14 DAY TRIAL // Activision boss Bobby Kotick has expressed his thoughts on the recently revealed PlayStation Vita portable console, confirming that he and his company are interested in the device, but wonders whether it's going to actually sell in a competitive market.
Sony presented its PlayStation Vita handheld platform, formerly known as the Next Generation Portable, at last month's E3 2011 conference, impressing a lot of attendants and plenty of game developers.
Now, one of the largest third-party publishers, Activision, has expressed its thoughts on the device, through the voice of its CEO, Bobby Kotick.
In an interview with the Guardian, Kotick revealed that the PS Vita is quite impressive, but highlighted that, in a highly competitive market with other portable devices like mobile phones or tablets, it's going to be hard for Sony to actually sell its console.
"It is a fantastic piece of hardware. Technically, we're super excited about what we can do on it, it's really something incredible. The question is, where is the market? I think the pricing was surprisingly affordable, the product itself is really great - so the questions is, is there a need in the marketplace for a very specialized portable device of that capability? Hopefully there will be because it's a really nice product and its very well differentiated from what you can get in even the most capable smartphone or tablet today."
While plenty of companies are quite interested in the PlayStation Vita and its impressive hardware, many are still on the fence, as handheld gaming has become extremely popular, but largely due to smartphones and tablets, not through dedicated handheld platforms, like the Nintendo DS, PSP or the recent Nintendo 3DS.
Sony Computer Entertainment America boss Jack Tretton, however, isn't too worried about smartphones threatening the upcoming release of the Vita, saying that customers will be able to differentiate between these experiences and choose the established PlayStation one every time.