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Sony Ends Production Of Physical Vita Games (kotaku.com)

Posted by msmash on from the end-of-an-era dept.

Sony is ending physical production of Vita games, news outlet Kotaku reports. Although the hardware manufacturer says digital distribution will continue, this move will mark the end of physical cards for the maligned portable game system, Kotaku added. From a report: Sony's American and European branches "plan to end all Vita GameCard production by close of fiscal year 2018," the company told developers today in a message obtained by Kotaku. The message asks that all Vita product code requests be submitted by June 28, 2018, and that final purchase orders be entered by February 15, 2019. Sony's 2018 fiscal year will end on March 31, 2019.

35 comments

  1. Back when it was the PSP by xack · · Score: 2

    I rememeber it being my first “mobile” internet experience before the smartphone era. Sony could have innovated it so much more if they didn’t make it use proprtietary media.

    1. Re:Back when it was the PSP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Using industry standards is hardly innovative.

    2. Re:Back when it was the PSP by pecosdave · · Score: 2

      The mobile web experience on the PSP sucked butt in my opinion. I laughed so hard during the Brendan Fraser Journey to the Center of the Earth movie when the kid whipped out a PSP on an airplane that somehow or another magically connected to a non-existent access point to browse the web as easily as he had a mouse and keyboard at a reasonable speed. Having used a PSP on the web I know that just didn't happen.

      I think the whole ability to use Skype on a PSP 3000 without any extra adapters was freaking cool, though I have a well hacked PSP 2000 so I didn't get to do that. I had the headset I could do it with but never bothered.

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    3. Re:Back when it was the PSP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PSP is still a pretty great platform too, now that Micro SD-to-Memory Stick adapters are easy to come by and the custom firmware process has more or less finalized into something anyone can do very easily. Equip your PSP with potentially hundreds of gigabytes of storage and load anything you want onto it. The nice thing about playing a UMD backup directly off the memory stick is that it saves on battery life because the drive never gets used. It all gets back to what you said about sidestepping the proprietary-ness of the platform. No UMDs, no Memory Sticks, tons of possibilities.

      Now I just need a reliable source of batteries that aren't Chinese knockoffs that say 3600mAh on the outside but are really 1200mAh cells. Rather not perform surgery on my PSP if I can avoid it...

    4. Re:Back when it was the PSP by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      I would disagree with that assessment. There is a lot of innovation that can happen around following standards. Look at Google, while they make their Chrome Browser, their products all work on competing modern browsers as well. I remember when Google Maps, Gmail and Google Docs was first released, Using existing well implemented Web Standards they made fully operational and interactive applications running in a Web Browser. Before that these applications would have to refresh the whole page to give you new information, which was slow, and server intensive. Google was following the standards, but they used them in a slightly different way. Ajax calls before then were mostly limited to querying form elements, and was mostly avoided, because the traditional less innovative developers were afraid that it will not work with that one guy using Netscape 4.
      For the most part such functionality use to be limited to plugins such as Active X, Java Applets or Flash which didn't work on every computer or browser.

      Rebuilding the wheel, while there is a perfectly acceptable standard (even if not perfect) is not innovative, if your outcome is the same as what the standard could provide.

      Sony by forcing people to use Propriety media, where they had numbers of standard methods as well, wasn't a good long term solution. Because most people are not that into who the vendor is, and would like to mix and match technology. Yes I have an iPhone, but I havn't had a Mac in over a decade (I am fine with a fixed battery in a phone, but not a laptop (Too much history)) So I may have a Apple Phone, Thinkpad for a Laptop running Linux or Windows, A kindle running Android... So I am not fixed on a vendor, and if my Next phone isn't an Apple phone or my next Laptop isn't a Thinkpad, I would still want them to follow enough standards to transfer info and have my stuff work on them as well.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    5. Re:Back when it was the PSP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could have done it on a Nokia N800 in 2007
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N800

    6. Re:Back when it was the PSP by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      Not in a SONY produced movie.

