The PlayStation Vita is going to celebrate its fourth birthday in the West (as it was released by Sony in Japan in late 2011), but we heard very worrying comments about this handheld last year. Despite not being able to fight back against the Nintendo 3DS, Sony believes the Vita is still a big part in the business for the company, but… and this is where the twist comes in.

…but they think it’s important only in the Asian/Japanese region! Sony Computer Entertainment Japan/Asia’s boss Atsushi Morita talked about the Vita in his interview with the Japanese magazine Famitsu. Looks like the fact that all in-house developments are halted is entirely irrelevant. Morita thinks the Vita is somewhat successful due to the release of Minecraft, making the handheld a viable option for younger players.

In Japan, the Vita sold 925.000 copies in 2014 and 1.2 million last year. Not bad, but outside the PlayStation Experience, the Vita was almost entirely ignored in the Western gaming press conferences. (Meanwhile, the PS Vita turned into a great platform to play indie and JRPG games on – that’s our opinion.)