Sony’s first attempt with the PlayStation Vita wasn’t really what the company had expected. Sure, the first few years were good, but the Vita was not able to take over the dominance of the Nintendo 3DS in the handheld game. Now, Bloomberg reported that Sony’s gaming division head John Kodera said that Sony is now looking at mobile gaming and believes that it will be part of PlayStation’s strategy moving forward.
“Rather than separating portable gaming from consoles, it’s necessary to continue thinking of [portable gaming] as one method to deliver more gaming experiences and exploring what our customers want from portable,” Kodera said. It seems that Kodera is suggesting in his announcement that Sony’s plan for mobile gaming will probably be somehow tied with the PS4 or better yet, the next PlayStation console.
This announcement is definitely good news, given that Sony plans to end the production of physical Vita games in North America and Europe. Furthermore, Sony announced a few months ago that Sony will cease support for free PS Vita games that come with a PS Plus subscription.
As of now, it seems that Sony is still not set on what they actually plan for mobile gaming in the future. It’s possible that the company will make a successor to the PS Vita, which will aim to rival the Nintendo Switch. On the other hand, Sony might also take advantage of the growing market of smartphone games that they may link somehow with the next PlayStation console. Probably an Xperia phone that has Switch like capabilities? Only time will tell.