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    7. Re:Back when it was the PSP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Err, picking an idevice is most definitely not following industry standards, so you're not exactly practising what you preach.

      Moving away from their ecosystem requires a complete break with zero portability (even the wall warts are fairly low wattage, and impractical unless you like waiting). With every other vendor, you can at least salvage the USB cables and chargers. Moving around the Android ecosystem also allows portability (between supported platforms, like BlackBerry OS back in the day and desktops presently).

    8. Re:Back when it was the PSP by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      I'm with you. I can't find a good battery anywhere.

      I've got the microSD / Memory Stick adapter also.

      I find it hilarious I actually have to use a "secure" memory stick to play back ripped and compressed movies, but I can play ripped (and compressed to CSO) games all day on any memory source I chose.

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  2. Sony? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Realy? Stil a thing?

    1. Re:Sony? by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and still ditching propriety media when the world adopted something else. Just like Beta, MD, UMD, ATRAC, Digital Audio Tape, Memory Stick, the other Memory Stick versions......

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    2. Re:Sony? by halivar · · Score: 1

      Don't forget Blu-R--oh, wait...

    3. Re:Sony? by pecosdave · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They didn't hoard that one to themselves, had they done so we would probably be running HD-DVD right now.

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      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
  3. Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 0

    Fuck downloaded unit-locked games. FUUUUUUUCKK them. I want to be able to resell, trade, and *gasp* physically OWN the damn thing. There are tons of older games on older platforms I haven't played. I have ZERO motivation to get on board with the ephermeral downloaded game bullshit. For my purposes as a collector, consoles that use media are superior to ones that don't. I also don't like this dick move to kill the secondary market, either. There are still lots of used game shops were I live.

    1. Re:Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...OR will this be yet another move to push folks into using a fake cartridges and just obtaining said games from "alternative sources" (like the AceKard for the Nintendo DS).

    2. Re:Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Blah. Blah. Blah. Get off my lawn, kids!

      There. Fixed that for you

    3. Re:Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 0

      Aww, how cute, you almost wrote a complete sentence, little millennial dumbass. Almost. You forgot to punctuate, but we'll just pretend you did it, snowflake. Isn't that how the world is supposed to work for your generation?

    4. Re:Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also the reason why the Vita didn't sell to begin with. They had a full year before the release of the 3DS and had better hardware at the time. The only thing that held it back, beyond "lets change everything because we're Sony" product design decisions, was the fact that people went to the store and saw the same games on the shelf with nothing new being added for years.

      You can't release a console, especially one that has absolutely no backwards compatibility with your previous offering, and tell everyone to buy games online. Your console won't sell if you do. Why? Because when the parents go to the store, they want to know the product their buying isn't a deadend product that isn't going to make little Bobby happy / shut him up for awhile. When there isn't any games coming out for the thing, the parents know it won't hold Bobby's interest, and he'll start whining again. Which they don't want after shelling out $350 for the Unit, another $50 for the memory card, and another $40 for a game. So no, you get no sale.

      Fun fact, the adult gamers know this too. They also don't want to spend money on a system that has no physical offerings. Digital is fleeting. Nevermind the overpriced proprietary memory cards have a premium for GB. Of which most games take at least a few. That causes situations like: You bought the game but now you can't store it, or play it, without shelling out more cash. That's a huge disincentive for a system. Also, those memory cards were tiny, and required a system restart due to DRM, just to change them. So good luck actually using more than two cards in practice.

      I finally started taking the system seriously once they finally started releasing physical cards for it. Bought quite a few games as a result. Would have bought some more if they had bothered to put the digital only games on them. But I guess now I won't. Too bad for Sony.

      Then again it doesn't matter. They have the PS4 and they don't have to care about the Vita now. Not surprised by this move in the least. I just hope they don't plan to release another portable system anytime soon.

    5. Re:Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Losing karma at light speed today? Well maybe if you had a Slashdot account number that wasn't nearly 5 million I might believe you're older than the millennial generation. But - I suspect you're just another self hater who pretends he was alive to see the moon landings and the original run of Star Trek. But we both know that's not true, don't we.

