While Sony has had a huge amount of success with the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 3, the same cannot be said of the PlayStation Vita handheld console. Despite the machine's decent sales, it is far behind the Nintendo 3DS and Android and Apple mobile games. Now, one executive for Sony has explained just how the competition for the Vita has affected the sales of the console.

Sony UK managing director Fergal Gara explained that the Vita was first developed before the explosive rise of mobile gaming, and that many people simply do not feel the need to buy the Vita when they have the advantages that smartphones and tablets carry in addition to their mobile game offerings.

"The market Vita entered was more complicated than it was when the console was originally thought about and designed. Games on tablets and phones have changed the marketplace and people can't carry too many things around at one time...The truth is that the number of people that want the core experience [that Vita offers] is not as big as the number that simply want any sort of game available on the move and, because the likes of a tablet and smartphone are so multifunctional in their use, they will always be very appealing. Really, I think the reason it hasn't sold more is that it comes down to people thinking: 'Do I need it as well as these other things that are taking my money?'" Gara told VG24/7.

However, the PlayStation Vita may have finally found an identity as a companion for the PlayStation 4, and Gara acknowledges that Remote Play is a big part of the recent surge in sales for the Vita and that this feature was planned from the start by Sony.

"We always planned for Remote Play with the PS Vita and PS4...From an architecture point of view, that compatibility between the two was always designed into the Vita's system. By the time PS Vita development started we were well into the development path of the PlayStation 4, so things were very much designed to work together."

Gara believes now that developers have had a chance to study the Vita and unlock the handheld's potential the Vita will now be able to be successful along with the PlayStation 4.

"A lot of our discussions with developers don't centre around developing games to better suit digital or physical purchases, or even centre around developing specifically for the PS Vita...We talk a lot with developers about developing the best games for PlayStation in general and how we can properly map any ideas that they may already have to a platform or multiple platforms," Gara said.