As Sony plans on PS5 Portable, let's look back at what went wrong with PS Vita

Sony is reportedly developing a PS5 Portable which can play games directly instead of the streaming-only PS Portal. And, it seems like we’ve heard that before.

The Japanese tech giant created the PS Vita back in the early 2010s which was a product that was ahead of its time. The successor of the PlayStation Portable is a product of the booming popularity of handheld games that were popular on earlier smartphones and it quickly became a sensation.

PS Vita recorded a strong start in Japan, reaching 300,000 units sold within the first week of launch. It comes with an OLED screen, dual analog sticks, and the ability to play PS2-era games, which was ahead of its time compared to competitors like Nintendo 3DS. You could also play PS4 games via Remote Play in a similar fashion to the current PS Portal.

But then, Vita’s limited game library, coupled with a strong showing by the newer Nintendo Switch, left the future of the console in limbo. Sony stopped making games for Vita sometime around 2015 as the system’s sales declinedthis song before.. And on top of that, Sony also shifted its focus more on the PS4 and everything around it, which has amassed a stronger market presence.

Sony says that the PSP sold over 76.4 million units by 2012, two years before its total discontinuation. PS Vita, on another hand, has no official sales record although estimates were saying a ballpark of around 15 to 16 million units. It’s a big up, but not too much for a console with Vita’s caliber of hype.

Looking back, Sony now says that the PS Vita was “another evolutionary leap forward in portable gaming.”

“PS Vita built on the promise of console-quality gaming in a portable device with a launch line-up that catered to all tastes – from affordable, digital-only titles like Super StarDust Delta to blockbuster adventures like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and WipEout 2048 that also came loaded on tiny game cards,” the Japanese company says.

But as Sony wants to re-enter the market with the PS5 Portable (or whatever they’ll call it), it may not going to be a smooth ride. Nintendo has been teasing the backward-supporting Switch predecessor — the “Switch 2” —  a lot, and with Microsoft’s potential move in the market, it seems like we’ve all heard this song before. Hoping, this time, we’ll all like the ending.