    6. Re: Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Self hater? Is that like one of those reverse racist I keep hearing about.

    7. Re:Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Vita digital games aren't unit locked, they're tied to your PSN account. Pay once, download/play the game on multiple devices. For example you could buy a PSone classic once and have it on a PSP, PS3, and Vita simultaneously.

    8. Re:Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      You can't release a console, especially one that has absolutely no backwards compatibility with your previous offering, and tell everyone to buy games online.

      Sure you can, because the Vita IS digitally backwards compatible with the previous offering. Heck, most long term PSP owners had a mostly digital library when the Vita came out. Digital reduced load times, reduced battery drain from a spinning UMD disc, and UMD's were fragile.

      Because when the parents go to the store, they want to know the product their buying isn't a deadend product that isn't going to make little Bobby happy / shut him up for awhile.

      Who says the Vita's target market was young kids? The majority of gamers are adults you know.

      They also don't want to spend money on a system that has no physical offerings.

      Really? Tell that to all those in the Android and iOS ecosystems.

      Digital is fleeting.

      So you don't use Steam or GoG? You don't have a smartphone? You don't buy digital music from Amazon or iTunes?

      My first digital purchase on PSN was the PSone Classic, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, on May 19th, 2008. (I didn't have a PS3, until June of 2008) I could right now, almost exactly 10 years later, redownload that game on my PS3, Vita or even the PSP 3000 and the PSP1000 with the failed UMD drive. I can even have it on all 4 at once.

      Nevermind the overpriced proprietary memory cards have a premium for GB. Of which most games take at least a few.

      I don't know what you mean by "take at least a few". Vita cards come in 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64GB capacities. The largest game I'm aware of is Borderlands 2, which comes up to around 5.5GB or so including DLC. Games can't span multiple cards. But most games aren't near that big.

      Also, those memory cards were tiny, and required a system restart due to DRM, just to change them.

      Yes, but the reboot doesn't take "that" long.

      So good luck actually using more than two cards in practice.

      I have 7: three 16GB, one 8GB and three 4GB The hardest part of using more than one card is that they're not colored and they're so tiny they're hard to label. But I used tiny storage card cases to help with that.

      I finally started taking the system seriously once they finally started releasing physical cards for it.

      Finally? There were physical games available at launch! Didn't you see them? But as I said, most serious Vita owners do a LOT of digital games.

      Do you want to know how many physical vita games I have? Just six: Freedom Wars, Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, Borderlands 2 (went physical on this one because of the 5+GB the digital version takes up, with physical it uses space only for the DLC/patches), FFX/FFX-2 HD remaster (only FFX is on the cartridge, FFX-2 is actually a digital download), Dungeon Hunter Alliance (only available physically now), and Disney Infinity 2.0 (only available physically because the game requires the Vita's bluetooth version of the Infinity Base)

      Want to know how many digital Vita games I have? 28, It will be 30 next week when the vita version of Stardew Valley (cross-buy with the PS4 version) and that Bloodstained castlevania 3 style prequel.

      That doesn't even count Vita games I own but don't have on the cards (mostly cross-buy and PS+ titles I don't have much interest in), or all the PSP, PSone Classic and PS Mini titles.

      I've gone mostly digital on the PS4 too. Most of my physical PS4 games from the bargain bin or were gifts.

      Would have bought some more if they had bothered to put the digital only games on them. But I guess now I won't.

      You understand that in this way you are something of a tech luddite compared to most gamers, right? Not even taking into account storage of those physical games. You buy all your PC games physically, right? CD's? Blu-rays?

    9. Re:Fine. I just ended my purchase of Vita games. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

      Good point, but that still doesn't allow for one to physically sell or trade them at a game shop. It's still just an ephemeral download tied to a corporate account controlled by a faceless megacorp that can (and will) shut it down at some point in order to motivate you to RE-BUY all the games you already owned as some "classic pack" or "retro download" on their *new* platform.

