The always kind and revealing SCE Worldwide Studios President, Shuhei Yoshida, has revealed a bit more news on the PS4’s remote play strategy. While the feature which will allow your PS Vita to expand your PS4 experience by playing games that are streamed to it is a highlight of the PS4’s capabilities and the power of the Vita nearly two years after its launch, it won’t be making it to tablets and smartphones, including Sony’s own fleet. When asked about it on Twitter, Yoshida responded,

 Q: Hello Yoshida-san! Since the PS Vita can play almost all PS4 games with remote play, are there any plans to allow remote play by connecting the DualShock 4 to smart devices in the future? I got very excited at the thought when I realized it.

A: There are no plans. 

While power isn’t the culprit here with many smartphones and tablets boasting extremely powerful processors and graphic chips, it’s more likely that Sony decided against the feature to help boost PS Vita sales. The remote capabilities of the PS4 to the PS Vita will be a big selling point for the handheld and Sony is betting on this feature to sell more Vitas. If suddenly most smartphones and tablets could do this, it gives consumers who are on the fence about the unit one less incentive to purchase it.

Equally, with the Vita, developers have a controlled device that they can plan for with a specific screen and button layout. With tablets, Sony and developers will have to worry about different processing capabilities, screen sizes and touch response times which will surely be a cause for headaches. So while I’m sure Sony could have brought this to your favorite smartphone or tablet, it makes great business decision for them not to and I can’t hold that against them.

Discuss:

Do you see yourself purchasing a Vita if you don’t already have one in order to use the PS4 Remote Play feature?