Exhibit A

Despite boasting a growing catalogue of outstanding exclusives, the PlayStation Vita hasn’t quite achieved the commercial success that many of us expected yet. The device is performing particularly poorly in Japan, where it can’t seem to get a foothold – but it’s not exactly setting the sales charts alight overseas either.

Activision’s vice president of mobile development Greg Canessa believes that the system's struggles are due to the lingering threat of mobile and tablet devices. “There’s no doubt that the [dedicated portable] space faces challenges,” he told CVG. “[Handhelds] are more directly competitive with what’s going on in the tablet and mobile space and there’s a lot more overlap there, to be honest.”

Canessa continued that “great” gaming experiences can be purchased for a few dollars or less on a tablet, while Vita games cost upwards of $40. That’s obviously discrediting the wealth of digital-only titles available for the handheld, but we understand the executive’s point.

"Our relationships with Sony and Nintendo are important and we continue to support them by creating games on both [Vita and 3DS] platforms,” he added. “Beyond that the market's going to speak ultimately as to the viability of those products."

In the meantime, perhaps the publisher should consider practicing what it’s preaching. Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified would be a fine game for $20 or less, but it’s difficult to recommend at full price. As far as we're concerned, that's the problem.

[source computerandvideogames.com]