  4. What the hell... by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

    ... is a "Vita"?!?

    1. Re:What the hell... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why should we teach you about a technology product that has been on the market since 2011?

    2. Re:What the hell... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Here you go. Although I suppose I should have made you Google it for yourself.

    3. Re:What the hell... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Actually, if you don't live in Japan, it's been on the market only since 2012.

    4. Re:What the hell... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, in THAT case, the Vita is the poorly marketed replacement for the PSP put out by Sony. A device that's been hampered by insanely expensive proprietary storage cards of way too little size and an extremely small selection of physical games (compared to what was released digitally) Probably would have sold much better if Sony actually marketed it properly.

      I thought the system was entirely dead for physical releases already to be honest, since you never see Vita games at ebgames/gamestop anymore (at least the stores I've been in) but apparently I found out not long ago that they do technically have some. Hidden at the cash that you pretty much have to ask to see.

    5. Re:What the hell... by SlashdotOgre · · Score: 1

      It was a great system that Sony gave up support on way too early in its lifetime (at least in the US). There was only a handful of first party "AAA" type games that were released prior to that, but when it didn't gain major third party support it became the home of some niche genres and indies. The AAA games that did come out like Killzone & Uncharted were excellent and greatly surpassed anything I'd ever seen on mobile platforms prior to them and for quite a while after. The system had an amazing screen (particularly the first generation which was OLED) and optional 3G radio capabilities for gaming on the go.

      Sony did their usual BS like requiring these ridiculously expensive proprietary memory cards and a proprietary charging port (at least in the first gen). They also didn't offer an HDMI or DisplayPort out port which was a shame as it could have been like the Switch. Finally, while some games supported cross-saves and/or cross buys (i.e. you get both the Vita & PS4 version in one purchase), that was inconsistent and eventually pretty rare.

      For a while, if you liked either indies or the limited genres that flocked to it (JRPGs, Visual Novels, "fan service", etc.) then it was an excellent system. It also received some great games from PS+ over the years including pretty much all its AAAs so many people might have large libraries if they were smart enough to add those games even when they didn't own the system. Overall, it was a great little system that never really received it's fair shake.

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      Sadly, PS/2 was yet another victim of USB, which doesn't care what you plug into it, the electrical slut.
    6. Re:What the hell... by JoeDuncan · · Score: 0

      Whoosh!

    7. Re:What the hell... by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Finally, while some games supported cross-saves and/or cross buys (i.e. you get both the Vita & PS4 version in one purchase), that was inconsistent and eventually pretty rare.

      Still happens, Stardew Valley is the most recent one as of next week.

      so many people might have large libraries if they were smart enough to add those games even when they didn't own the system.

      I wasn't, missed out on some good titles that way. Though as you know, Vita owners tend to buy a LOT of games...the thing has an INSANE attach rate.

  5. Didn't realize the Vita was still around by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I had a PSP 1001, and loved it! I played the hell out of that on my bus commute to work. Daxter was amazing! But I probably burned the most time on Lumines. Actually, I got to the point in Lumines that I caused the score counter to wrap. Good game!

    I also used it as a portable media player when I went on business trips. You could pick up UMDs of popular movies at Best Buy or even my local Target. GameStop also had a bunch of them used. Not a bad way to pass time on a flight, at a time when domestic flights didn't come with a TV screen an in-flight movies.

    I think it's important to remember the UMD on the original PSP was not a bad idea for the time. And the Vita dropped UMD in favor of a card slot, similar to a game cartridge on GBA Advance SP that I had around the same time.

    But the Vita also supported downloads, which was a waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better idea, especially going forward. If I had been in the market for a portable game system at the time (I'd changed jobs) I might have gone with the Vita.

  6. Physical MEDIA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This confusion is exactly what the imaginary property lie emerged from.

    A physical game would be e.g. a board game!
    This is a digital game on a physical medium. Which it only technically needs. (It could also be stores in a beam of light bouncing between two star systems every n years. No media needed in-between.)

  7. What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Never heard of it. Bye.