Sony launched the PlayStation Vita almost six years ago in Japan. Will there be a new handheld?

Sony Interactive Entertainment’s CEO, Andrew House, was out at Tokyo Game Show (which makes sense, as he’s fluent in Japanese…), where he talked with Bloomberg. He said that Sony sees huge potential in the smartphone game development, adding that there’s not much demand for dedicated handheld gaming nowadays.

„We have not seen [pure handheld gaming] as being a huge market opportunity outside of Japan and Asia. The [PlayStation] Vita experience [in the West], there was not a huge demand. The lifestyle shift toward the dominance of smartphones as the single key device that is always with you was the determining factor,” House said.

House also talked about the competition, namely the Nintendo Switch: „The Nintendo device is a hybrid device, and that’s a different approach and strategy. They’ve been additive to the business in the last year or so. The folks at Nintendo have their strategy, and that’s great. We remain focused on a highly connected gaming experience and also coupled with having a great range of other entertainment experiences so you can reach multiple people on the big screen in the household.” What he means is that the Switch did not affect the PlayStation 4 sales negatively (even though the Switch won four months in the US since it launched against the two garnered by the PlayStation 4…), and he also mentioned the PlayStation VR as well.

Don’t expect a new handheld by Sony then… even though Japan loves the PS Vita, which is why Attack on Titan 2 will be available for the handheld there instead of the Xbox One…

Source: Bloomberg