The sixth in a series of articles I’m writing, looking at the output of a number of Vita-supporting companies from launch through to the present day. I’ll be examining what the games they released were; (if the data is available) how well they sold; (in cases of them being ports) how well they ran; as well as a brief look at games which perhaps should have come to the console either in the west or in general.

I’ve managed to look at one western publisher so far in this series – Ubisoft – who provided a spree of initial support in Vita’s early years which very much tapered off over time; as opposed to Japanese companies who generally started slow on the console then built up over time. Unsurprisingly, Warner fall very much into the former camp – providing a variety of software at the beginning, which sadly slowed to a crawl by the end.

Launch & 2012 – a good showing

Unlike many of the companies I’ve looked at the output of recently, Warner weren’t there for launch (although who can blame them based on the amount of titles which launched with the handheld). They were, however, a key partner of Sony’s in keeping a stream of content flowing on the handheld throughout 2012.

Kicking things off was LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, the latest in their popular line of licenced LEGO videogames which had released for other platforms in November 2011. The game arrived shortly after launch in March and promised a full LEGO experience on the go – but frustratingly, didn’t deliver on this as the Vita version was based on the earlier PSP release (which itself was based on the DS version), a cut-down game which featured the same puzzle-solving, brick-collecting levels but had a number of features stripped out. As such, it marked a rocky start for the publisher on the handheld – they were clearly capable of doing more than this, but could be excused of their shortcomings due to the rush of getting a title ready the brand-new hardware.

Things improved in May with their next release – Mortal Kombat. The 2011-released fighting game reboot transitioned well to the Vita, providing full 60fps combat alongside all the content from the Komplete Edition console release as well as some handheld-specific features like a Challenge Tower and touchscreen additions. Unfortunately, it came at the price of visual fidelity – the game took a significant hit in the porting process, but most fans seemed content with this trade-off.

The rest of Warner’s 2012 was as to be expected, but they did have a couple of surprises up their sleeve. Following on from Harry Potter, in June 2012 they released LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes for Vita simultaneously with other platforms. Despite early rumors suggesting this was a full home-console game with free-roam included, reviews quickly noted that this was yet again a bespoke handheld version that introduced some fun bite-sized mechanics (Justice League levels) but cut out a lot of the features of the main releases. A similar issue plagued LEGO Lord of the Rings which released in October, suggesting that their Vita LEGO games were only ever going to be up-ports of their DS releases; a decision which disappointed many fans.

The company had another Vita game planned for October of 2012, however – a reboot of their action-racing franchise Spy Hunter. Following their original reboot in 2001 on the PS2, hopes were high for this new take on the series to replicate that brilliance, but sadly once the title released fans were disappointed with the lack of speed; poor-quality environments and wonky controls. This was likely due to the fact that the game was a multi-platform release with the 3DS – a much weaker piece of hardware that probably meant the development started on that then was up-ported to Vita.

It marked a disappointing end to a somewhat disappointing year for Warner – clearly they wanted to support Vita and had moments of brilliance with releases like Mortal Kombat, but it was obvious they weren’t willing to put the effort in to fully realise the handheld’s potential.

2013 – Warner’s best year on Vita?

2013 was a stronger year for Warner on Vita – they definitely brought their A-game in the holiday season, but sadly prior to this their release scheduled was filled with less than stellar ports of titles from other handhelds.

The year only kicked off for them in June, with the release of LEGO Legends of Chima: Laval’s Journey. Their first handheld-only LEGO game on the 3DS & Vita, the title focused on the popular Legends of Chima line of toys and TV show and targeted a younger demographic than usual yet seemed to be a marked gameplay improvement over the previously released Vita games (despite the fact that a DS version also existed).

Yet for all the steps forward the company took with Laval’s Journey, they took a number of steps back with their next LEGO game on the handheld – Marvel’s Super Heroes. Based on the film world’s hottest property, Vita received a spin-off to the home console version entitled Universe in Peril that bizarrely changed the gameplay perspective from the usual third-person view to an isometic camera angle; as well as shortening the length of every level and adding time-based challenges into the fray (as well as removing the jump button). While still a fun game in its own right, it was worlds apart from the ‘console quality on the go’ mantra that Vita had initially pushed and was a stark shift from what made previous LEGO titles fun.

This wasn’t all Warner had planned for Vita in 2013, however, as they leveraged their use of the DC licence to great effect in two further titles for the handheld. Leading the charge was Batman Arkham Origins Blackgate, a spinoff of the home console title Batman Arkham Origins that focused on a metroidvania-style exploration experience rather than an open-world combat experience. Reviews were polarised on whether this was successful, with many suggesting that the Vita could handle better (and was held back by the existence of a 3DS version) while others suggested it was a great way to distil the core experience into a handheld format.

