PS Vita Documentary: The History of Sony's Coolest Failure. 

Hi everyone! I sincerely hope you all enjoyed this more in depth video. If there's any chance you liked it consider supporting on Patreon, it would mean a lot! Would love to do more of these but holy balls this took awhile to do. As always you don't have to, but it would help justify the time more for me. Also there's cool stuff on Patreon too. Either way, this video was bittersweet to do. The Vita was basically what started my channel back in 2012. It's how many of you found me and continue to watch today. Thank you for all the years of overwhelming kindness and support!

The memory cards killed it.

I'd say memory cards killed the vita. SONY shot itself with those prices, essentially punishing consumers who buy a game to then need to spend more for the space

Smartphones didn't kill it because 3DS sold really well despite smartphones. Memory cards killed it.

"we dont want our consoles going to the way side in only two years." literally abandons it in two years

Vita was the Dreamcast of handhelds...

The PS Vita could've EASILY surpassed 30 Million systems sold if Sony weren't so stupid with the way they handled it. No market change has damaged the PS Vita like how Sony damaged its own product.

I still remember when it was known as the NGP people were saying it stood for "Nintendo Got Pwnd"....that aged badly.

It pays off to be a late adopter... I just got the Vita this year, used, off of eBay. And a ton of games from $5-$20. I love it!

I really thought the vita was going to be a success back in 2011, but Sony destroyed it with the scam memory cards.

If only Sony stuck with the SDCard. The very high prices of the Vita Mem Cards and the fact that you required one to even use the device at lauch scared many away.

"The PlayStation Vita may have failed, but it failed gracefully." Well said!

actually an amazing handheld, the poor thing also sad that no one makes games for it outside of the east now

>Makes an expensive machine that is so powerful for its time, it makes development of games expensive for handheld standarts; >Forces consumers to pay for expensive proprietary Memory Card to save and install anything; >always associated to other devices, its never its own thing; >Never cared to make a system seller game/IP for the Vita, designed for handheld gaming, like Nintendo having Pokémon for they portable consoles since the original Game Boy; >Abandons everything and leave it to Indie devs. You can play many of those Indie games on other systems; >Blames Mobile Gaming for Vita's failure. If Mobile Gaming its so harmful to handheld consoles, then how the 3DS did so well and the Switch is doing great?

"It had failed gracefully" Such an epic statement.

Literally could have been one of the greatest consoles of all time. Got my first vita about a month ago and let me tell you, I wish I had known about this a lot longer ago. The vita will be always respected by the true gaming community. Long live the VITA!

This video almost made me cry, man. I love this thing to bits as a gamer. Why did it suffer such an innocent fate???

Bought a PSVita two weeks ago for 50 bucks, not regretting about it at all.

An incredible system with so much promise, ruined by proprietary memory cards, all in the name of combating piracy. Wonder how much money they lost vs. how much they may have lost had it used SD cards. Excellent work, BTW. You earned a new sub :)

I don't get this whole "People have cellphones and can play games on them so handheld devices are not worth it." Mentality. Yes phones having games are a thing, and some are pretty good. But most of the time they're time wasters. Not at the same level of a AAA handheld game that I'm willing to drop 40 to 60 bucks on.

What I find amazing is that this represents Nintendo's final victory in the handheld market after a THIRTY-YEAR war of fighting off competition and winning every single time. It took huge balls to enter their domain from everyone who tried. I liked the NGPC and the Wonderswan, I loved the GG, and I had fun with the PSP and Vita. A very sad end, all the moreso because the Vita was almost a prototype for all the things that made the Switch such a runaway success. So near and yet so far. EDIT: Nevermind, the steamdeck is out now

Everyday's great at Y O U R J U N E S ! ! !

20:00 it's kinda wholesome to hear he's a fan of his own company's products, truly believes in it. wholesome line to end the video on. very good

Still playing my PS Vita almost daily in 2019.

"PS Vita may have failed, but it failed gracefully." Kudos on that last sentence.

First thing to remember is that handhelds can be a hard sell, even Nintendo knows this. The 3ds struggled in the beginning but they continued to push it and the 3ds ended up saving Nintendo during it's Wii U era. You need to educate the public, you have to sell your product, you can't assume people are just going to run to your product because you think your awesome and then just give up when it's not working out. Also when the Vita came out the price of memory was dropping very sharply, people expect cheap memory. Not only are there memory cards to expensive but their to small for the massive size of the games. I know they were scared of piracy and it may have been expensive to create proprietary memory cards but they backed them selves into the dumbest of dumb corners, especially since piracy on the Vita was avoided in the most part due to firmware updates and a system that was locked up tight other then the PSP side of things. In my opinion the memory cards being that expensive was a way to make the Vita look cheap while helping the company avoid taking a loss on the Vita. The Vita could have and should have done very well but a lack of advertising, expensive memory cards, a lack of AAA first party and 3rd party games past a certain point and yeah to a degree the smartphone boom hurt the Vita. But if they would have just released a revision of the Vita that used micro SD and pushed it hard I do believe that the Vita would have been extremely successful. Sony might not love their little red headed step child but the modding community does. The Vita is a little power house and can do some amazing things. You can even use a micro SD card with an adapter invented by a member of the modding community. There honestly has never been a better time to buy a vita. I will never part with my modded Vita. Great video.

