The managing director for Sony Computer Entertainment U.K. has admitted the company expected better sales from the PlayStation Vita.
Speaking to the latest issue of PLAY magazine, Fergal Gara issued a surprisingly honest dissection of the device’s performance thus far: "Being open and honest, I think we would have hoped for higher sales.
“I guess it entered a market which was much more complicated than it was when Vita was first conceived and designed. The positive, though, is that it most certainly does the job it was intended to do very well and the feedback from gamers is exactly that – it’s a powerful device that satisfies them. While not growing dramatically, it’s not falling away or dying and that’s great to see.”
Gara went on to highlight the fact the market for handhelds has changed dramatically since the days of the PlayStation Portable, but said PS4’s close relationship with the Vita should hopefully boost sales of the portable.
“The PSP and Vita landed into considerably different worlds,” he said. “As far as the Vita is concerned, the advent of handheld gaming on phone and tablets complicated the marketplace. While we believe that the Vita is a specialist device that does the job better than other alternatives, people can only carry so many devices – and the people that want the very specialist experience is not as large as the pool of people that just want any gaming experience available to them on the go.
“Having said that, of course the PSP is a reference point. The Vita doesn’t look likely to achieve the same sales levels as the PSP, but the encouraging thing is that Vita sales are not declining and its new role with the PS4 has only just begun.”
One key factor in expanding Vita’s marketshare is the PS Vita Slim, which hit the U.K. last week and is also gearing up for a release shortly in North America. Read our review of the sexier, slimmer handheld model here.
Are you going to pick up a PS Vita Slim? Let us know in the comments section below.