Vita production ends in 2019

Well, we knew it was coming, and with Vita sales in Japan down to below 2,000 a week, this was inevitable. Sony has announced an end to Vita production next year with no plan for a successor. With more complaints about failing parts on forums than new game news, it won't come as a shock, even if its a bit weird for Sony to do this during a shiny new-thing show.

Economics dictates a factory or production line that can probably make 20,000 or more units a week can't run at 10%, so there you have it. At Sony's Tokyo Game Show event, while showing off the PlayStation Classic, a SVP of Interactive Entertainment confirmed the news (auto-translated).

Question - Can you talk about deployment of portable machines such as successor to PlayStation Vita?
Hiroyuki OdaOda - "At the moment, I do not have a plan of presentation about the new model of the portable machine (it is the plan at the present moment only). PlayStation Vita continues production until 2019 in Japan, and shipment will be completed thereafter."

Do not call this PlayStation TV! 

That suggestion of a "plan" likely means the company will put all its focus in to PS5, with perhaps a hybrid mode/device to keep up with the Nintendo's of this world.

But it won't be the end, there's no mention of cart production ending in Japan, yet. 2019 still has a modest line up of releases and, if developers are still crafting NES, Mega Drive, Dreamcast and even C64 and Spectrum games, I'm sure someone will find a way to keep the Vita bumbling along.

The key issue will be if the all-new PS5 PSN update somehow changes or kills PS Vita content. That will happen eventually, then there's gonna be a massive download rush to put all those titles somewhere safe.

In the meantime, buy a spare Vita before the prices shoot up, and all the physical copies you can! The Vita is now officially nostalgia. There will be plenty of nostalgia articles to come but think about this, a 2011-spec piece of mobile hardware will still be selling (a few) in 2020!

An end, but not the end!

What I really want to know now is, Sony would have had a mid-life/successor/upgrade plan for 2014/15, how powerful would that have been?