Many industry pundits have been disappointed about the way the PS Vita has been selling since launch. Still, Sony has maintained its 10 million hardware unit sale goal for the year Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO Jack Tretton is taking a long view of the system’s life.

“In this industry, you can’t get too high or too low, because it moves very quickly,” says Tretton. “I think there’s an acceptable number – and [the number] we’ve sold: That’s acceptable. If it was triple that, I’d be happier. If it was one-third, I’d be disappointed.”

Tretton points to the fact that the PS3 had a rough start and managed to be a popular enough device. “Anything with great rewards is going to come with great challenges,” he says. “We felt if the tech was there, and the game support was there, then the audience would be there… I feel much better about it now than I did four months ago.”

The SCEA executive is especially excited about the fact that former Sony Computer Entertainment head Kaz Hirai is now in charge of the whole of Sony Corp. “I think it’s the best news I could ever hear,” he says. “When I joined Sony Computer Entertainment, I’d meet people from other Sony divisions. I’d be at an industry event and they’d read my name badge and say ‘Sony Computer Entertainment What the hell is that I work for Sony music.’ Sony Computer Entertainment was very much an offshoot and not an intimately familiar division of Sony… To go from there, where you’re a science experiment, for lack of a better word, to one of the three major pillars of the corporation is great.”

While there are increasing doubts about home and portable consoles in the face of tablets and smartphones, Tretton isn’t sweating the competition. “I think the opportunity to be in the console business is greater than ever before,” he says. “[Social and free-to-play] is a business I think a lot of companies are learning is difficult to sustain for the long term. It’s an adjunct or it’s an add-on, but it’s not where gaming is headed. It’s an additive diversion. There’s a place for social and freemium, but it’s not going to replace the business models that are out there.”

There are lingering complaints about the lack of creativity and the popularity of online shooters in the console sphere, though Tretton noted that the industry can be derivative and trends can change. “I think it tends to go in cycles,” he says. “If somebody comes out with a game people enjoy, it draws people to that genre. Shooters have been bigger the past few years. I think they’re not just the same game done with a different storyline, they’re taking that genre and expanding on it…  Sometimes racing is really relevant. Sometimes it’s not. The same thing happens with sports, or RPGs… I don’t think our industry is any different. [In any form of entertainment], you’re going to get a herd mentality moving to where the consumer is.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz