Article written by Alex C.
Published on 22/03/2012 at 10:20 PM.
French economic newspaper Les Echos has revealed that the PlayStation Vita has sold around 66,000 units in its first month.
This is after (and including) a figure of 42k in the first week – a dramatic drop off that’s hard to ignore although perhaps one without context yet.
117k retail games have been sold.
The real issue isn’t so much the exact numbers, more a case of what on earth could the Vita have done extra? Great features, decent price point and a stunning launch line-up has still resulted in less than impressive figures.
What lies ahead for the dedicated hand-held console?
Via GAF.
Ouch…
Sacrebleu!
Same paper says 5k last week. 3DS was 7k.
Sounds about right to me then, I’d expect the 3ds to sell more due to its cheaper price point.
Mon dieu.
I still think it’s the price. Personally, I think it is at a great price for all the features you get but since we’re still in an uncertain economy and people would rather save than buy or just don’t have the money to buy, then I think that is what’s holding back sales.
(PS. That was a really long sentence)
Well the price is not stopping Ipad 3.
I imagine the iPad appeals to a wider range of consumers though, with its professional and media capabilities, alongside the games. As lovely as the Vita is, it is predominantly a hand held games machine.
As Nate says the price argument is more about perceived value. A few business guys in my work for example either have or want an iPad ’3′ but don’t even know what a Vita is. The iPad is expensive but it does more stuff and therefore appeals to a much wider audience. Although it’s best in class the Vita is just a portable game device. What Nintendo did well was make parents buy their products for the family / children. I know of a lot of children under 5 who “own” a DS of some sort, for whom a Vita just isn’t appropriate.
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just give it time like the 3DS needed,I should think it is close to 2 million world sales by now.
on the 27th this month the 3ds will have hit its first birthday: its sold nearly 2 mill units.
iPads been out about 2 weeks in a more saturated market : over 3 Million sales.
Conclusion : Doom :(
Why don’t you compare the sale of Windows to consoles while you’re at it, before you spout off about ‘doom.’
Two completely different products.
Well, PCs and Consoles are indeed two different products but your missing the point mate.
The fact is that the Vita and the iPad(plus its Android equivalents) ARE competing against each other.
Why? Mobile Gaming.
If a survey were to be done on how and where people used the PSP it would emerge that its primary use came at BusStops or other forms of commuting or in the workplace during breaks, now fast forward till now and you have two products both capable of mobile gaming, both produced by major companies and both not too dissimilar in prices in the arena.
At least 6 mates of mine (who all bought PSPs) wont buy the vita because the tablets can “Do More”, its as simple as that.
When i say Doom its because i believe the mobile gaming marketing has utterly changed since the PSP and that dedicated machines will do well to recover their costs, its not because i enjoy seeing things fail.
Ignore “marketing”…. I = Crap Proofreader
Doom is what they said about the 3ds there not competing no one will ever make full games for it for so doom is crap imo.
the 3ds has sold 6.68 million worldwide so far by the way the Vita will have some of its own numbers to boast about.
crap eh? ok, your opinion mate and i respect it.
final post.
not competing? no full games?
PlantsvsZombies,Peggle, Inifinty Blade, Swords and Sworcery, Dead Space, World of Goo, Minecraft PE, SpaceChem, Osmos, Kingdom Rush, Waking Mars, Sid Meirs Pirates, Machinarium, Air Supremacy, Real Racing 2, Civ Rev, Monkey Island, Dungeon Hunter 2…..
do i win yet? of course the sodding thing has full games.
You completely ignored my point.
If your point holds true, all consoles should be dead.
After all, PC not only plays games, but in most cases, plays them better than consoles.
TheDemocrodile you no as well as I do there not full fat games.
I no the Vita is 100 times better for games than my old ipad 2.
@Colm, i did indeed ignore your point, this isnt the place to compare two home devices, this is about mobility gaming, i could talk all day about why a PC is better for everyone than a console but this isnt the topic for it.
@skibadee, what can i possibly say? not full fat games? you sir, are impossible, literally impossible and far from being open to a discussion on this seem to be rather close minded and dangerously close to fanboyism for the sake of fanboyism.
Its not about whether Vita is better for gaming (it is) but whether the market exists for it anymore, thats all.
I believe there isnt (i *want* there to be) you believe there is. End of.
you come across like a Apple fanboy SIR impossible you see the future nice one.
fanboy because I no the difference do you own a Vita? so there full games then?
Advertising, most of my ‘nerdy’ friends barely even know what a Vita is!
Yeap, advertising hasn’t been Sony’s strongest and althought the PS Vita roo was good. It seem the market wasn’t responsive to their advertising campaign. Friends I know call it the PSP Vita PSP GO Vita, PSP 2. To think?!
*room *seemed
I think it’s a split between price and lack of awareness of the product that has led to Vita’s unsuccessful figures.
Indeed. I think the price is good, but when you confers insider how cheap you can now get other consoles, it makes the Vita slightly less attractive. Even the games may seem expensive when GAME are knocking out ore-owned PS3 and 360 games for daft money.
If Sony support it well and continue the strong line-up, particularly in the first 6 months, I think the Vita will do okay.
*consider (stupid auto crappy iPhone)
I don’t know about anyone else but I was extremely cautious picking up the Vita for two reasons:
1) While the launch line up was solid there currently isn’t any major releases to watch out for. Obviously e3 should hopefully fix that but I must admit I am sat here with my Vita, already bored of the launch games and wondering what I can pick up next.
2) How Sony handled the PSP. With only a few noteworthy titles to its name (in my opinion of course), the PSP (especially the ‘GO’) was a naff handheld and never really lived up to it’s premise.
Once Sony actually release some decent games outside the initial line up and they prove to people they are actually going to develop the handheld properly (let’s face it, they completely ditched things like the Move and Eyetoy almost immediately), I suspect sales will improve
you know mate? ive been thinking about this since launch and im pretty sure now that the machine is actually doomed.
Consider: Most people these days i see commuting to work (i`m a regular along the Birmingham – London ealy morning route) are usually using iPads or similar device and id go as far as to say that 60& of them were actually gaming on them.
These 20Somethings are the market that Sony needed, they were the target audience for the original PSP in the days before the Tablets took off but the Tech has moved on now.
They may not “need” iTunes, iBooks, iBloodyDrinksMaker but they see no point in owning a device that only caters for their gaming (admittedly better than a touchscreen device can offer) when casual, smooth gaming experiences are available next to the myriad of things you can do on a tablet.
i hate to say it but i think the days of the portable handsets are over now and the scary thing is that the sales data seems to be bearing me out.
*insert the Last Post music here*
I can follow your logic. I must admit I got caught up in all the Vita hype, rushed out and bought one and have regretted it since. It’s a nice bit of kit sure but, as you say, there isn’t really a market for it anymore.
you were saying it was collecting dust the other day which is just silly to me seems like you got one just to moan about it.