It may seem like Sony’s placed the PlayStation Vita in a bag of rocks and tossed it in the Thames, but SCEUK boss Fergal Gara insists that that’s not the case. Despite the portable device failing to appear during the format holder’s E3 and Gamescom press conferences, the company insists that the console will not fade away – but it won’t be receiving any more first-party blockbusters either.

“We will certainly not be ignoring it this Christmas,” the outspoken executive said of the handheld in an interview with Eurogamer.net. "We're very pleased with how it continues to sell, and look forward to another big, seasonal spike at Christmas. There's a perception that it's fading away. I can absolutely assure you that that's not happening – it’s proving remarkably resilient.”

Of course, the system’s retail presence tells a different story, so what does the affable gaffer actually mean? “It's just found its niche,” he continued. “It's not the biggest niche in the world [...] but for those who want that more specialist device and a more specialist experience, it does a damn good job, and therefore it trucks along quite nicely."

And according to Gara, the likes of Minecraft – should it ever see the light of day – and LEGO Batman 3 will help maintain that steady momentum. Sadly, you won’t be seeing many more colossal first-party blockbusters from the platform holder itself. “What we are excited by is the number of games that we can take to the platform that have been created for other platforms,” he curiously declared.

In the West, then, the Vita’s future is all about ports, kids’ games, and indie titles. With strong support still coming from Japan, though, that’s not entirely as bad as it sounds. And while it’s a shame to see the system fall seriously short of its full potential, we’re still having a great time with our machine. The question is: do you share our optimistic outlook?