Sony: PS Vita appeals to people with an "eclectic taste in games"

The PlayStation Vita appeals to people with an "eclectic taste in games," Sony UK managing director Fergal Gara has said in a new interview with MCV. Speaking about the market overall for the device, Gara said smartphones and tablets have diminished the reach of the PS Vita, but he contends that Sony's portable offers a richer experience compared to those platforms.

"Vita is proving to be a big niche device. Using the term 'niche' makes it sound tiny, but it's not," Gara said. "The console is occupying an interesting space for interesting games built for more committed gamers. Yes the market place for it isn't as big as it might have been had smartphones not arrived, but it is still a more thorough, more complete experience."

"And it is therefore appealing to people with a more eclectic taste in games. And many of these indie developers are proud to be on the platform," he added. "All of this is before we even talk about its role alongside PS4, which is clearly exciting and we seeing some good results from that."

Of course, a major selling point for the PS Vita is its Remote Play functionality, which allows you to stream PS4 games to the PS Vita provided you own both devices. Despite the strong interplay between the two systems, Sony has no plans to offer a PS4/PS Vita bundle, at least not right now.

Also in the interview, Gara admitted that though the PS Vita might be "lacking" in upcoming AAA games made specifically for the system, this doesn't tell the whole story because of Remote Play.

"Well, there are a lack of those titles announced. Is it a problem? It would be fair to pick up that there wasn't a second Call of Duty made specifically for Vita," he said. "But what's changed is that Call of Duty: Ghosts was available on Vita via Remote Play on PS4. And Vita is sort of evolving as a platform."

Activision launched Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified for the PS Vita in November 2012, but it was blasted by critics.

The new PlayStation Vita Slim model launches this spring in North America through a special $200 Borderlands 2 bundle.