Sony: Vita “Didn’t Have A Strong Lineup For The Japanese Market”

The PS Vita was seemingly meant for US. The console has had a shaky start in Japan, with sales mainly tittering off since its launch, though the handheld's slow reception comes from competition with the 3DS and the staying power of the PSP in Japan. Shuhei Yoshida, Senior Vice President of Sony's product development, agreed with these reasons but still feels confident on the Vita's prospects in the US and Europe, in an interview with Game Informer:

In terms of sales [in Japan], yes. But it’s within our expectation. It didn’t hit our highest expectations, however. From that standpoint it’s disappointing. But when you look at the market in Japan today, it’s a very strong portable market as you know, and the PSP is still very strong and lots of new games come out for it. So PSP is still very relevant. And of course 3DS had the perfect storm of top quality games for Christmas with the reduced price.

Considering all of that, with the numbers we have seen in terms of sell–through, I am very happy.

…Games like Uncharted are not a big name in Japan. Hopefully it’s growing in awareness like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. It’s not like this game will sell a million units. Gamers in Japan want games catered to their tastes. From that standpoint we didn’t have a strong lineup for the Japanese market.

One look at the Vita's US launch lineup and it's safe to assume that they have been catering to the Western market with Uncharted: Golden Abyss. I still believe our interest in purchasing another handheld has been dampened with the slow burn of the 3DS and shaken confidence with the PSP handheld (especially the PSPGo).

In other news, The Last Guardian is "making progress":

There have been technical issues and the engineering team is reworking it. It’s playable, but not to the level of when we can say it’s coming.

[Source]

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