Sony announced via press release today that PlayStation Vita sales have officially surpassed 1.2 million units worldwide, ‘exceeding expectations’. This figure has been boosted, of course, by the recent launch of the console outside of Japan in North and Latin America, Europe and Australia.

The Vita’s software sales have also surpassed 2.0 million units, although this figure takes into account both retail copies and PlayStation Network sales. It’s unclear what percentage of this figure is composed of retail copies, and it would be interesting to see considering the PS Vita’s focus on digital content.

Sony still have a lot of catch-up to do to beat the Nintendo 3DS, which is sitting at over 15 million worldwide sales, however it’s certainly not putting in too poor a performance, and it’ll be interesting to see how this latest battle for handheld dominance pans out over the next year.