Update: In response to a request for comment from Ars Technica, a Sony representative said the YouTube app was being removed because "the service provider is upgrading their API for YouTube, and this has made it difficult for SCE to continue support of the application on PS Vita." As for Maps, Sony says it has "decided to delete the features after considering users’ needs and market trends."

Original Story

Traditionally, as a console gets older, the console maker adds new features and compatible apps for users to download. Sony is taking the opposite tack with the PlayStation Vita in the coming months, though, planning to disable a few apps and features that have worked on the system since launch.

Sony announced early this morning that it would be ending support for the Vita's free YouTube and Maps apps, as well as the geo-location features of the Vita-based "Near" social network. YouTube will no longer be available for download after February 28, and it will be officially unsupported after April 20. Maps and Near geotagging, meanwhile, will be disabled alongside a firmware update planned for March, even for users who decide not to download the update.

Sony didn't offer any reason for the sudden removal of these Vita features, but the company explained via a pair of FAQs that both YouTube and Google Maps could still be accessed through the Vita's Web browser, with some minor differences in functionality (Sony may want to thank the rise of HTML5 video in YouTube's case). While Near will technically still work after the update, the app won't be able to broadcast your location or find other Vita owners that are, ahem, "near" you, severely limiting its usefulness.

None of these soon-to-be-removed apps or features are really key parts of the Vita's appeal, especially if you already have a smartphone in your pocket. I don't think I've loaded up any of these Vita apps even once since testing them for my initial review of the hardware , in fact, and I never even really understood the appeal of Near in the first place.

Still, it's always upsetting to realize that corporations can and will remove existing features in their hardware, often for unexplained or capricious reasons. Recall that, when Sony removed the ability to install Linux on the PS3 in 2010, it led to a lawsuit that was eventually dismissed. I'm not sure anyone will be suing over the loss of these incidental Vita apps, but that doesn't make their sudden removal any less galling.