It’s the end of the road for physical PlayStation Vita games, it seems. Kotaku reports today that Sony’s American and European units told developers that they “plan to end all Vita GameCard production by close of fiscal year 2018.” That comes out to March 31, 2019.
A spokesperson for Sony confirmed the news to the site.
This is no surprise, really, given that Sony previously said PlayStation Vita is “not an active line” for Sony outside of Japan and some parts of Asia.
Physical Vita games will apparently still be made for Japan and Asia, while digital game distribution and sales are expected to continue worldwide. Just this week, the developers of Stardew Valley announced that the game’s Vita edition will launch on May 22.
The Vita launched in Japan in late 2011 before coming to North America and other parts of the world in early 2012. A smaller, lighter model was released in 2013 in Japan and the following year in other parts of the world. According to a 2016 EEDAR study reported on by GamingBolt, the Vita has sold more than 10 million units worldwide.