Following the news that Sony Interactive Entertainment is going to remove PS Vita games from their monthly PlayStation Plus lineup of games, the company has confirmed they’re ending production of physical cartridges for the handheld as well.
Sony confirmed they “plan to end all Vita GameCard production by close of fiscal year 2018” in North America and Europe, which means they’ll be ending the production of said cartridges by March 31st of next year (the end of their fiscal year). It remains to be seen if the Japanese production of PS Vita carts will be cut as well.
The news comes via a message sent out to game developers, obtained via Kotaku, who later got confirmation from Sony proper. It’s worth mentioning digital distribution of games via the PlayStation Network will continue.
PlayStation Vita first launched back in 2011 for Japan, followed later by North America and Europe in 2012.