Sony says handheld market is ‘limited,’ meaning the odds for a Vita 2 are low

Nintendo cited as a ‘different approach’

The Vita has been on life support for a while now. If you couldn’t just tell from Sony’s general actions, the downplayed existence at recent E3s is probably proof enough. But now, Sony boss Andrew House is just outright telling us that its days are numbered.

Speaking to Bloomberg, House explains that the handheld market is “limited,” and that “the Vita experience was that outside of Japan and Asia, there was not a huge demand,” because of smartphones. When asked about bringing a new portable to market to compete with Nintendo, House responds, “The Nintendo device is a hybrid device and that’s a different approach and strategy. We have not seen that as being a huge market opportunity.”

Based on the interview, House isn’t outright saying that a Vita 2 is canceled, or that future PSP-esque plans are canned, but he’s implying it. House feels that smartphones are going to continue to dominate the space, and eludes to the fact that Sony should continue to corner the console market. But with the aforementioned hybrid strategy, Nintendo is in a very good place right now.

PlayStation Boss Sees Limited Potential for Handheld Gaming [Bloomberg]