Vita ‘trending behind in certain territories’

Sony CEO Kaz Hirai admits that the Vita may not be doing well across in some regions, but has met expectations worldwide.

This comes in response to months of criticism regarding the handheld console, which many argue has come as a disappointment.

Hirai answered these critics at IFA, Europe’s largest consumer trade show, in Berlin.

"Worldwide, the Vita is pretty much along where we would expect it to be, maybe trending behind in certain territories," he told Reuters.

The PlayStation Vita can be seen as an answer to competition both from Nintendo’s 3DS and the growing smartphone and tablet sector, which has been quite busy stealing the thunder of handheld consoles.

Vita plays a vital role in Sony’s mobile strategy, which incorporates handheld consoles, mobile phones, and tablets into the Playstation Mobile digital platform.

To Hirai, the true success of this platform will only be measurable years in the future.

"Back in 2006-2007 people were saying PlayStation 3 is not happening, it’s dead, but today it’s a great platform, contributes bottom line to us," he said.

"You need to look back 5, 10 years for these platforms to tell whether they are successful."