PS Vita a 'little behind the numbers' says Sony

Sony has acknowledged that PlayStation Vita sales are not performing up to expectation thus far. Sony Computer Entertainment Japan president Hiroshi Kawano told Famitsu magazine (via Polygon) that the company's latest portable gaming device has "a ways to go."

"Certainly, at the present time, maybe we're a little behind the numbers we originally pictured," Kawano said. "I feel we have a ways to go in terms of getting across the good traits of the PS Vita, along with everything the software has to offer."

Kawano said Sony's plan for the PS Vita--and its other platforms--is for it to have a 10-year life cycle. He said Sony must "do everything we can" to support and add to the portable in the years ahead.

Earlier this week, Sony announced plans to cut the price of the 3G and Wi-Fi versions of the PS Vita in Japan to 19,980 yen ($213) effective February 28. No mention has been made of a similar price reduction for Western markets.

Explaining the Japanese price drop, Kawano said it was done simply to get more gamers playing the device.

"The biggest reason [for the price drop] is that we simply want to have more people playing the PS Vita," Kawano said. "Based on our research, there are two broad reasons why people who may want to try the Vita aren't purchasing it. One, they want to wait until there's a game they want to play on it. Two, the price is a little out of reach for them. What we also learned in this research is that people who do own a Vita have tremendous satisfaction with it; it's the kind of platform where you get a feel for how good it is once you touch it. But we found that the price was too big an initial hurdle for this, and this sparked a long internal debate within SCE."

All eyes will be on Sony this evening, when the company's 2013 PlayStation Meeting takes place in New York City at 3 p.m. PDT/6 p.m. EDT. GameSpot and its sister sites will be on hand for the event, which will be live-streamed.