Sony’s closing the PS Vita’s storefront on 27th August, despite new games being in development for the platform. The short notice – and poor communication from the platform holder – has resulted in the cancellation of numerous projects over the past 48 hours, while other indie developers are scrambling to complete their in-progress titles in time.
The manufacturer will cease certification of software on its handheld platform from 12th July, leaving indie teams with weeks to finish their games – and a minuscule window to actually sell them. For developers like Lillymo Games – the makers of Habroxia 2 – this has resulted in the cancellation of its next title. Other releases like Thief’s Roulette and Lazr have been canned.
But some studios are forging ahead. We already reported on Scourgebringer, which will have a window of just over 100 days to sell its game, but Spooky Squid Games has confirmed that it will hustle to release Russian Subway Dogs as planned – and Suicidal Robot Games has made a similar pledge for Hand Cannon Janky. The latter is documenting its progress on Twitter.
In terms of developer relations, this whole scenario is terrible on Sony’s side. Lillymo Games recently purchased a PS Vita development kit, which was supplied by the platform holder without any further information about its intentions to close the storefront. Giving consumers such short notice is poor – but failing to communicate with its loyal development partners is unforgivable.
