Well this was bound to happen sometime. Here is IGN's report on this matter:
Sony Confirms It Has Stopped First-Party Vita Development
MasterNoob on 24/10/2015 - 08:31
Comments
agreed. this goes for almost every product they make.
the best engineers
the worst marketers, managers, legal team, accountants, customer service and everything else
Very sad, but very unexpected. Sony knows how to engineer great things, but is clueless about marketing and promoting them. The way the Vita was sold via very select channels at a very premium price meant it was never going to hit critical mass. I'm a very happy owner, but that really makes me part of a niche group.
This reminds of just how many amazing things that have come out of Sony before the competition (eg. Librie vs Kindle) only to see the competition blow them away. It's got to have a lot to do with Sony's crusty old management, placing limitations on what they can sell and how they can sell it.