It’s a sad day for PS Vita fans around the world. Today, Sony Japan announced that the two remaining models will be the last of the PS Vita line, and will officially be discontinued “soon.” Sony has not confirmed whether this will impact the distribution for North America or Europe, but it’s more than likely that we’ll have an announcement in the near future for that as well. While we lament what has happened to the underrated system, it looks like it’s the beginning of the end.

It’s a well known fact the PS Vita wasn’t the greatest success outside of its native Japan. Competing with the likes of the Nintendo DS and 3DS in North America and Europe, Sony’s revolutionary handheld system had a tough time on the handheld market. Despite their valiant efforts, the company had to realize the truth, they were fighting a losing battle, and in 2018 they announced that the system would no longer receive the benefits of the PSN Plus membership.

Later that year, Sony announced that they were ending all production for all of the Vita’s physical game cards, another sign that the system was on its way out. Regardless of what the Vita has become today, back when it launched in 2011 the handheld was widely praised for being a graphical powerhouse in comparison to its counterparts. In addition, the Vita boasted some of the best RPG titles at the time, specifically Persona 4: Golden which is considered one of the best Vita games of all time.

Sony also stated that you can still purchase games digitally from the Vita’s PSN store. It makes sense for them to retain an option for Vita owners to continue supporting the system, even if they don’t plan on updating it anymore. As we stated earlier, the PS Vita will be discontinued in Japan at some point, probably this year. Don’t be surprised if they make a similar announcement for the North American and European markets, also more than likely this year.