Sony confident in market for dedicated gaming handhelds

Sony believes that Nintendo’s recent success proves dedicated gaming handhelds still have life left in them.

Sony is still encouraged in the market for a dedicated gaming handheld, despite industry talk about the marketplace shrinking for that segment of the gaming industry. While tablets, phones, and other devices have certainly cannibalized some of their potential customers, Sony points to Nintendo's recent success as a sign that there is still a healthy market for a handheld device that is dedicated to gaming. In Japan, the 3DS is selling exceptionally well following the recent price cut by Nintendo and putting a damper on the PS Vita's first month on the market.

In a recent interview, Jim Ryan of SCEE explained:

"One of the encouraging things about 3DS's sales performance at Christmas is that it is confounding the naysayers who say that there is no room in the market for a dedicated handheld gaming device," Ryan continues "To that extent we were encouraged by how 3DS did over the last month... The quality, the immersiveness, the richness of the experience that we believe we are going to offer on Vita, way exceeds anything that we believe to be available on any smartphone."

Anyone that has ever played either Nintendo's 3DS or PlayStation Vita can agree with that.

By Al McCarthy on January 12, 2012

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Brian
There’s a market but for how devices? Hopefully both vita and 3ds succeed.
Agree or Disagree: 2 0
1verce
i hope they dont think im going to give up my perfect consoles for a handheld
Agree or Disagree: 2 1
Underworld
There’s plenty of room for both. They offer completely different experiences to tablets and phones. I’ll be picking up both.
Agree or Disagree: 1 0
bozmanbeyond
400 bones you have to drop for a hand held. Thats just crazy. For that you can by a 3ds and a Kindle Fire.
Agree or Disagree: 0 1
- Allen
  What you talking about? $249 dude, and that’s nothing if I can play Battlefield online while walking down the street.
  Agree or Disagree: 1 0
- GreenRings
  PS Vita will be the biggest flop in the history of Sony, and probably cause the PlayStation division to go bankrupt.
  Agree or Disagree: 0 4
- bozmanbeyond
  A113n if you want to walk down the street and play BF3 vs. you want 3G version its 299.99, 16gig card 59.99 or you can go cheapo with 4gig at 24.99 then a game for 50 that will put you over with taxes.
  Agree or Disagree: 0 0
- Allen
  No taxes here, 4GB will work for now & this thing will drop in price soon probably..I do have mine pre-ordered but because I”m a cheap ass I’m doing wifi, I don’t like data plans. But I can still go anywhere with Wifi and play Battlefield. It’s more than that to me though, it’s like my ipod touch but I can play bad ass games with it.
  Agree or Disagree: 3 0
- Allen
  I do understand what you are saying though Boz… it just depends on the person. Many handhelds just won’t do, me I’m just looking at it the same way I just said. Paid $299 for my 80gb ipod classic and $299 for my wife’s 30gb ipod touch.
  If I knew the psp did what it did I would have gotten that instead of my ipod classic. This time I’m doing it right, the Vita can be my music, video, camera, internet, touch screen smart device that also plays bad ass games…not just rip offs of bad ass games.
  Agree or Disagree: 2 0