To compliment their Batman game, the company also released Injustice: Gods Among Us on Vita in November – as an Ultimate Edition bundle including all of the previously released DLC from the PS360 versions. The port was handled by Armature – the development studio behind Metal Gear Solid HD Collection as well as Batman and turned out pretty well, targeting 60fps and cramming all the content from the home console version in. Sadly visual fidelity took a hit in the process, but otherwise it was a solid job.

While 2013 had its ups and downs for Warner on Vita, it would mark the final year they experimented with games outside of their LEGO franchise which is a real shame – they had some interesting ideas for what constitutes a portable game (as demonstrated by Batman and Spy Hunter) as well as showing they had the capability to produce great ports of home console games (Injustice and Mortal Kombat).

2014 – a disappointing LEGO year with a glimmer of hope

While it had been clear previous that Warner’s intentions for Vita were mainly LEGO-focused, that point was hammered home in 2014 during which the company only released titles in that franchise for the handheld. With that said, it was a quiet year for the publisher in general, with very few titles released even on home consoles.

Starting the year was The LEGO Movie Videogame in February, based on the popular animated film from the same month. While the home console game focused on hub-world based collecting; the Vita iteration again opted for an isometric viewpoint (as seen in LEGO Marvel’s Super Heroes) which still irritated some gamers but at least provided a bespoke experience for the handheld and added unique features such as driving levels, showing the team at TT Fusion had some ambition to improve their products. This approach was again seen in April’s LEGO The Hobbit, which was somewhat surprising given there was no DS release this time around (therefore no seventh-generation hardware to hold the title back).

During this time, Warner-owned studio TT Fusion commissioned Hellbent Games to create their second handheld-only eighth-generation LEGO title in LEGO Ninjago Nindroids, a sequel to the DS-only release LEGO Battles Ninjago. Based on the popular LEGO Ninjago line of toys and TV series (much like LEGO Legends of Chima), the title again picked an isometric perspective for its gameplay and introduced a number of touch-screen mechanics too, showing the studio was experimenting with its LEGO games even if it wasn’t necessarily pushing them forward.

Yet with the release of LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham in December, the unthinkable happened – Warner’s LEGO releases on Vita took a massive step closer to their home console versions in terms of quality. Featuring a return to the third-person, shifting-camera perspective of previous games and including a sea of content and characters (despite some things still being missing such as the Lantern Worlds), it marked the most competently made handheld LEGO release since the PSP days; as well as being a vast improvement over the preceding LEGO Batman 2.

And Warner would keep to this new design going forward, with their remaining Vita LEGO games all showing an increase in quality and content. With that said, LEGO was all they offered going forward and it’s difficult not to lament the missed opportunities to bring titles to the handheld that came in the following years.

2015 – a year of missed opportunities

Overall, 2015 continued what we all knew about Warner and Vita at this point – that future games would only be LEGO, despite the potential to bring their other, fitting titles to the handheld. Still, after the success of LEGO Batman 3 at the end of 2014, it appeared that at least their core franchise would be making big steps forward on the handheld.

Kicking things off was LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin, a sequel to 2014’s Nindroids based on the popular Ninjago line of toys. Rather than the isometric viewpoint seen in the prequel, Shadow of Ronin went for a traditional 3D perspective and – rather interestingly – introduced the first fully explorable hub world on Vita, making it a huge improvement over its predecessors. The game itself also included a number of gameplay tweaks including a buffed combat system that made it arguably the most enjoyable title in the franchise to date, especially if you were a fan of the source material.

They followed this up with LEGO Jurassic World in June of the same year. Although a briefer experience than the console version missing some of the more intricate levels, it still managed to be a more complete handheld LEGO experience than anything since the PSP days and received great reviews, particularly noting the strength of the game by including content from all four films in the franchise. Certainly, it was a great time to be a LEGO fan if you owned a Vita.

2015 also saw Bastion come to Vita – Warner were the original publishers of the game on Steam and Xbox 360, but the title was self-published by developers Supergiant Games on the handheld, which was a bit of a missed opportunity for the company. Speaking of missed opportunities, a number of titles throughout the year released on other platforms would’ve been perfect on Vita, but were skipped as it became clear that Warner weren’t interested in tackling challenging projects on the platform.

The main game this applies to was Mortal Kombat X, the successor to 2012’s Mortal Kombat. Although that game took a bit of a graphical beating in coming to the platform, it remained a fan-favourite and sold reasonably well – and given that the company got MKX running on mobiles, a Vita side-port shouldn’t have been too difficult. Also missing was Gauntlet, Arrowhead’s reboot of the classic dungeon-crawler that came to PS4 in August. Given the console’s complete lack of isometric games in this style, it would’ve filled a nice niche in the market; especially since Arrowhead had experience on the handheld with Helldivers.

Other titles like LEGO Dimensions could’ve potentially made the leap (although issues with the toys-to-life portal would’ve existed) while others like Mad Max would likely have been too much for a 2011 handheld. Although as a fan I’m just happy that the quality of the LEGO games took a massive step up in 2015, it’s still a massive shame that Warner weren’t willing to look into bringing more of their other titles to Vita that would’ve been a perfect match.

