The PlayStation Vita remains an interesting handheld console to this day and a valuable case study that demonstrates the issue of having an unfocussed design. While it tried to be a smartphone and gaming console at the same time, Nintendo’s much more focused 3DS outsold it by a margin of 5:1. And Sony was up to its usual shenanigans of peddling proprietary storage devices (the PS Vita Memory Card).
Talking of expensive proprietary devices, how many games can 8GB hold on PS Vita? It depends on the type of game you’ve downloaded, and whether it comes with any patches or DLC. Most PS Vita games are 1 to 2GB in size, but your memory card also has to store user save data and multimedia (photos, video, etc.).
Of course, some games on the Vita are massive and won’t even fit into a single 8GB memory card. Take Phantasy Star Online 2 for example, which is nearly 15GB in size after you download the patches and additional content. Another massive game is Final Fantasy X-2, which once unpacked from its .vpk state can occupy nearly 7GB on your Vita’s memory card.
How Many Games Can 8GB Hold On PS Vita?
Most PS Vita games are under 4GB, so you can expect to store at least two games on your 8GB memory card. Even if you go for the big-budget AAA open-world western RPGs that have excellent graphics. Games like Persona 4 Golden (3.26GB) and Sly Cooper Thieves in Time (3.27GB) can be easily stored even on a 4GB memory card.
If you’re short on memory space and don’t have the means to purchase a new card, you can try the good old delete trick. Finish your game, delete it, and install something new in its place. When you feel like replaying your old game, you can just redownload it from the online store.
Now, I must remind you that deleting your game will also remove all its saved data. Unlike a PC, the saved data is attached to the game and goes with it. You can get around this issue by purchasing a PlayStation Plus membership, which gives you access to cloud saves along with a selection of free games.
Clearly, some of you might not want to pay Sony for the privilege of storing saved files for a game that you’ve already purchased. Not to worry, you can back up PS Vita games to your PC using the content manager app. This requires you to back up the entire game folder, and not just the saved data (you can later delete everything except saved files from your PC).
Is 8GB Enough For Vita?
As I mentioned in the intro, it depends on what you’re planning to play. For a handy reference table of game sizes, check out this IGN list. It doesn’t contain every Vita game, but many of the popular ones are listed along with their download sizes.
You’ll see that some Vita games can be as small as 50 to 100 MB, similar to a mobile game from 2012. Others can be massive, up to 8GB in size (or more). Larger game worlds with highly detailed models and lots of content mean it is going to be a big game.
If you are interested primarily in digital downloads from the online store, an 8GB card might not be enough. You are better off getting the 32GB or 64GB card. But those can be very expensive, thanks to scalpers and collectors who sell used cards at exorbitant prices.
These people take advantage of the fact that the PS Vita has recently surged in demand on the used market. Plus, Sony hasn’t made new memory cards since 2019. Normally, the PS Vita doesn’t accept regular SD cards which are a lot cheaper and have much more capacity compared to the proprietary Sony cards.
But you can purchase an adapter like the SD2Vita which lets you insert microSD cards into your Vita. You need some kind of homebrew software (HENkaku) to use these. Or firmware version 3.6 on your Vita.
How Many Games Can Fit In A PS Vita?
The original PCH-1000 “fat” Vita has no internal memory, so you need a memory card at all times if you’re going to download digital games. The later PCH-2000 “Slim” Vita comes with 1GB of internal flash storage. Which is enough to download a couple of indie titles or platformers, but insufficient for AAA gaming.
So if all you want to do is play some Terraria or Hotline Miami, the internal storage of a PS Vita Slim will do. But you can’t fit titles like Gravity Rush and Disgaea 3 on there. And how many games you can fit in a Vita is entirely reliant on its memory card size.
A 64GB card is the largest you can get and should store a dozen games at the bare minimum. But the best solution is to buy an adapter that lets you insert SD cards into your Vita. Then, you can roll around with 256GB to 1TB of storage in your pocket.
How Many GB Can A PS Vita Hold?
The smallest PS Vita memory card is 4GB, with the largest being 64 GB. There is no internal storage in a PCH-1000 Vita model, but later PCH-2000 Vita units shipped with 1GB of internal flash storage. PS Vita game cartridges started at 4GB, with higher capacity models introduced later (physical games save to the cartridge).
Free PS Vita Games
Believe it or not, you can play some fun games for free on the Vita. These are all digital games, so you’ll need a memory card to download them. Zen Pinball! and Desert Ashes are some of the best free games you can find for the Vita on the PS Store.
Is Netflix Still On PS Vita?
Yes, it is still available for download on the PS Store and you can sign in with your Netflix account credentials. The 960 x 544 display resolution of the Vita won’t make for a mind-blowing experience. But it’s just one of those “extra” things this console can do in addition to playing games (plus you get an OLED display with the fat Vita).
A lot more apps were available on the Vita, but they have been removed after the console was discontinued. Twitch, Youtube, Twitter, and Skype were all available on the Vita store until a few years ago. You can look at homebrew software communities that are trying to create their own versions of these apps for modded Vitas, but functionality isn’t guaranteed.
Conclusion
I hope this article helped you understand how many games you can store on an 8GB Vita memory card. Proprietary storage media is a pain to deal with, and I am thankful we are long past those days. Modern PlayStations let you insert USB drives and the PS5 even supports PCIe M.2 SSDs.
Many believe the PS Vita was discontinued a bit too early. Nintendo kept their 3DS alive until 2020, and that was inferior to the Vita in terms of processing power.
Sony takes decisions it deems to be the most financially viable. Like it or not, the Vita just wasn’t selling. Sony placed it a bit too close to the smartphone gaming market, and smartphones were always going to win that race.