After Getting Out Of Smartphones Sony Now Gets Out Of Handheld Gaming

After getting out of the smartphone business in Australia it’s now been revealed that Sony is also getting out of the handheld gaming device market with its PS Vita games console being killed off.

Ironically, it’s the smartphone the very device that Sony is getting out of that has become the popular location for handheld gaming in Australia as Sony announces that they are discontinuing the Vita’s final two models.

With no plans for a successor, games critics say a Sony version of the successful Nintendo Switch is unlikely.

The initial PS Vita which was launched, in Japan in 2011, sold well. At the time Sony claimed 300,000 sales in the first week mostly in Japan.

But these figures dropped sharply. Sony is estimated to have sold only 10-15 million units in the Vita’s entire lifetime.

In comparison, Nintendo’s Switch console has sold more than 32 million units, only two years after it first went on sale.

The recently introduced Samsung Galaxy S10+ is powerful enough to run graphically intensive apps with these devices set to become popular with gamers.

Although the Vita rolled out with high-profile titles such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation and LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, the beginning of the end came when Sony announced in 2015 that it would stop making its own games for the Vita – deciding to focus instead on titles for its PS4 console.

But despite its niche appeal, the Vita ultimately failed to live up to Sony’s expectations insiders claim.

While the PS Vita has been consigned to history, Sony is believed to be readying a new games console. Last year, company president and chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida told the Financial Times that it was “necessary” for Sony to work on next-generation hardware. He declined to say whether this machine would carry the name PlayStation 5.

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David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.