I snubbed the psp during it's first years because I didn't see a reason to get a 'portable' playstation device. Yeah sure it had mp3 support and was a fully functioning media player but none of that interested me. The reason I finally bought the psp was because it was getting a lot of games that I couldn't play anywhere else. Mainly MGS and GoW did the trick for me. As a plus it had a lot of other games that I would play but wouldn't be system sellers for me (mainly games like GTA or gran turismo). Another awesome thing about the psp was that it got great support even during it's latest years (where it even got a second psp exclusive instalment of both the GoW and the MGS franchises).

The reason I bought my vita was because I saw it as a successor to the psp. With the Uncharted launch title, I thought they would continue releasing spinoffs for their main IPs. Their main problem was that, besides uncharted, they did this with their 'weaker' franchises. WipeOut, LBP and Killzone? Those franchises didn't even manage to sell well on the PS4 (while wipeout hasn't even seen a ps4 release yet). Noone will buy a portable console to play Killzone or LBP vita (which is pretty much the same as the PS3 versions of the game). I think a vita MGS, GoW, Jak, GT, or even a vita Infamous game would sell better. They could also strike deals for third party exclusive support, and I'm not just talking about GTA or a R&C, but imagine a vita crash bandicoot or a vita exclusive souls game.

Ok, mobile took a big piece of the market, no doubt about that, but in the end I think that the lack of support is what killed the console. Oh and the overpriced memory card... I'm not really buying into that. People usually dive in head first into buying electronics and even if they did a research the psv costs less than 3ds long term mainly because of nintendo game pricing.

there should be a sticky: why the vita failed -

- smartphones, tablets - or - market shift

- high pricing of hardware (PS Vita + memory cards)

- at release the 3DS was available at half the price

- 3DS/Nintendo had a headstart of almost a year

thats it.
no. the dying support isnt a reason. it is consequence.

edit: what also might had come into effect was the transition of 7th to 8th generation of home consoles.

Seriously, what's not to get?

• Late Launch: more than three years after the PSP peaked / when Sony had very little presence in the handheld market
• Expense: the price was too high at launch / Sony waited too long to drop it
• Proprietary Memory Cards: I already have memory cards, why do I need to buy new ones... that happen to be shockingly expensive?
• Failure to Secure Content: several high profile PS1 and PSP games never released for the Vita creating gaps in its back catalogue
• First Party Support: no new God of War, Gran Turismo, Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank and countless other conspicuous absences
• Third Party Support: no new Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, Grand Theft Auto, etc...
• Mobile Gaming: the rise of smartphones clearly did the most to reduce the Vita's potential

The PSP was my favorite handheld ever and one of my favorite systems overall. I can think of dozens of great PSP games and I bought mine for less than a hundred bucks only a couple years after launch. I honestly found the PSP's somewhat tepid reception to be completely baffling because it was a fantastic system despite its hardware issues. The Vita on the other hand is one of the least attractive systems I have ever encountered.