We need to have more diversity in the handheld market.

In recent times Valve jumped in and they do try to shake up the industrie by delivering a, so called, worthy competition to Nintendos hailed Switch/lite.

The original Playstation Portable was a really capable console with games ranging in their complexity just as its audience. It delivered memorable moments to old and young alike with top graphics as well as intriguing stories to follow.

Till 2017 People thought handheld gaming would be over with the last 3DS till Nintendo showed impressively with the sales figures of the Switch that the demand for quality handheld gaming is still strong. (89Mio. sold consoles)

I myself do own a switch, yet as a child of the original PSP era i do think back all the times with fond memories to that feeling of diving into worlds like Ratchet and Clank, living life as pirate or being simply blown away from Final Fantasy's stunning CGI cutscenes. All those games expanded my horizon with all their vastness in creativity and immersion. I'll admit it, i'm a PSP Child.

I wish that Sony would come back into the market to show their creativity once more.

And i think a comeback could potentially be less hard than thought out of several reason.

First: Remote Play should still be incorporated. Assuming a good portion of Vita 2 owners do own another Sony console as well this could become very handy. Plus it's an unique feature which the competition doesn't have. Let's say you buy your child a Vita 2 and conveniently you can still connect with your friends via remote play to jump into some Fifa lobbies while on vacation or on business travels.

Second: Sony would have a good answer on the rising pressure of the competition forced. For example by their streaming services. You could change the marketing of Playstation. Thanks to that Vita 2 owners got backwards compatabillity, plus with the Vita library a lot of Indie games and overall a huge and unique variety of games.

Third: It might sound like a huge risk in therms of finances, yet the vita was quite budget-priced compared to other consoles. Officially Sony confirmed the production costs were 160$ for the US version of the console (250$ for the WiFi version). Compare this to the 257$ of the Nintendo Switch, or the 450$ the Playstation 5 requires.

(Production costs Playstation Vita;Production costs Nintendo Switch;Production costs Playstation 5)

These companies do earn their money not with consoles but with licenses and the games bought by the consumers.

Of course this is wishfull thinking, i just wanted to show that Sony was even back in 2011 capable of including a high quality OLED screen as well as motion and touch controls in their models for such a small price. For Comparison, The OLED version of the Switch dropped only in 2021, four years after the initial console.

Plus they can achieve that goal with something like backwards compatibility. Interest starts to rise in that segment in the last years and people pay subscribtion services, or buy even whole new consoles. Plus due to emulation this sould not be to hard to get classic PSP games running on the console. Maybe even PS1 and 2 as well. As far as i know emulators for that do exist on the Vita already and work fine.

At the end i wanna throw in another, minor feature of the Vita which i enjoy quite much plus i see the demand for something like that on reddit more often.

Trophies. It really isn't a big thing if u think about it, but out there is a huge amount of people seeking validation in their games in form of some reward. I have seen that the demand rises on steam as well as on the Switch. (Even though as far as i have seen people are really unhappy in terms of user friendliness on the Switch. Everything from the homescreen to the store feels uninspired and lazy) I think Sony can create a memorable user experience without much effort.

So all concidered they basically could release the same console as back in the day with a few minor changes in their financial strategy. No horrendous expensive SD cards would be quite a good start.

It is obviously that the death of the Vita was intruduced due to the lack of game variety and thus resulting in a shortage of people actually wanting to buy the console which followed that financial strategie. After the consumers realized the huge price to actually be able to game they understandably jumped off.

Yet it has not to be like that. Keeping it short, with all the features (even so basic such as bluetooth) of the console, its already existing unique game library and the brand name i'm sure there are more than a few people out there waiting for something that can satisfy their needs in terms of handheld and a Vita 2 might be the one to fullfill.

For whom and why is it important?

"Market Analysis and Insights: Global Portable Gaming Console MarketThe global Portable Gaming Console market was valued at USD 13380 in 2020 and will reach USD 16360 million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 3.4% during 2022-2027.Global Portable Gaming Console" - Market watch: Portable gaming, 16.07.2021

Sony could make a fortune with a new handheld. The timing would be perfect.

They would not only profit from the selling of games, or licensing, they could also sell aftermarket products like Nintendo does, or charge for services like Playstation now. I dont say they do have to, yet it would be unwise of them to let such an opportunity slip. Plus they have to keep an eye on the chinese market.

Nintendo surpassed Sony and Microsoft at the start of 2019 in terms oh sales and if u keep in mind that China is the biggest sales market, right now and presumably in the future as well, they have to secure their positions. That a handheld surpasses full gaming consoles with much more power just showes that the demand asks for something else (Sales figures Nintendo Switch 2019 China). China seems to have quite the high demand in handheld gaming as u can see in that chart: China best selling consoles

Plus apparently the vita sales in china alone were almost 1/6th of the overall volume sold. So why is that project important? 


For Sony, it could be hugely profitable in terms of finances.

For consumers, more diversity would lead to better products due to companies competing with each other.