Didn't they have a pubblic statement made about them leaving the dedicated handheld market ?

You're not going to get me....I'm drinking POTATO vodka. Do you know what can be done with a potato?!





If you could harness my mental energy, it would be an amount at least somewhere in-between those pictures.

Nope, they still have smartphones to have a go at!

that was actually useful for me back in 2008ish

To be fair Sony smartphones are quite bad, I never purchased one because anyone who I know who previously owned one had it breaking on them in like 3/4 months, my sister once bought a brand new Xperia and it lasted only 70 days (though I don't blame this one on Sony, my sister is the worst at handling tech, she's the kind of person that breaks a phone every year, but still the lifespan of her Xperia was remarkably short)

Yeah, my friend who has one dropped it 1/2 feet and the screen completely shattered. Actually thinking back, they did make that phone/handheld console hybrid, but I don't think that did well?

Why is everybody blaming Sony? The market just wasn't there anymore, due to the advent of smartphones and mobile gaming. The appeal of having a huge beautiful handheld screen just wasn't enough of an argument anymore since people got that with their smartphones. Plus, all the other functions that the Vita tried having or doing (internet, be a music player, stream vids, Youtube, etc.) are all better done on a smartphone. So really, the only thing it had going for it were the games.

However, with certain sources saying that developing for the Vita approached the costs of developing for the PS3, game developers had little reason to develop AAA games for it, preferring to focus on the then current-gen home consoles (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ps3-vs-ps-vita-face-off , 3rd paragraph from the bottom).

This pretty much doomed the Vita to be what it became - a platform for lower quality PS3 ports (or for ports from other platforms) or for low-quality episodes of home console franchises (like Uncharted Golden Abyss or that Assassin's Creed game). People don't want to buy a portable to play the same games they can play on their huge HDTVs but in lower quality. Or to play B quality games of their favorite franchises.

The problem wasn't Sony's support (or lack of it), but the fact that the Vita just didn't really have a purpose. Overshadowned by smartphones, too expensive to be worth developing anything worthwile for it, not convenient enough for the other functions (internet, music, etc.). The lack of games eventually put the nail in it but that's the result of the rest.

Games are everything. Nintendo still can sell tens of millions of 3DSs even in the smartphone era because of the great line-up of games, both first party but also big 3rd party like Monster Hunter. 

I don't think the market isn't there, it was Sony that had a terrible campaign with Vita and didn't put any effort to turn things around. PSP had some great games for it, but I can't see anything on Vita worthwhile that isn't also available on PS3/PS4. And those overpriced memory cards didn't help either. 

Problem is Sony's "target" demographic is and always has been teenage and 20 something males .... good luck getting any of them to carry around a portable gaming console in this day and age.

Not gonna happen.

And main success Sony had with the PSP was due to Mosnter Hunter in Japan, once Nintendo took that away (which is basically one of the few smart moves Nintendo made from 2010-2015), Sony's portable foruntes were basically cut off at the knees in Japan. Vita does OK there, but nothing special. 

Nintendo has more then 1 flop in home console market they still making home consoles.