hardcore" to support the PSP's follow up.