I sold my PS Vita 2 years ago, but I still have 2 PSPs. PS Vita was amazing. My favourite games on it were Wipout 2048 and NFS Most Wanted

7 years later still enjoying my first vita... Hope sony will create a new handheld in the future

The Nintendo Switch proves that handheld gaming is far from dead. If anything, it got a fresh breath of life thanks to the Switch's success and Nintendo knowing how to properly sell the system. Smartphones have nothing to do with this. It's all about marketing and good support. Nintendo even released a survey questioning people which way they prefer to play their Switch, and it was 50% handheld and 50% docked. So there is definitely a demand for handheld systems. Whatever Sony said was obviously to shift the blame on the market climate rather than on their incompetence.

I feel like I just watched a documentary, great work Ryan!

That ending almost had me in tears. "The playstation vita might have failed, but it failed gracefully" I knew people who had them and I would always be amazed when playing them on how futuristic it was for being a handheld. Playstation really did miss the mark by giving up on it and overpricing the memory cards, but the games and community for the vita to this day are still going strong. One of the best handheld gaming and entertainment device ever made. Would have been cool to see it compete with the switch.

looks like its been a few years since you made this. the homebrew scene has really exploded since then

Vita is a great *_handheld_* , Which wasn't well *_handled_* ! #LongLiveVita #Vitaislife #Vitaislandisstillwet

Vita lives on through Switch. Nintendo proved that console quality games on the go CAN work.

Sony: "Is it that I'm so out of touch that I made proprietary memory that costed 3 times that average price that caused the Vita to fail?" ........... Sony: "No, no.. its the consumers that don't want portable gaming."

This video genuinely gave me goosebumps. When I first saw the vita I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread and I still stand by that though as it is one of my favorite consoles of all time. But the sheer untapped potential it had makes me really sad.

The Vita was such a neat device. What annoyed me however was the price of memory cards, the ugly user interface and the forced inclusion of the touchpad/touchscreen/gyroscope, etc. Great Video, Ryan!

This was so great to watch. Has a PS Vita owner myself, I still love the platform regardless. I still toss it in my bag whenever I head out to work and in some cases I prefer to bring it with me over my Switch. It sucks that Sony didn't support it well in the west. If only they could bring some of those Asian exclusives over to the west.

I play my Vita almost every day. What a great system.

It has been 10 now that the PSVita was released. Playing it still today... the games on this handheld are some of the best gaming experiences I have had on a handheld system. Happy 10 Years PSVita!

Mobile phones killed the Vita and the marketplace can't accept dedicated portables... Nintendo: Hold my beer.

PSP succeeded because, for the first time EVER, you could play console quality games ANYWHERE! Vita did not change that, but now Sony was trying to do the "developing 2 versions of the game at once" thing. That hurt both profits, and games themselves (most notable, Sly Cooper 4). And now, it seems Nintendo did what Sony could not.

I LOVED my Vita... until my incredibly overpriced 64GB memory card randomly died. Turns out to be a common problem with the 64GB cards. Someday I will hack it and use it again, but I still have some residual bitterness about how badly Sony handled things.

Now imagine if Sony release PS Vita 2 as a Steam Deck & Switch competitor

Don't forget that Sony was on a very difficult situation in 2011-2014 ..

Awesome video brotha. The hard work you put in really shows.

Sold my vita in 2015, but couldn't resist getting one again this week. Now since homebrew is available, it became interesting again.

If you have a hacked Vita you can check out my fighting game Vita Fighters, it's free and it's made out of love for the vita. Get it here: twitter.com/AngryDevs

Great video! Much more professional than a lot of gaming documentaries I see on YT. New sub, hoping to see more like it. It’s crazy to think what would have happened if the Vita was successful and where the portable market would be. ATM I have the amazing GPD Win 2 (portable gaming pc) but it’s from a independent developer, but maybe there’d be a lot more powerful portable devices or even Microsoft official portable gaming PCs if the vita created a market for hardcore portable gaming.

One of your best videos. Very well executed video with a tons of information about the Vita. Great work!

