It doesn’t look like the PlayStation Vita will factor too heavily into Sony’s gaming plans going forward.
The chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, Andrew House, referred to the PlayStation Vita as a “legacy platform” in remarks he gave to investors earlier today — although the company has since clarified that he was speaking specifically of the older Vita models. The executive was explaining the state of the PlayStation business, and he used “legacy” when talking about writing off the cost of some components for those devices. And that was nearly all House had to say about the Vita, as he was much more focused on the potential of the megapopular PlayStation 4 and services like the game-streaming platform PlayStation Now and the live-TV portal PlayStation Vue.
Sony has told GamesBeat that its portable business will continue, but that wasn’t obvious from House’s presentation.
The SCE CEO gave lengthy breakdown of the company’s strategy for its fiscal 2015. Highlights include getting third-party support to make up for a lack of first-party releases on PS4 as well as improving the value of PlayStation Plus to keep people subscribing. The core theme for 2015 is to broaden its audience while increasing the average amount of money customers spend on Sony gaming products. To accomplish that, House reiterated the company’s plans for exclusive release, PS Now, and PS Vue.
But the executive did not include Vita as part of his 2015 strategy.
The only other thing he said about the device is that Sony is expecting its sales to decline in North America and Europe — although he did say that it remains “strong and vibrant” in Japan and Asia as a whole.
Updated at 9:45 p.m. with clarification from Sony on the meaning of the “legacy platform” statement.