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The PlayStation Portable (PSP) and PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) both had good runs (well, the former more than the latter). However, it looks like PlayStation will no longer be dabbling in the handheld gaming business, now that it’s dominated by mobile games on smartphones and the Nintendo Switch.
In an interview with Game Informer, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan said that although he looks back on the PS Vita fondly, the company is out of the handheld console war, probably for good.
He said:
“PlayStation Vita was brilliant in many ways, and the actual gaming experience was great, but clearly it’s a business that we’re no longer in now.”
This same sentiment has been echoed by other former PlayStation bigwigs in the past, including former Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton and former SCE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida. Both of them cited the widespread dominance of gaming on non-dedicated mobile devices as the main reason for this.
However, all of this doesn’t necessarily mean that PlayStation won’t ever return to or start developing portable handhelds again in the future, though they will likely be focusing more on the PS5 for the foreseeable future.
