Speaking to Eurogamer, Sony's Andrew House has said that the PS Vita TV will take a "different road" to release in the West.
The device, which is based on Sony's handheld, is also capable of video streaming capabilities which is still relatively rare in Japan, and House says this is why chose to launch there first.
“We see strong market potential elsewhere in the world, but it will be a different road to market for the US and Europe than has been the case in Japan.
"It's a very different landscape when you look at the US and Europe – much greater establishment of streaming video services, and much greater understanding of what that concept's all about. It's still very much in a nascent stage in Japan compared to some of the markets in Europe or the US.
"This may sound slightly counter-intuitive, but we wanted to launch in Japan first because I feel there really hasn't been a critical driver or device that's driven the adoption of streaming content overall.
"We felt there was therefore an opportunity to leverage the strengths of PlayStation Vita, which as you know is quite strong in Japan in terms of game line-up, but combine that with the features of a media streaming box, and offer something packaged newly for the Japanese consumer and possibly be at the forefront of creating a new market via that device."
Vita TV got off to a relatively slow start selling 42,000 units in its first week. The device sells for $99 or for $150 as part of a bundle including a DualShock 3 and a memory card.
In September, Sony's Masayasu Ito said the reaction to PS Vita TV in the West has been "strong… more than we expected" adding:
"Of course we are thinking of launching it in the US and Europe. But when it comes to the timing, we'll have to watch the environment and identify what other services are available in the US and Europe and whether we'll have to add other services."
Releasing Vita TV first in Japan may be a bid, at least in part, to make up for the PS4's late launch in the country – the console doesn't arrive in Sony's home territory until February, 2014.
