Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
[Update] PlayStation TV Discontinued In North America, Europe
Update: Sony has provided a statement on the PlayStation TV. The device was discontinued in North America and Europe at the end of 2015.
The company says however that as of the end of February 2016, the micro-console is still in production in other territories. This includes Japan, and Sony has no announcements regarding when that might change.
Original Story:
Sony has somewhat quietly revealed that The PlayStation TV (PSTV), a more limited console version of the PlayStation Vita, is being discontinued in Japan. Sony's official Japanese listing for the console and its various bundles says that their shipments have reached completion.
The device was originally released in Japan in November 2013 and then came to the United States in October of 2014 but didn't make much of an impact, with a number of retailers dropping the console's listed price of $99.99 to as low as $39.99 shortly after release. The PSTV was compatible with a number of games in the PlayStation Vita library (but not all of them) and did not come with a Netflix streaming app though the Vita had it.
Back in June of 2015, Sony president of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida talked a bit about why the device wasn't performing well:
It didn't capture the consumers' imagination....It's a hard concept to explain. You could say it's a mini-console, it's a video streaming device. If we say it's a mini-console, like other mini-consoles, people expect a better device like PS4 or Xbox One. It's short in that delivery. When you say it's a video streaming device, there are other devices with higher def video. It has some unique things like remote play of PS4 games. It can do many things, but it's not easy to say this one thing is extremely good. I think that's the reason we were not able to convince people at the original price.
It's worth noting as well that the Vita was practically a no-show at last year's E3.
We're reaching out to Sony to inquire about the state of the PlayStation TV in America and will update accordingly if we get a response.
Our Take
Personally, as someone who got a good bit of mileage out of his PSTV, I think this is a huge bummer but not entirely unexpected. Lacking common streaming apps like Netflix as well as a large amount of the Vita's library made any notion of success for the mini-console a pipe dream.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
