We all know PS Vita's sales aren't that high, specially in comparison with it's main and only competitor: the 3DS, but why? Was it poor marketing? Was it a chain of different events that worsened the situation a litte bit more each time? What was the problem?

It doesn't look like a bad handheld, hell - It's really very powerful for a handheld and looks slick IMO. Right now, if you ask why it is currently getting "poor sales" everyone will say "lack of games", but back then when it was about to be released everyone expected the PS Vita to do great and achieve great sales (at least as far as I can remember), so what went wrong?  Why didn't it receive enough support if it was, in theory, going to achieve great success? PS3 had a hard time back then but Sony never gave up support and third-parties were there so it ultimately made it in the end. What do you think went different this time? 

Memory Card prices?

The asking price of the system + memory card is too much... Vita OLED version is worth $200-$250 but the memory cards are not, no where even close to how expensive they are... But all of that doesn't matter without the big games... Vita is basically full of ports, indie games and niche jrpgs and other niche games... It does have some AAA games but no big hit titles like the 3ds does...

Back when it launched, it did do fine, the sales were sustained and it was looking pretty great as the games came in, but once the key games stopped coming in and the launch window closed, it just all went down hill

lack of third party support

Assuming that most console sales are due to very popular games for them then yeah, Vita lacks strongly in this department despite having it´s share of great games. Along with expensive hardware like the console itself and memory cards and stiff competition from smartphones, it is a hard sell for most gamers, especially casual gamers.

I mean I could list these for days if I had too. The games simply arent there and theres also this thing

They tried to appeal to hardcore gamers with a handheld, but that market doesn't really exist (they always prefer home consoles or pcs).

The 3DS has a much better library and is cheaper.

The Vita highly depends on Western studios, but those aren't that good in making handheld games in recent years (or aren't interested anymore). You can also see that with the 3DS. Mostly games from Nintendo and Japanese third parties.

Exclusive games, especially those that are favored over here in the West, like God of War and GTA. Getting some kind of exclusive FF would have helped. Memory cards crippled them for a long time as well.

- Expensive system.
- Expensive memory cards.
- Very few games that I liked.

But it is all a combination of things, many people do not see the appeal of dedicated handheld system anymore.

Memory cards too expensive, lack of compelling mass market software, shrinking handheld market, stiff competition.