Sony announced that it was closing down the PlayStation Vita‘s storefront on August 27 just a few days ago. The announcement was not entirely shocking, but what seemed like short notice for consumers was an even shorter notice for developers still working on games to release on the platform.
The PlayStation Vita was never able to hit the target sales numbers set by Sony. Despite finding a dedicated fanbase, it never approached the sales numbers of Nintendo’s 3DS, its main competitor. As a result, Sony all but abandoned the console and announced that it was done developing first-party Vita games back in 2015, four years after its release. The announcement was very surprising for a handful of developers that were actively developing titles for the platform as they had received no word about the store’s imminent closure.
As part of the store’s closure, Sony will cease the certification of new software on July 12, leaving developers with the tough choice of either rushing to finish their game to publish it for a very limited window of time to actually sell it or to simply stop developing it and eat their losses and investments. Many developers have taken to Twitter to somberly announce the cancellation of their projects, including the developers of Habroxia 2, Lillymo Games.
Other canceled games include the kickstarted Thief’s Roulette as well as Lazr, which was already over a year into development. Undoubtedly, more games will be announced as canceled from the announcement with many more being silently dropped as well as many PlayStation 1 games being lost without their PS Vita ports being available.
Some studios have decided to forge ahead to get their titles released under the wire. The PS Vita version of 2D rogue-lite Scourgebringer is still slated to release on April 22, meaning the digital version of the game will only be available for 128 days, hardly any time at all to recoup development costs. Studio Spooky Squid Games also announced that they will be rushing to finish their next title Russian Subway Dogs before the certification cut off.
The store closure is surely a disappointment, for fans as well as its devoted developer community. Despite Sony’s disinterest in continuing first-party titles for the platform, the Vita has still built a respectable library over the years with a large selection of PS Vita RPGs, visual novels, and indie games. Hopefully, many of the titles will see ports to other platforms so they are not lost forever, but it is best to grab any wishlisted PlayStation Vita games before the store closes just to be safe.
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