When it comes to handheld consoles, Nintendo’s DS/3DS lineup has been pretty successful. Now Sony has attempted to steal some market share with their PS Vita, but unfortunately it didn’t quite capture the market in the same way. In fact last year Sony said that there weren’t plans for a successor, and earlier this year there were rumors that it could have been discontinued.Speaking to IGN during the IGN Unfiltered show, former CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Jack Tretton, voiced his opinion on the PS Vita, saying that while it was a great machine, he believes that maybe it arrived on the market a bit too late, especially in the face of smartphones and tablets which are just as good at gaming.
According to Tretton, “Now that I don’t work there anymore, I think internally it was: ‘This is a great machine, it’s just too late.’ The world has shifted to portable devices that aren’t dedicated gaming machines.” He also added that the console, unlike the PSP that preceded the Vita, was launched “at a time when very few people needed a dedicated portable device.”
Nintendo’s 3DS consoles are still doing surprisingly well, although we guess it has mostly to do with the fact that until recently, Nintendo’s games were pretty much exclusive to its own hardware.