If you were holding out for a possible PS Vita 2, you may want to seek other options. During the Q&A segment of the EGX 2015 developer session, an audience member asked Sony Computer Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida on his handheld gaming plans. Yoshida responded that he enjoyed his time with the Vita, but smartphone gaming created an "unhealthy climate" for a possible Vita successor.
"That's a tough question," he admitted. "People have mobile phones, and it's so easy to just play games on smartphones free, or free to start." Yoshida said, "I myself am a huge fan of PlayStation Vita, we worked really hard on designing every aspect of PS Vita. Touch-based games are fun. There are many games that are really well designed. But having sticks and buttons makes things totally different."
"So I hope, like many of you, that this culture of playing portable games continues, but the climate is not healthy for now because of the huge dominance of mobile gaming."
The Playstation Vita originally launched in December 2011 in Japan, and launched in Europe and the United States in February 2012.
The PS Vita has maintained respectable sales in Japan, but worldwide continues to underperform, sitting in second to last place in terms of worldwide sales. The PS Vita has sold a mere 12.4 million compared to the 3DS's 54.1 million.
Speculation about the Vita's under performing sales have pointed to the high priced proprietary memory cards, the high cost to develop titles that use the systems strengths, and little first party support. Of the Vita's 5 highest selling games, only one managed a Metacritic score of 90+, with the third highest actually holding a score of 33.
The full Q&A can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=998&v=THoOapIs8oA How do you feel about Shuhei Yoshida's answer? Does this sound like the final nail in the coffin, or are you still holding out hope for a PS Vita 2? If you own a Vita, do you like it? Let us know your thoughts and feelings in the comments below!
