Sony’s head of consumer products Kaz Hirai on Monday revealed the latest sales stats for its newly-launched handheld gaming device, the Vita.
The exec confirmed during a media briefing at CES in Las Vegas that Sony sold to consumers over 500,000 units of the new handheld, which launched in Japan on December 17.
The official Sony figures support recent reports that the company shipped 500,000 units to retail in Japan for the launch of the device.
The Vita is still due to release in Western territories, including the U.S., where the device will launch on February 22 for $250 for the wi-fi model, and $300 for the 3G model, plus data fees.
Vita isn’t the only key to Sony’s on-the-go gaming plans. The company unveiled new PlayStation Certified Xperia phones from its newly renamed Sony Mobile Communications division, which was known as Sony Ericsson before Sony took over that joint venture last year.
The firm also unveiled the Walkman Z, a wi-fi enabled, Android-based portable music player with a touch screen and access to Android’s app marketplace.
The Walkman Z will be able to play games not only on the built-in screen, but it also is the first Walkman product that has an HDMI output, allowing players to view games on a large screen. (A demo of the Walkman Z displayed Vector Unit’s jet skiing game Riptide GP, which looked relatively sharp despite being blown up on a larger screen.) Walkman Z also has wireless connectivity to DLNA-enabled TVs.
Hirai added that over the holidays, PlayStation hardware across all platforms sold over 6.5 million units worldwide, including 3.9 million PS3 units, putting it on track for Sony's sales target of 15 million for the current fiscal year, ending in March. Worldwide PSP sales exceeded 1.6 million units during the holiday period, and PlayStation Move sales exceeded 1.7 million in holiday sales.