Dude, watched a bunch of your videos over the last few days and they're awesome. Really well made and informative.

great docs you have on these specific subjects..love your work.

Great video! Could be tighter in the editing in certain areas when it comes to the text on the screen and some of the beginning parts but overall it was masterfully done!

Sony killed the Vita very sad 😢

Dude!!! Ryan!!! I’m blown away good sir!!! This had to be a massive undertaking and you knocked it out of the park!! I’m real late on watching it, I really enjoyed it! Thank you for all you do Godspeed and party on!!!

I still believe Vita was an amazing platform.

Hahahahahah I remember when people said it would outsell the 3DS

I like to think that Nintendo took on the legacy of the Vita with the Switch, they saw the potential in console quality-games on a portable that Sony didn't quite grasp.

The music that starts playing at 21:00 makes me cry every time. It makes me think of the year 2012 to 2013 when i was excited for gaming. Great little 🎶

1:02 I never noticed that 2012 TV looked like it was from the 90s.

As far as consoles go, I am deeply saddened in my “gamer” heart.... 😔 This system was amazing in all areas and so many of the games on this platform were AWESOME & portable to boot. I haven’t met one person who has given this system a decent chance, not be blown away by one or more things the Vita had to display. Most were amazed by the graphics alone...., especially pre Switch. All that is simply to say that I personally love gaming on this system and will probably never let it go. Not only for nostalgic reasons but also cuz I still play this regularly and is one of the most fun systems I have ever owned. Thanks Sony and long live PSVita!!!!

Awesome ryan! Can you do one like this on the PSP also??

I just discovered this channel and I have been binging these high quality documentaries!

Dude, you videos rock. I end up watching these doccies in general, randomly , sometimes....just to know some stuff. Thanks.

i didn't even know what a vita was let alone it existed until around november 2015. my 3DS(had since lauch) was collecting dust and i was missing my psp (go) which got lost around 2010 or 11 so i was doing some web surfing to buy a new one when i stumbled accross the vita. i was so unsure if i should get it cause of so many negative reviews saying it sucked and had no games. I caved in because it was newer and still being "supported" and i dont regret it one bit. All in all great video it felt like a real documentary. I've recently hacked my vita with H ENCORE and it has a vast library of all ps1 and psp with a little ps2 games. Also emulates one of my fav handhelds the GBA as well as N64. In time im sure the Hacking community will be able to do more to/for the vita than sony ever bothered to do. I do still hope they make a successor with all the "vita" issues fixed!

I've been following you for several years and I think this is the best video you've ever made. Next level production value. Well done. You clearly put a lot of hours into this video and it shows.

Dude your ending statement was perfection. It did go down gracefully

I can't get enough of these documentaries. Thanks for that. I will always love my Vita(s).

I WILL ALWAYS AND FOREVER LOVE THE VITA FOREVER AND ALWAYS

Just bought two Vita’s, two memory cards, and some games before the digital store closes in four months. The PSP and Vita were such important pieces of my childhood - felt like something I wanted to hold on to now that I’m older.

Post end of life, HENkaku will save this device for current users.

I just found out about your channel. Love the content you make. keep it up my guy

I got a Vita for my 12th birthday back when it first came out. I’m 21 now, and my Vita still works great. I think it’s an underrated handheld. It’s got good games that are fun to play.

So hyped for this video!!

I picked mine up again recently, and given it had a menu with pages of icons on it, a black top bar with various icons including battery and a top bar, a notifications menu, SIM card support, and a web browser that feels surprisingly really good to use with a digital keyboard that the form factor feels really nice to use, I wonder what it would have been like if they went all the way and made it a hybrid smartphone/handheld console. Not sure how it would have went but it woulda been nuts for sure

Man you gotta do more docs Ryan..they are top notch!!!!

i'm still an avid user of vita, and it saddens me to see that the console didn't see the same light of day like it's predecessor. but it's eventual downfall was due to sony's bad marketing tactics and, like jack trenton said, it was a great machine, but it was too late, seeing how the world has shifted to smartphones for their portable gaming needs, amongst other issues

I love my Vita. Got the week early bundle. Then the slim and Playstation TV. Great systems that had the potential to have an even better library. However, I'm still happy we got some great games on it.

This video made me whip out my ol' Vita 2000 and I booted World of Final Fantasy again. I own a Switch and love the console, but the Vita is incredible in its own way, always had been, but playing with it again after 2 years in the vault feels so nostalgic and almost magical how this console even existed. I use my Switch everyday, but the Vita is still my favorite handheld console to this day.

100% storage card prices and space size were to blame for its demise. I was a huge day one fan, and even slim model and PSTV. Years later I’m glad I busted it all back out and got a custom firmware installed and used micro sd storage now through the game card slot with an adapter. Such an amazing 🤩 system with mass storage space! I even sold my slim and bought back the OLED model I missed so much!