2016 – the last of the LEGO?

Much like the previous year, 2016 was punctuated solely by LEGO – in fact, just two titles in total, which is a disappointing showing. Still, they managed to be arguably the best LEGO games released on the handheld at all – taking great strides towards being true console quality as well as experimenting with new ideas and gameplay.

Starting the year was LEGO Marvel’s Avengers, based on the mega-popular super-hero film series. For the first time in PlayStation handheld LEGO title, the game featured a fully open-world which could be explored at any time – which was a brilliant addition adding a great sense of exploration and plenty of side quests. Although the narrative was fractured and the draw distance kinda poor, it was still a great addition to the console’s lineup and a really fun time (why not check my review?)

They followed this up in June with LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the long-awaited newest LEGO Star Wars title (being the sub-series that really propelled the IP into the gaming stratosphere). Absent since 2011’s LEGO Star Wars III, the title introduced a number of changes to the core gameplay including third-person cover-shooter elements; multi-builds and a story spanning the events of the seventh film and was hands-down the best in the series on Vita – reviews loved it. It marked an extremely high point in the franchise on the handheld and was a sign that things were very going very well at developer Traveller’s Tales.

Predictably, this was all Warner Bros. had for Vita, with no other releases in 2016. To be fair, it was a quiet year for the publisher in general with few other releases which would have transitioned well to the handheld; possibly their HD port of the LEGO Harry Potter games would have worked, but otherwise it was slim pickings. With that said, slim pickings was very much the theme of Warner’s support going forward, with 2016 seemingly marking their final year of releases on Sony’s portable hardware.

2017 & 2018 – the end of the Warner?

As of the date of publication of this article, Warner have yet to release a game on Vita in 2017. Given their previous track record a number of their choices to skip games weren’t surprising, but by this point it has become pretty clear the company are done with the platform.

Things begun to look iffy from the start of the year when LEGO Worlds released on PC; PS4 & XB1 in March but completely swerved Vita, although as a fairly ambitious Minecraft clone with a lot going on it was possible the game just wouldn’t run on the handheld. The same thing happened with LEGO City Undercover – a port of the 2013-released open-world Wii U game which came to PC PS4; XB1 & Switch in April and again missed out on Vita, although again this may have been a technical choice (I’m sure fans would have at least appreciated an up-port of the 3DS version The Chase Begins, though).

In May, Injustice 2’s release came and went across PS4 & XB1, despite an iOS/Android version existed that could have surely been used as a base for a Vita release (although given the company skipped Mortal Kombat X in 2015, this wasn’t a major surprise). What was a shock was Cars 3: Driven to Win missing eighth-generation handhelds altogether, with no release on either 3DS or Vita – a strange move considering the title would obviously appeal to a younger audience found on 3DS. Given the PSP managed to get solid ports of Cars and Race-o-Rama (as well as a questionable port of Cars 2), it was a shame the series couldn’t continue on Vita.

Warner’s strangest decision came at the tail-end of the year though, with the announcement of their upcoming LEGO releases The LEGO Ninjago Movie Game and LEGO Marvel’s Super Heroes 2. Both chose the now-common combination of PS4/XB1/PC/Switch as their platforms, suggesting this will be the company’s focus going forward – despite the fact that the previous Ninjago games were handheld-only on Vita & 3DS and Marvel’s Avengers on Vita had been a great technical step forward that it would have been smart to build upon for the sequel.

As such, with the advent of LEGO leaving the platform it became clear that Warner were done with Vita – perhaps not such a surprise given the handheld’s weak western userbase; but more of a surprise given the fact that they also dropped 3DS in the process. Nintendo’s child-friendly handheld seemed a perfect fit for their adventure-platforming series and I can’t help but feel that they’re leaving a lot of sales on the table by dropping those consoles.

Conclusion

Through their LEGO brand, Warner Bros. have managed to be one of the most prosperous publishers on Vita with multiple releases each year spanning from 2012 to 2016 – putting them far ahead of the majority of western third-parties. Yet beyond this their output has been sparse – focused mainly on the early years of the console, with precious little released in its twilight years.

To be fair, this isn’t far removed from their PSP support, which started strong with titles like Justice League Heroes yet fizzled out to ports of LEGO games by the end. Worse still, during their PSP tenure they started with fully-featured down-ports of their home console LEGO games which became up-ports of DS titles by the end – rarely making full use of the hardware they were running on. This was a mantra which continued throughout their time on Vita, with very little made that wasn’t shared with 3DS.

Yet in spite of this, the company did improve their efforts rapidly towards the end, with titles like LEGO Marvel’s Avengers and LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens becoming bespoke versions that fully resembled their home console counterparts, just with a few cut corners. Combined with their early successes with things like Injustice, I’m very happy they did support the handheld and a number of their titles will remain a staple of my Vita library for years – it’s just a shame they couldn’t have supported it a little better to the very end.