Sony- 2011 a “tough year”, “a lot rests on the success of PS Vita”

Sony Computer Entertainment head Andrew House says a lot is resting on the PS Vita for the firm, especially after the rough year that 2011 was for them. Speaking last month before the Vita’s Japanese release, he said that events like the PSN hack and the earthquakes in Japan have been bad for the company.

“Yes, it has been a pretty tough year, no question,” he said. “If I draw a positive out of it, I think that has been unity in the face of adversity… I think it has had the effect of pulling the company together.

“For the PlayStation business, there was the hacking incident. Not to sound like an excuse, but we’re now in very solid company with many other institutions and companies suffering under the same sort of threat. But it galvanised us.: we’ve hired an extremely experienced chief information security officer.

“It’s important for the employee base – certainly here in Japan – that there is something of a morale boost with a great product launch.

“From the SCE perspective, I think a lot rests on the success of PS Vita. We went through a very tough time in the company in getting to a point of [PlayStation] profitability, and I think we’re now beginning to enjoy the benefits of that – it gives us some more leeway in being able to look at the future and areas of new investment in terms of new business models and new approaches to gaming.

“It looks to be a far more positive year, I hope, than 2011, and one that yields great benefits to gamers around the world.”

Selling over 320K units in its first week in Japan, the Vita got off to a good start, but has been on a heavy decline since then, selling over 70K units in the second week and only a little over 40K units last week, being outsold by both, the 3DS and even the PSP.

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[Guardian]