Sony Will No Longer Make Gaming Handhelds

Sony Will No Longer Make Gaming Handhelds

In case you're wondering, Sony has no intention of making another dedicated gaming handheld.

SCE Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida told the audience at EGX this weekend that, while he is a huge fan of PlayStation Vita, dedicated handheld gaming devices market is "not healthy" at the moment due to the overwhelming dominance of mobile devices.

"People have mobile phones and it's so easy to play games on smartphones," he explained, noting that it is hard for pricey PSP titles to compete with smartphone games which are mostly free or free to start.

"We worked really hard on designing every aspect. Touch-based games are fun. There are many games with really good design. But having sticks and buttons make things totally different," said Yoshida. "So I hope, like many of you, that this culture of playing portable games continues but the climate is not healthy for now because of the huge dominance of mobile gaming."