To the vast majority of gamers, the PlayStation Vita is not a going concern. They’re happy to bring their games with them on the Switch or tap away at some mobile curiosity. For a vocal minority, the platform’s slow death has seen a scramble to procure as many releases as possible before Sony closes the gates. While we may still see digital releases going into the near future, physical releases are hitting a hard stop. Requests for new products have already stopped and orders will cease come February. For an outfit like Limited Run Games, this means that some releases may have to go by the wayside.
Having to do something I hate doing today – our remaining Vita cartridge allotment with Sony is far lower than we expected. We are being forced to put a pretty large swath of releases (over 10) on hold unless another publisher gives us some of their allotment. 🙁
— Josh Fairhurst (@LimitedRunJosh) December 21, 2018
Limited Run Games originally made a name for themselves on the Vita, becoming one of the primary publishers of physical carts. While they’ve branched into PlayStation 4 and Switch production, their customers still have a love for Sony’s portable platform. In his tweet, Josh reveals that he has over ten games waiting in the wings that may not get a Vita physical release. In followup tweets, he does note that there are publishers who haven’t given up their Vita allotment as of yet, which could free him to secure more cards and make some of those releases a possibility.
As for games on the chopping block, Limited Run usually keeps most future releases pretty close to the vest. As for ones that have been announced, we can see on their upcoming releases page that Spelunky, Nuclear Throne, Mercenary Kings, and Iconoclasts are up in the air. Considering that some of these announcements go back months, it’s hard to say when they were initially planned for release and if PS4 copies would move forward without Vita accompaniment. It’s always tough to see a platform reach its final days, but companies like Limited Run are at least making the Vita burn out brightly.
