PS Vita store shut down by developers: canceled premieres, losses and more

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The sudden decision on PS Vita store closure of the PS3, PS Vita, and PSP PS Store has taken many people by surprise, including indie studios and creators who continue to work on Sony’s handheld console. The PS Vita digital store will close on August 27, after which we will not be able to buy games in it. For many indie creators, this means the loss of projects that they dedicated years to publishing exclusively on the console. And for others, it involves making a risky decision: with their games still in development and some good money invested in it, are they rushing to launch it before closing, or will they have to bear the losses?

The latter is the case of Lillymo Games, a studio that works on Twin Breaker with a view to publishing it at the end of the year, and which has been forced to cancel its version of PS Vita suddenly since PlayStation did not notify them in advance of this. closure: “With today’s news of the Vita store closing, sadly we have to cancel the Vita version of our next game. The PS Vita store will close before the game is ready, so it looks like Habroxia 2 will be our last launch on Vita”. But this is not an isolated case, stemming from Sony’s sudden announcement.

The Gamer has contacted numerous studios and PS Vita creatives to find out how the closing of the store has affected them, collecting a good amount of testimonies from people forced to face losses or change all their plans in this situation. We have for example Miguel Sternberg, from Spooky Squid Games, who worked in a port of Russian Subway Dogs before learning of the closing of the store. Without advance notice from Sony, the team is now forced to work under pressure to publish their game as it is before closing, as the other option is to lose all the money invested in production and development kits.

PS Vita store shut down, Subway dogs
Subway dogs

“It’s basically a whole new headache over what was already the complex process of publishing to consoles being a small studio,” says Sternberg. “Most of the cost of making a port for PS Vita has already been paid. This is the first time that I have faced the process of programming for consoles, my experience is in art and not in code, so there is no guarantee. that it reaches the date. It supposes a lot of stress. “And other people will have to take losses on their expected income on the platform.

The PS Vita Store shut down on August 27

As explained to the aforementioned media, Checa estimates that the closure of the PS Vita PS Store will suddenly eliminate between 20% and 40% of the expected benefits of the game. And what’s more, their next title (‘El Gancho’) was also planned for this console, but given the impossibility of having it ready in time, they have been forced to cancel it. Then there is the case of those studies that published exclusive games for PS Vita, and face that their game disappears from the market forever if they do not port to other platforms. 

Cases like that of John Berry, creator of the free-to-play game Licky the Lucky Lizard: “There are no plans to do a port,” he says. “I’m developing a new game right now, so that keeps me very busy. Maybe in the future, if only to preserve it .” Though the Vita store shut down news has made everyone disappointed, it’s their obligation.

It’s frustrating, given the effort Microsoft puts into preserving

Anonymous Developer

“It is true that I am not losing revenue, but I was quite upset to find out about the closure,” says Berry. ” I don’t understand the logic… This is just the latest example of Sony’s mistakes in terms of its online infrastructure,” says the developer bluntly. Another developer, who has chosen to remain anonymous, believes that the shutdown will only encourage piracy. “By eliminating the legitimate option, publishers do not leave much choice to gamers. It is especially frustrating, given all the effort Microsoft puts into preserving its library and having great success at it,” he says, contrasting his closure with the compatibility of Xbox.

The closure of the PS Store on various platforms will only stimulate the demand for the physical format on these platforms. Although it must be remembered that many indie studios do not have the possibility to publish their games in physical form. And, with the closure of the digital store, your creations will be lost to everyone except those who had bought them before. PS Store will close its doors on PS3 and PSP on July 2; on PS Vita it will close on August 27. And, in anticipation of this, Sony has already closed the web versions of its stores.

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