According to Shuhei Yoshida, the big boss at Sony Worldwide Studios, the PS Vita can act as a PlayStation 4 controller as long as the specific games have that functionality programmed in.
What this means is, unless gaming companies decide to help out gamers by programming this functionality into their games, gamers will have to purchase a second (or third, fourth) dualshock 4 controller in order to enjoy co-op play with friends, at least if they’re playing in the same room.
With no dualschock backwards compatibility, and the new dualshock controller set at $60 a pop, it appears as though Sony will certainly capitalize on our love of co-op.
However, this does not mean that the PS Vita will be rendered irrelevant unless game companies decide to specifically program them to have controller functionality: Yoshida has already confirmed that eventually all PS 4 games will allow remote play on the Vita, similarly to the current compatibility with the PS3.
Pre-orders for the Sony dualshock 4 controller start today.
Source: Twitter