Sony Says AAA Games Don’t Work On PS Vita

Enjoying Borderlands 2 on your Vita (or possibly even your brand new Vita Slim)? Well in terms of big-budget AAA games, that may be the last one you see for awhile, if ever.

Earlier this week, responding to a fan comment on the PlayStation Blog that Sony promised the Vita would have “console-quality” games, Don Mesa, Director of Product Planning and Platform Software Innovation at Sony Computer Entertainment said:

"As for the big games: The economics simply don’t work with the traditional process. We have to do something different to get AAA games on Vita. We accomplished it to a certain degree by making PS4 games work on Vita via remote play. PS Now will be another way, streaming PS3 games on Vita. I can’t wait until PS Now is out on Vita – I hope you’ll try out the experience and let me know what you think."

Essentially, this really kills any hopes of having more titles like Uncharted: Golden Abyss or Killzone: Mercenary, which at least attempted to have console-quality gaming on the Vita.

This is in very stark contrast to the Vita’s most direct competition, the Nintendo 3DS. Sure, you can’t stream games on it, but in addition to a pretty hefty library of independent games and classic titles on the virtual console, you regularly have games that would easily qualify as AAA experiences. The 3DS arguably had the best game releases of any system last year, and it hasn’t let up in terms of top-shelf releases for the system in 2014.

Then you have Sony with the Vita, basically saying indies and streaming is enough and AAA games don’t really work on their console that is far more powerful than the 3DS. It seems like of the many things Nintendo has done wrong lately, one area they have really delivered in is a near constant release of AAA games on the 3DS.

I own a Vita and am pretty happy with it, but I mainly play old or downright obscure RPGs on it. That isn’t really a selling point for many people. Frankly, neither is paying $200 on top of the $400 you just put down for a PlayStation 4 just so you can play Infamous: Second Son on a small screen (which I have never gotten to work very well). And don’t even get me started on the giant rip-off that is Vita Memory cards. Honestly, at this point, I don’t think Sony ever had any real idea what they wanted out of the Vita and it suffered for it. Now Sony basically has a “here’s the Vita. As is, take it or leave it” attitude about the system.

This isn’t saying there aren’t great games on the Vita. There are a number of great games on it, and some great ones coming. But when the company’s attitude seems to be on the verge of barely trying anymore, it’s kind of hard to get behind.

What do you think, GameSided readers? Do yo own a Vita and want more AAA games on it? If you don’t own one, would more AAA games get you to buy it (and which ones)? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!