Jack Tretton, the former CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, recently spoke with IGN about his 19-year career at PlayStation and weighed in with his thoughts on the struggles of the company's most recent handheld, PS Vita.

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When asked how he feels about the Vita in hindsight on this month's episode of IGN Unfiltered , Tretton said, "Now that I don't work there anymore, I think internally it was: 'This is a great machine, it's just too late.' The world has shifted to portable devices that aren't dedicated gaming machines."The former SCEA CEO went to highlight the success of Vita's predecessor, noting that PlayStation Portable was effective in not only bringing console-like experiences to handheld, but also pulling in older gamers.Unlike PSP, however, Vita released at a time when interest in such a device was on a major decline, thanks to the rise in popularity of gaming on smartphones and tablets. As such, Tretton looks back on PlayStation Vita as "a nice machine" that launched "at a time when very few people needed a dedicated portable device."For more on Tretton's 19-year experience with PlayStation , stay tuned for our full interview with the former Sony executive when this month's episode of IGN Unfiltered goes live tomorrow.

Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his video content on YouTube