Xbox COO questions Vita strategy

One of Microsoft’s leading Xbox execs has spoken of his scepticism surrounding the upcoming launch of PlayStation Vita and its chances of success in the market place.

"I’m not sure I would want to be launching a dedicated portable device right now into that market," Xbox COO Dennis Durkin told Industry Gamers.

"If you look at the 3DS, certainly versus people’s expectation’s it’s not been as successful as people would have thought. So that’s a very crowded market and a very, very red ocean right now with a lot of change happening.

"I’m not sure it’s [a good idea]. You only have a certain number of bets you can make as a company and you have to decide what you want to put your wood behind and I’m just not sure that that’s a place that I would put mine."

Microsoft has for years defied expectations by choosing not to launch a dedicated Xbox handheld. It’s current strategy involves tying Xbox Live games and content to Windows Phone 7 mobile handsets.