I'll be honest, it's not like we didn't know Vita was approaching it's last leg; one can even argue we're there now. I don't know how well, if at all, the Switch can replace the possibility of what the Vita symbolized; that is to say the Vita is a platform for niche games and for developers and publishers to find an audience with little competition in the way, but we'll have to wait and see how well the console adapts to third party development. I read that the Battle Chasers Nightwar developer wished Switch had more power to do what is was the team wanted to achieve but they had to make things work with what was available. So again, we'll be playing the waiting game to see if Switch can be what Vita is and even more.
Rant/
I'll probably get a Switch somewhere down the line for the kids when its on sale, but I don't have a whole lot of faith in Nintendo giving me what the Vita offers, which is reasonably priced games and enough interesting third party titles. Their track record suggests they would have to go against the grain and deliver in a Sony manner for them to do this.
That's why I'm totally happy sitting out for now and seeing how it plays out and what third parties will develop for the system. At the moment, its a bit of a mixed bag, looks like KT are betting on the system and EA being EA. At the moment, there's still time for it to go either way, but honestly I fear Nintendo are going to fall into the same trap they did with the Wii U, which is to go with their first party titles alone and not do some deals with prominent third parties.
Sony don't look like they're a company that want to do a Vita 2 either so maybe handhelds will just be a thing of the past.
Also I don't know if its just a US/Japan thing, but I was in Australia for a couple of weeks last month, I went into one of the bigger stores (JB Hifi Chadstone) that sell video games, the Switch area was tiny (maybe about 2 shelves, 10 games)? I'd have expected them to take alot more shelf space even with so few games. Nintendo has always had the smallest section (apart from when the Wii was on sale), and I just don't know if retail is that interested in Switch. It's mostly about the PS4.
the main issue is that the vita is sort of a sales vampire. yeah you have a small, dedicated fanbase of ps vita owners, but if 1,000 of them get a preorder of a game and 2,000 get a ps4 version, then that might mean 20,000 in orders. meanwhile if there was no ps vita version and you had 2,500 in preorders you might get 20,000 in orders anyway, except at a higher price and with a lower platform charge. it's hit the point where a ps vita version at retail is kind of a risk to other skus.
Well, a lot of Vita fans are collectors, I bet they'd buy both the PS4 and Vita versions anyway. Like the way Tokyo Xanadu or Ys VIII have extra content on the PS4 versions, I'm sure people will get both.