Sony's Portable Console Dying Ugly in Japan

[Valwin]

The performance of Vita in Japan has been nothing short of atrocious on so many levels. On week ending November 11, the unit volume in Japan was a shocking 4’021. The eight years old PSP sold 12’000 units during the same week. This is a rare example of a new console failing to dislodge the old one even after one year on the market.

Nintendo’s 3DS continued its rampage, moving 186’000 units during the week – 46 times more than its handheld rival. PS Vita has probably already edged into the dead zone where developers start yanking support for stand-alone projects.

The week of November 11 was another bad period for Vita – but arguably the week of November 18 was even worse. The sales of Vita rebounded from 4’000 to 13’000, but the increase was intolerably weak considering that this was the Assassin’s Creed III launch period in Japan. The franchise is not as strong over there as it is in America and Europe, but the PS3 version of the game still sold 73’000 units – a solid number considering how badly the PS3 is aging right now. In stark contrast, the Vita version of the AC3 sold just 24’000 units – and this triggered only 9’000 unit increase in the console sales.

PS Vita is going to struggle to hit 700’000 units in Japan during the calendar year 2012. This is far below viability. At the same time, Nintendo 3DS is riding a massive wave of blockbuster games week after week – Animal Crossing will hit 1 Million units next week, New Super Mario Bros stands at 1.3 Million, the latest Pokemon at 2.8 Million.

Sony’s credit rating was lowered to Junk level this week. The PS3 is aging badly and the PS Vita is about to be knocked out of the portable console market.

Could we get situation were Sony pulls the plug of the vita in japan and just focus in the west to see if they can make some money out of it ? also we have to wait for the suppose price drop next year that could help the system a lot cuz last thing we need is gaming handheld monopoly.

competition is good it helps keep prices low

Source

 

[Devin]

So... Anyone want to buy a Vita?

 

[dickfour]

I doubt Sony is going to give up on the Vita

 

[Foxi4]

Assassin's Creed III - Liberation was never expected to help the Vita get back on track in Japan, the franchise doesn't have a cult following in that region like it does in Europe and the States. It's western-oriented, Japanese audiences are not its target.

I'm also not exactly sure what the author had in mind when saying that the PS3 is aging badly when for all intents and purposes, it recently started being profitable and closes in to XBox 360-like sales worldwide.

Someone here is full of it, it seems...

So... Anyone want to buy a Vita?

Buying one tomorrow or wednesday, actually.

 

[loco365]

If stores start selling Vitas for really cheap in order to get rid of them, I might consider getting one.

 

[Hadrian]

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=191160

12th to 18th it's doing better. Not sure why this post was posted today with older sales. Still shit compared to 3DS.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

What about the sales of the Vita outside Japan?

 

[Lube_Skyballer]

Hope Sony won't follow in Sega's footsteps...
But this is far from a situation like in Sega's last (hardware)years, luckily.
Sega had the tides against them AND made stupid choices. That's what killed them as a hardware developer.

 

[dickfour]

Forbs just has an article that came out today titled 3 reasons why the Vita will end up crushing the competition while I wouldn't go that far it seems like the Vita is poised to take off with the release of great titles and the price drop. I can't wait to buy kill zone and I'm loving Rayman

 

[xist]

Now i realise exactly why you were unbanned. 100% awesome use of bolding and cherry picking points to frame an argument.

 

[Snailface]

If stores start selling Vitas for really cheap in order to get rid of them, I might consider getting one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.ht...=hero-quick-promo&pf_rd_t=201&tag=tinycart-20

White Vita, Mem card, AssCreed, PS All Stars Battle Royal
179.99

 

[Foxi4]

Sega had the tides against them AND made stupid choices. That's what killed them as a hardware developer.

What killed Sega as a hardware developer was in fact a change in the company's management. A decision was made via a mutual consensus that they will retreat from the hardware field to pursue software only, and in the long run, it turned out to be a beneficial decision. I'm not sure what "stupid decisions" you're referring to, but if it's about the Dreamcast, its only fault was that it didn't have DVD support unlike the PS2. Feature-wise, it outclassed the PS2 easily, especially when you consider the modular implementation of Windows CE, allowing for expansion via on-disc content. It was revolutionary for its time.

 

[Valwin]

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=191160

12th to 18th it's doing better. Not sure why this post was posted today with older sales. Still shit compared to 3DS.

those numbers are still horrible

 

[Dark]

If stores start selling Vitas for really cheap in order to get rid of them, I might consider getting one.

Same, I'm going to wait for it to be dirt cheap before buying one. I rather pick up a tablet this holiday season over a PSV.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Oh hey it's not like we banned Valwin for these shit threads.

Great job.

 

[chyyran]

It may be too early to pronounce the Vita dead, but if it dies in it's home turf, we can safely assume that. Shame such a powerhouse never got a nice homebrewing scene, I would love to see what homebrew and emulators the Vita would be capable of.. But if it dies before then.. such a waste.

 

[GamerzHell9137]

Only Sega can revive the Vita.

 

[emigre]

Oh hey it's not like we banned Valwin for these shit threads.

Great job.

Wasn't there an agreement where you get promoted to Mod if Valwin fucks around?

 

[Foxi4]

I used to have a handy map to post in these kinds of threads, showing the size and population relations between the little fart that is Japan as compared to the "rest of the world", but I'm not even going to bother with that. It's no suprise that the sales are low - they're meeting Sony's predictions. The Vita is catered to a completely different market of gamers - it's a somewhat luxurious device that's western-oriented and media-oriented, in a lot of ways it's the polar opposite of the 3DS. More expensive devices tend to suffer from lower sales when there is a cheaper alternative available, but with that being said, there's little overlap between the two userbases due to pointless Fanboy Wars.

Wasn't there an agreement where you get promoted to Mod if Valwin fucks around?

I'm not sure if the Temp is ready to accept an ethnic cleansing... but we're getting there.

 

[Midna]

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=191160

12th to 18th it's doing better. Not sure why this post was posted today with older sales. Still shit compared to 3DS.

They released blue and red systems.
It'll likely be back to normal next week.

13k sales is still absolutely awful, and I've been kind of embarrassed to see people treating this as a victory for the system.