Sony: Lack of third-party support for PS Vita is 'surprising and disappointing to us'

The PS Vita isn't selling as well as Sony had hoped. Given that the company has stated outright that the handheld won't be getting a price cut until at least 2014, it falls to third-party developers to capture the hearts and minds of gamers through new IPs and innovative uses of the hardware.

Unfortunately, things aren't exactly going well there, either. Speaking with Gamasutra, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida admitted that third-party developers simply aren't biting.

"One thing that was surprising and disappointing to us was the [lower] number of third parties to come out [in support] after launch," he explained.

He continued: "In retrospect, there are so many options for publishers now that we cannot take it for granted that our new platform would be supported by third parties, like [it would've been] many years ago."

Yoshida also believes that these potential Vita developers are instead producing games for smartphones and tablets, seeing this as a more viable option than Sony's portable console.

"There are limited resources that third party publishers have, and they have to diversify into new areas constantly; that's a challenge to get the support that we want," he said.

However, he's still confident that the Vita is going to pick up at some point. "We've been working harder with our third party relations department to secure more content for PS Vita," he added. "We are confident that we have the right hardware platform that we have with PS Vita."

Of course, a Sony representative is always going to say that. Only time will tell whether Yoshida's confidence proves to be misplaced or not.