Yoshida: "We can't compete with smartphones"

Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment's worldwide studios, has told Edge that he does not see the firm's upcoming handheld, codenamed Next Generation Portable (NGP), as competing with smartphones or 3DS. Instead, he draws parallels with Apple's iPad.

In an interview, published today, Yoshida tells us that NGP was actively designed to stand apart from smartphones, and that lessons have been learned from the mistakes the firm made with the PSP Go. "We focused too much on making the hardware smaller and thinner so that it could fit in your pocket," he tells us. "That made all the UIs cramped, we had to make the buttons thinner - it didn't feel as good.

"We went with a large screen for NGP because - looking at how people are adapting to smartphones - in a couple of years everybody will have one, and everybody will have the opportunity to play downloaded application games. So we have to create enough strong reasons for people to look at NGP in addition to the smartphone they already have."

"We are not trying to compete with smartphones, we can't," he continues. "So the question is, considering people have phones anyway, why would they want another device? Looking at the adoption of iPad and other tablets, if there are enough reasons, people do want another device.

"People might carry NGP with them or use it at home - that’s ok. NGP - like PSP was - is your second screen. The portability is very good; not for putting in your pocket, but it can fit in your bag easily as it’s smaller and lighter than an iPad."

Yoshida doesn't even see Nintendo's new handheld, 3DS, as a direct competitor. "We had DS when there was PSP," he explains. "It overlaps a little bit but not directly in terms of audience and the kind of content we provide."

Sony is yet to reveal a price, release date or final name for NGP, though the firm has previously stated its intent to release the device in at least one major territory before the end of the year and a series of recent leaks suggest the final name will be PlayStation Vita. More information is set to be revealed at Sony's E3 press conference in Los Angeles next Monday.