Memory cards. Expensive hardware at launch with a shitty and unnecessary 3G model. Complete lack of true system sellers, even if now that it's all said and done Vita's library is very decent all things considered. And even though the hardware is fantastic it wasn't good enough for the whole console gaming quality on the go yet. It was lacking buttons and power, leading to some awful PS3 ports on it. And in some games that you can transfer your save it's a convoluted mess (like in the MGS HD collection where you need two copies of the game and two consoles to play with the same save). And then there was the 3DS, the growth of the smartphones market, and the bad first party support due to Sony focusing on the PS4.

Bad timing. A lot of what it offered was at a time when smart phones felt like the future of mobile gaming. Somehow we were convinced that "Console gaming on the go" was a bad thing and that people only wanted bite sized gaming.

And, at the time, I think they were right. I had both the 3DS and the Vita (even pre-ordered the latter) but I found myself always playing stuff like Angry Birds and Candy Crush.

Vita was one of only two major gaming systems since the Atari 2600 that I did not own. Primary reasons for that were total cost of ownership (absolutely insanely expensive memory cards that were obvious cash grab), and a lack of must have games.

Frankly, the memory cards were so ridiculous that they just turned me off to the system right away. I never gave it serious consideration. I would analogize it to a home console coming with a controller that was known to be crappy, and the manufacturer also selling the only compatible good quality controller for $200.

I see a lot of mention about memory cards and I agree with that, as well. No Vita game allowed us to save without an expensive card. I paid $100 on day one for a 32GB card and when that thing was full (after about a year), I never bought another Vita game. And that's with almost all of my Vita games being physical versions. Apps, PS1 and PSP games burned up that memory in no time.

Isn't that currently still the case, relatively speaking?  The 3DS and Switch presumably aren't much more than a blip on the radar of mobile gaming.  That blip is obviously large enough that there's money to be made, but that's because the mobile gaming space is gigantic.  

To be clear, Switch is a big seller. But do we know how much of that is truly for mobile use?  

Anyway, I agree with the underlying point here.  Portable dedicated gaming devices had basically run their course by the time Vita came out.  3DS was relatively successful, but it at least offered something unique.

Lack of GTA. It would have become a success if it had an exclusive GTA.

The Vita had little potential to go further than it did.

At that time Sony 1st parties needed to focus everything on getting to grips with PS3 hardware to make that console appealing to the masses and had no sparetime to support the Vita aswell is pretty much all there is to it.

The PS4. When Sony knocked it out of the park with the PS4, they realized that they didn't need to support the Vita anymore.

Lack of quality games, 1st and 3rd party. Best game on the system is a port from PS2 era. That says a lot. Even most of those little gems that it had, got ported to other systems (Tearaway, Gravity Rush, Danganronpa, Zero escape). The system itself was excellent. Still have my launch Vita and it looks like new. Very durable, unlike PSP.

Had PS Vita on launch and although the system was generally good. The memory card issue was real. It was just too expensive because if you wanted to go digital. They should have dropped the price of their own cards. Additionally many games still had some form of installs even if you had the cartridge so space was gonna be used regardless. Screen quality (OLED) was amazing, controls and feel were quite good.

When it concerns games people expected probably a similar library as the PSP. However there was nog GTA (albeit smaller version), there was no Monster Hunter and Sony's first party releases after the initial 2 years were very limited.

The name PS Vita didn't help. PSP 2 or PSP Pro would have been a much better way or something in that line would have made it clear it was a sequel to the famous PSP.