If playstation 5 had a hand held With 1080p graphics and consistent frame rates they could take over that market

Switch didn’t even get an OLED screen until late 2021

The PSVita was my introduction to indie games. I remember vividly playing Hotline Miami for days on it. I couldn't put it down. It had its flaws and I would have loved to have more significant AAA games on it (like a GTA for instance), but I loved how it got recycled into an indie beast. I have many good memories of this console despite the failure. Awesome video, I loved the documentary! Thank you.

How I would’ve handled the Vita: *Physical Design* • No rear touchpad. Front touchscreen and cameras optional/debatable • Focus primarily on making the Vita as much like a portable console experience as possible by having L1/R1 L2/R2 triggers and clickable joysticks for L3/R3, making it exactly like a DualShock controller. Gyroscope and microphone can stay. • Not necessary but maybe make buttons more like ones on controller in terms of design, color. *Functionality* • Don’t bother with Remote Play for PS3 since it hardly even worked. Have the Vita focus on being its own console. • When the PS4 would come around though, experimenting with Remote Play would be fine. • No expensive memory cards - just use the old ones for the sake of costs. • Console itself would start off at its slashed $200 price. *Games* • Give developers plenty of time, money, etc to develop quality games (if Resistance, CoD, ACIII, Uncharted, etc were given the same care as console counterparts with maximum replayability in mind, I think the Vita would’ve done really well.) • Besides AAA games we got, add more to the roster such as the Bioshock that was teased, inFAMOUS, God of War, Metal Gear, Gran Turismo, maybe even a Far Cry title, etc.

For me it wasn’t just the memory cards that killed it, it was the markets in general. Smartphones and tablets were getting a lot better which instantly killed any kind of handheld game markets considering the type of games you can get off the App snd google play Store. Not to mention all smartphones have 3G/4g so you can play multiplayer anywhere whereas I think a lot of people probably bought the WiFi only ps vita model so you were restricted where you could play multiplayer. The weight and size of most smartphones were a bit more portable too even back then. Another thing that killed it was the type of games that were coming out. Initially there had a lot of GREAT games with high graphics for a handheld with uncharted, virtua tennis, even fifa was good for it’s time on the vita! And then all of a sudden more games were coming out that were just SO visually unappealing with these types of pixelated mini RPG style games with cartoony/anime looking characters I mean they look like games you could get on a game boy Advance or a Nintendo system and that’s just NOT PlayStation. It’s no wonder when you factor in all these reasons it died a death.

Great work Ryan!

From what I've heard, even now the PS Vita community is one of the most dedicated in gaming. Even the Vita homebrew community seems to focused less on piracy and more about native vita ports for games (such as the GTA games), emulation of older consoles, and experimenting with the hardware. (I don't actually know though, it just seems like this from my perspective as an 'outsider' who's never even owned a vita).

Great video. Good job man.

This system was so good. You scrap the memory cards and you have arguably the best handheld ever made in power and presentation. It's just a shame there wasn't enough original games on it as well

Man, I love this system. I’ve got the black and white OLED systems along with a PSVTV that I love to play on. For the most part they are good for RPGs and VNs, but there are so many genres that just shine on this thing. NFS: Most Wanted on the go? Yes please!

These documentaries are top tier. You should make one about ps2

I love re-watching this content from Mystic Ryan

I don’t mind having a proprietary memory card to prevent piracy, but they could’ve made those cards closer to the price of micro sd cards

If monster hunter stayed with Sony I think Vita would've made it.

Another Awesome video Ryan. ☺

Excellent vid. Very informative.

It seems as everything that someone calls a failure actually has a use and everybody always recommends it

Let’s be clear here, the memory cards ruined it

Great video! I bought a Vita for the first time a few weeks ago. I loved my PSP back in the day but never got into Vita until recently. I gotta say, it felt a little gimmicky. The touch screen/touchpad, microphone, and cameras weren't really used in the games I tried and enjoyed. The proprietary cards are also a drawback. One thing that I simply could not stand was the user interface. The XMB on the PSP was perfect. Hence why they're still using the XMB design 15 years later. The Vita's interface felt awkward to use and the "bubbles" made it seem almost "cute". In the end, it was an innovative device and it's unfortunate it didn't do as well as its predecessor. This video ended saying the device was a failure, but throughout the video I got a sense that it really wasn't all that big of a failure. Millions of units sold. Lots of great games. Years of support. I mean, it had its run and it's coming to a close, but overall it wasn't all that bad.

My top three in documentaries on RU-vid #2 #1 is that And1 documentary. Man I miss those dayz.