Almost reluctantly, Sony has used its earnings call to cast some light on PS Vita's performance to date, revealing worldwide sales hit 1.8 million back at the end of March.

The figure, which was suspiciously missing from Sony's financial year earnings report, was revealed by CEO Kaz Hirai, who according to a translation on Eurogamer claimed the handheld was off to a "good start".

Talking targets

Nonetheless, with Sony having publicly pegged sales at 1.2 million back in February, that means around 600,000 units were sold across the globe across the course of March.

Hirai confirmed the firm is looking to sell a total of 10 million units by the end of its current financial year in March 2013, working out an a monthly average rate of around 680,000 units.

The firm also expects to sell 6 million PSP units during the same period.

Soft approach

In Hirai's view, Vita's long term success is tied to "how good the software is" for it.

"We have to reinforce the software area in order to improve the business, that is the basic line," he added during the call.

"In other words, the collaborative approach is very important, so is third-party. And from first party studios, the titles will be presented one after the other, so please look at them and give your evaluation based on them."

PocketGamer.biz exclusively revealed Sony's latest handheld got off to a less than stellar start when it launched in the UK in February, selling around one quarter of PSP's launch day figures – equal to an estimated 45,000 units.

[source: Eurogamer]