Sony To End YouTube, Maps, Near Feature Support In The PS Vita Soon

Sony’s PS Vita was designed to be a handheld gaming console, however given that Sony now has to compete with the likes of smartphones and tablets which can also play games, video streaming and non-game related features were included as part of the console as well. However it looks like Sony has decided to start trimming the fat and do away with a couple of features.

Sony has recently announced that they will be ending support for the PS Vita’s Maps and near features in an upcoming update. The update, which is set to arrive in March as a firmware update, will automatically remove the Maps feature and the near feature will lose its ability to obtain locations or display maps, which essentially renders the feature rather pointless.

For those who enjoy watching videos while on the go, the bad news is that you will now have to turn to your mobile devices because Sony will also be ending their support for the Vita’s YouTube app. Support for it is expected to be removed come 20th of April, although as it stands Vita owners will no longer be able to download the app starting from today.

The semi-good news is that video streaming is still possible, although gamers will have to head on over to YouTube’s website via their browser in order to watch it. Some features and functions might be missing from the web version compared to the app, but it should do in a pinch. It has been speculated that this could be because Sony does not want to continue to pay to license YouTube from Google. In any case will any of these features be missed by you guys?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Apps, PS Vita, Sony, YouTube