In 2015, Sony CEO Andrew House called the PlayStation Vita handheld console a “legacy platform.” For many gamers, this was disconcerting news to hear about a console that had launched in Western countries only three years prior. In 2018, Sony announced that it wouldend all physical production of Vita gamesand, a few months later, the company revealed that the console would officially be discontinued the following year.
After the PS Vita was discontinued in 2019, one of the features that fell by the wayside was the PlayStation Store. Although games can still be purchased digitally and some developers continue to release titles for theVita, like 2020’s roguelikeDemon’s Tier+,the “Latest” tab of the PlayStation Store on the console had not been updated in 10 months.
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However,PS Vitaowners recently noticed that the section of the PlayStation Store that showcases new releases got updated for the first time in nearly a year. This change didn’t happen globally, but gamers in some areas of the world like the UK, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand corroborated that there had been an unannounced update to the PlayStation Store.
The change might seem minimal, but it comes shortly after Sony released a new firmware update for PlayStation 3 in December. Whether the update means the company plans to start paying more attention to its retired PS Vita console or if this was a one-time fix is another question.
At the end of 2019, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan revealed thatSony has no plans to create handheld consolesin the future. Despite the popularity and financial success of the PS Vita, the company feels that the majority of people prefer to play games on non-dedicated platforms like smartphones and tablets. This sentiment has been shared by other executives at the company.
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