By all accounts, Sony's PS Vita portable game console was a commercial failure With an estimated 16 million units sold, it fell far short of the huge success of its predecessor, the PlayStation Portable, which sold over 76 million units worldwide

The failure of the PS Vita can be attributed to a combination of mismanagement by Sony and changes in the mobile market

However, given the recent success of the Nintendo Switch, the huge popularity of the PS4, and the unquenchable demand for where to buy the PS5, perhaps now is the time for Sony to convene its R&D department and begin developing a successor to the PS Vita Here are some reasons why Sony should build a PS Vita 2

On YouTube and gaming forums, gamers are passionate about the PS Vita's appeal With its clean lines and piano black finish, it looks modern and luxurious, even though it was released nearly a decade ago Compared to the newer, more powerful Nintendo Switch, Sony's smaller handheld looks and feels doubly expensive

While the PS Vita has a sub-HD screen of 960x544, it has an OLED display, which was rare in 2012 Some models also had 3G connectivity and Bluetooth support exclusively for AT&T in the US Even the Nintendo Switch does not have built-in Bluetooth, requiring third-party accessory makers to use plug-in add-ons

While the Vita's game library did not match the Switch or PSP, it was a great platform for playing indie titles and obscure Japanese games Games like "Persona 4 Golden" may not have been huge hits, but they brought Western gamers into JRPGs

In the nearly two years since Sony discontinued production of the PS Vita, fans have created a variety of sequel concepts One concept went viral on TikTok, garnering over 14 million views

When the PS Vita was launched in Japan at the end of 2011, the mobile technology landscape was very different from today Back then, quad-core processors and 512 MB of RAM were the state of the art Today, even the list of best budget smartphones includes devices with 8 cores and 6 GB of RAM

The modern PS Vita will leverage the advances of the past decade, employing oct-core processors, advanced graphics hardware, and large amounts of RAM

We believe the new Vita should either use an upgraded version of Nvidia's Tegra processor found in the Nintendo Switch, or instead use AMD's rumored Ryzen C7 platform Both would be a significant upgrade to the PS Vita's ARM Cortex A-9 and would allow for the latest graphics on the go

The Vita was also hampered by a lack of storage The original PS Vita shipped without hard drive space, and users had to purchase Sony's own expensive PS Vita memory cards; a 32 GB card cost $130

The PS Vita Slim version had 1GB of onboard storage, but still required a memory card Sony's exorbitant memory card prices may have been one of the reasons why the PS Vita never made it to a soft launch

Sony probably did this in an attempt to cover costs, as the Vita was selling at a loss Another reason would have been to destroy the piracy that was rampant on the PSP Nevertheless, potential consumers were displeased with this, and many continued to use the Nintendo 3DS or stuck to gaming on their phones

If Sony were to announce a PS Vita 2 with an open storage card format like MicroSD, it would likely fare better

The Switch showed that mobile hardware can produce console-quality games Although the resolution and effects are not as good as those of home consoles, even a loaded game such as The Witcher 3 can be played on the Switch

Sony should therefore leverage its brand power: the Vita 2 should be a companion device to the PS5

Sony could bring back "Cross Buy," a program that allows users to get both the PS4 and PS Vita versions of a game with a single purchase Developers have told me that the process of compiling certain types of games for the Vita was so simple that game buyers would have been fools not to participate in the cross-buy program

Indeed, this is best suited for simple indie games, whereas the cross-compilation process for graphically intensive titles would have been more complicated

However, given the scalability of today's game software, it may be possible to play a game like "Spider-Man: Miles Morales" on a 720p screen It may not have ray tracing or other new graphical effects, but it is not impossible, as evidenced by the games ported to the Switch

Remote play would be another selling point for the Vita 2 This would allow gamers using a Mac, PC, or smartphone to connect to their home console via an Internet connection and stream their games - sort of like Google Stadia, but instead of streaming from Google's servers, the PS5 It would stream from the PS5

The beauty of the Nintendo Switch is its pick-up-and-go seamlessness You can start playing on your TV and then continue a few seconds later while taking an Uber; a similar dock for the PS Vita 2 would be a huge boon for the platform

Playing the Japanese RPG Persona 5 on the PS4 was a lot of fun, but being restricted to sitting on the couch made the game more difficult to complete Although I was not able to bring the game with me on the subway, I took advantage of remote play whenever I could

As with past Persona titles, it is almost certain that the upcoming Persona 6 will be a PS5 exclusive If the PS Vita 2 can be docked and carried along, it will alleviate some of the grinding required for the 100+ hour JRPG This is also why many gamers continue to demand that Atlus, the developer of the "Persona" franchise, release the current "Persona 5" on the Switch

The Vita 2's dock can connect directly to the PS5 This would keep the Vita 2 charged at all times, but would share information between both devices Whenever a user needs to leave with the Vita 2, their progress in Demon's Souls will be carried over, allowing them to continue playing where they left off

Sony attributes the Vita's failure to the rise of smartphone gaming That is correct to some extent Mobile gaming, while less precise, has the advantage of connecting to the technology we already have, and many mobile games are free to download Smartphones have become so essential that Apple has retired its entire phone-free iPod Touch series

For the PS Vita 2 to succeed, Sony will need to address the smartphone issue head on If Sony is willing to include Android support in the Vita 2 and a cellular chip in some models, it would help the Vita 2 gain a foothold in the highly competitive mobile market

What we do know is that Sony does not have the clout that Nintendo has; for the Vita 2 to succeed, it needs to understand what Nintendo does well and what Samsung does well and do both Otherwise, I will be writing an article in 10 years about why Sony should make a Vita 3