An anonymous quote from Japan’s Nikkei newspaper paints a bleak picture for the future of the PlayStation Vita, but Scott Rohde, Sony’s senior vice president of Worldwide Studios, rebuts.

The PlayStation Vita has failed to catch fire in the Japanese marketplace since its December launch — being routinely beaten in weekly sales by its predecessor, the PSP, which is still popular there, as well as Nintendo’s 3DS.

In a story that went up on Nikkei’s website today, written by Kiyoshi Shin, former head of Japan’s IGDA branch, an unnamed source from the Japanese game industry says that “Major Japanese companies are canceling all projects intended for the Vita and are changing development to the 3DS.”

“I did not see that quote, but you see extremist quotes like that all the time,” says Rohde, who spoke to Gamasutra about the incipient launch of the Vita in North America.