Complaints have been rife from PS Vita owners for some time about the lack of AAA titles for the console, and even more so regarding the lack of support and games from Sony Computer Entertainment themselves with many wondering what the future may hold for the system. Now, in an interview with gaming site Polygon, Sony Computer Entertainment’s Shuhei Yoshida had admitted that Sony is shifting it’s focus with the Vita away from developing it’s own first-party titles and sees that the handheld device is better suited for smaller, indie titles with an emphasis on quick gameplay designed for shorter play sessions.
In the interview he refers to the graphics capabilities of it’s predecessor, the PSP and gamers expectations of the time wanting a portable PS2 and the comparisons to the PS Vita which was touted as being “…PS3-like quality in your palm…” but went onto say that players expected more with the advent of the PS4 and that visuals began to play less of a part in what they expected from the Vita.
He went on to add that Sony were contining to develop Cross Buy titles but did praise the work of third party developers, citing the recently released Borderlands 2 especially saying, “I love what they did… It’s a very, very deep and enjoyably fun game, and I’m having fun playing with a new character I missed on PS3 because it included most of the DLC. So I think they did a great job.”
It’s unclear at present what long-term impact this will have for the Vita. While is is clear that Sony themselves want to strengthen the relationship between the PS Vita and the PS4 and PlayStation Now, it must be stated that Sony are not the only developers releasing games for the Vita. There have been some stunning AAA titles released for the Vita since it’s launch and most of these have been third party titles – Final Fantasy X / X-2, Persona 4 Golden, Rayman Origins / Legends, Need For Speed: Most Wanted to name but a few and the diversity and quality of the indie games available for the Vita can’t be dismissed either but with digital sales making up about 50% of all software sales for the Vita at present it’s easy to understand why Sony see this as being the direction the console should take.
WHY!!!??