Over the course of four weeks, the number of sold PlayStation Vita units in Japan has dropped from nearly 325K to just over 18K. Sign of the times?
Media Create reports that Sony saw only 18,361 units sold in Japan during the week of January 9 to January 15, its fourth week on the market. By comparison, the cheaper Nintendo 3DS dropped somewhat after the holiday rush as well, but not down to Vita levels, pushing a decent 100,668 units out to paying customers.
The PlayStation Vita seemed to launch with a bang in Japan back in December, with 321,400 units sold in just two days right before Christmas. Eventually for the first week, Sony sold a total of 324,859 units, and the handheld console seemed to be a hit.
But the second week proved otherwise, with the number of units sold dropping down to just 72,479. The third week saw another drastic drop with only 42,648 units flying off store shelves. Now the handheld is barely moving at all in Japan, yet still topping the likes of Nintendo's Wii console, the Xbox 360, and the two DSi models.
Strangely enough, the original PSP is still selling well, moving 62,746 units last week and 22,538 this week. On the Nintendo front, the company still rules the Japanese market, shelling out 197,952 3DS units last week and 100,668 units this week. The PlayStation 3 is the second-most favorite gaming platform, selling 67,199 units last week and 30,332 this week.
What may be hurting the PlayStation Vita is its steep pricetag -- a lesson Nintendo learned with its own 3DS handheld in 2011. As of this writing, Sony still plans to keep the Vita's original pricing, requiring $249.99 USD for the Wi-Fi model and $299.99 USD for the 3G/Wi-Fi model. Both will arrive in the States on February 22.
Not really.
Funny calling the PS Vita overpriced. It's hardware is almost identical to a phone, with the exception of being much faster. Yet it's cheaper.
Still have my PSP lying around somewhere, but that's exactly the experience I had with it. PS Vita is most likely going to suffer the same problem.
Specs don't make a handheld console. Good games do.
Shame the 3DS and PS Vita both have poor battery life...
Not really.
lower the price to $150 and see the psv's flying off the shelves again.
early adopters will feel screwed ('apple'd) though. that thing doesn't deserve to be priced over $150.
Funny calling the PS Vita overpriced. It's hardware is almost identical to a phone, with the exception of being much faster. Yet it's cheaper.
not bad codecs built in and there used to be good homebrew video players
No, the 3DS was much more comparable to the PSV. The specs are far, FAR closer than the DS/DSi were to the PSP. And yes, even then we saw how poorly the 3DS sold at a $249.99US MSRP.
And does anyone really pay $300-600US for a smartphone? They don't; they pay $100-200US typically, getting it subsidized through their service contract. While they wind up paying the same in the long run, (Contracts run $100US+ a month when equal non-contract service typically goes for $40-50US/month) for the vast majority, this makes the price invisible to them.
Then show them a $250US handheld, and they freak out, as that seems entirely too high to them compared to a PS3 for the same price. (or an Xbox 360 or Wii for less)
It's overpriced to what people are expecting to pay for something in that segment. In devices like that, much of the high cost comes not from the "power" components, (CPU, GPU, RAM) but rather the "interface" components. I'm sure the cost of the higher-resolution touchscreen, COUPLED with having a more complex set of the PSP's input devices on top of that, AND the touchpad on the back likely stack things up there.
Oh, and suffering the PSP's fate wouldn't be all that bad, given that it's managed over 70 million units sold, which makes it, by far, the most credible handheld to ever be made by anyone but Nintendo; vs. the DS it's managed a 32.4% market share... Which is better than the PS3's market share of 27.5%.,, And the next-most-successful handheld was Sega's Game Gear, which sputtered out at a mere 11 million units sold, and an 8.5% market share vs. the Game Boy.
Give it time and the PS Vita will pick up.
Sorry Sony, but the same formula won't be enough to leverage the crushing advantage Smartphones and Tablets have here. If a person already has a capable smartphone, getting a Vita is redundant.
Cheers!
there isnt one japanese game at launch, uncharted is the only system seller it has, and i have no idea if that is even popular over there.
they are screwing us with memory sticks, and are they really loosing money each sale? not do you think they are, but are they for sure?
3ds didnt sell because no games.
it continued to sell crap because when 1 game came out, it was so long after launch that no one trusted that they would put the good ones out fast enough... as it stands im waiting till next christmas for mine
and than it sold well because by christmass it had its 5 great games and 3 serious system movers.
psv is currently only in japan, and not one system seller is on it yet for japan. (again how popular is uncharted there)
the ps3 was moronically expensive, but still a good value if you consider it has a ps2 in it, and no memory cards any more... i so want a 60gb version...
3DS sales *did* pick up once the price dropped, even before games came out for it.
This stopped happening quite some time ago, actually.