How The Vita Outsold 3DS This Week

GR analyzes: "Two Vita games in the top five? Five Vita games charting in the top 20? I'm not sure if either of these have ever happened at all, let alone within the same week. Next week, it has Steins;Gate and a new Nobunaga's Ambition game to look forward to. Later in the month will see Dead or Alive 5 Plus as well as Atelier Meruru Plus and the Muramasa port, so Vita should enjoy a good month."

[Wedge19]

Well, seems like the Vita is slowly picking up steam (not THAT steam)! This is good to see, hopefully we'll now see a lot of dev support.

[knifefight]

haha it would be crazy if Steam came to Vita. Vita + Steam sales = headexplode.

[Canary]

I'd cry if Sony started handling Digital Distribution as well as Steam, instead of doing progressively worse with each new piece of hardware.

Tears of ****ing joy.

[xursz]

I don't use steam but I think Sony has done fair job with handling digital distribution going forward. For one, the psvita has the highest digital buy rate of any Playstation console, mostly because every retail game is available on the store, and being 10-15% cheaper on psn. Second, their psn promotions are always welcome (buy so much and get so much in return the following month, usualy in conjuction with a psn sale). The sales are usually up to 50-70% off most times (ps+ member).

So I don't think its fair to say they've gotten progressively worse, its fair to say they recognize the importance of digital distribution and are working to meet their standard. Thats not to say they are the best they can be; they need instant previews for every game, sort of like what they're doing on the new ps store (but better!). Play while you download I think will be a huge and welcome feature as well for PS4 so there's another step in the right direction.

[Canary]

@xursz: I'm not saying Sony hasn't done good things DD-wise, their DD has been getting worse with each new piece of hardware.

Let's look at the limitations:

Playstation 3:
-Can only view Video files on one PS3.
-Can only play games on five PS3s.
-Downgrade: can only play games on three PS3s.

Playstation Vita:
-Can only link one account per Vita without buying overpriced peripherals.
-Can only play certain DD titles by transferring from PS3.

Playstation 4
-Cannot play any PS1, PS2, PS3 or PSN digital games.

If that's not a downward spiral, I don't know what is. Steam does DD perfectly: you can have as many Steam accounts linked to a single machine as you want; you can download games to multiple machines; you can play games you've already bought on new machines; you can get a steam key from physical games, etc.

The PS4 is basically Sony giving the middle-finger to everyone who went digital this generation. "What, you spent $1000 on PSN titles? Well, **** you, you can't play those games on the PS4. Maybe if you're lucky we'll let you pay us a subscription fee to stream a small number of games you already own.

[chaos-lockheart]

@Canary

First of all nothing about recharging us for the previous buy is confirmed yet. Second of all i have a ps3 and a psvita, why do i need ps4 to play those, Nes, snes,n64, gamecube,sega gen, saturn,dream cast, never had it. it was Sony who gave that option to us, everyone followed. stop being spoiled. arguing about this, its annoying.

[Bathyj]

I dont know where gamers got this idea that buying a console game gave you the right to play that game on every console the manufacturer releases in the future.

[Utalkin2me]

Steam to vita for what? So you get a slight discount on games and cant trade or sell them to make your money back? No thanks, i save so much more money by being able to trade and sell my games it isn't funny.

[Ju]

@Canary...the truth-time-continuum just got bend pretty hard there.

[T3MPL3TON]

"First of all nothing about recharging us for the previous buy is confirmed yet. "

Yes it is. Sony, said it themselves.

"Second of all i have a ps3 and a psvita, why do i need ps4 to play those, Nes, snes,n64, gamecube,sega gen, saturn,dream cast, never had it. it was Sony who gave that option to us, everyone followed. stop being spoiled. arguing about this, its annoying."

This is taking being a fanboy to a whole new level. This is absolutely stupid of them. They did it with the PS2. They were doing it with the PS3 before they came up with flat out lies about how it wouldn't fit in the slim vrs 1.

You're literally saying."I'd rather keep my old system instead of having just 1 which could easily play them all." They wouldn't even need to fit in hardware.. they could literally do it purely through software. There is 0 excuse for them to not do it. The PS3 and the PS4 will use the same format. There is no reason they can't do it. However it makes sense when you realize they'll make loads of money on people stupid enough to re-buy their games.

[guitarded77]

@ T3MPL3TON

While I applaud your enthusiasm for backward compatibility in the PS4, your statement...

"They wouldn't even need to fit in hardware.. they could literally do it purely through software. There is 0 excuse for them to not do it. The PS3 and the PS4 will use the same format. There is no reason they can't do it."

...is absolutely not correct. The PS3 has an IBM Cel processor, and the PS4 will have an x86 (PC) processor. They are completely different architectures. It will not be able to do backward compatibility at a hardware level... emulation is a possibility (I don't know the specifics), but you're talking about some serious coding, and changing the way a chip processes data at a machine language level. That is not easy.

I too want backward compatibility, and Sony has said that they are working on a system which will allow Gaikai to allow the PS4 to play PS3 games. Someone suggested that Sony said they will be charging for this, but I don't remember Sony mentioning anything about charging. Right now we wait and see.

[moparful99]

@templeton Heaven forbid that Sony doesn't bend over backwards to give YOU what you want.. I will never understand why people like you make such a huge deal out of backwards compatibility.. If you want to play ps3 games then keep your ps3.. It's not complicated.. I'm not buying a new system to play old games...

[Dark_king]

@they could emulate ps1 and ps2 through software but not even the best gaming rigs out there can emulate the ps3.In anther five years maybe,but it sure as hell can't be done on the ps4.

[dedicatedtogamers]

It's funny how people so quickly and easily dismissed the Vita based on its first year. Am I the only one with a memory that goes back more than 18 months? The PSP had the exact same slow start, the exact same small library of games, so-so ports at the beginning, etc., and then once it started to nab some bigger-name games, the PSP really took off.

[mcstorm]

Did the PSP have a slow start? I thought it was the DS that has a slow start until the DS Lite came out 1 year later?

I do like the PSV and I cant wait to get KZ on it I just hope a lot of people pickup the game for MP. I also hope we see a Full GT game on the PSV to.

[maniacmayhem]

No one dismissed it, everyone knew it was a superior handheld. The games were also there, a lot of big names too. But what everyone said is they don't need a gaming handheld for that price.

What people wanted or waited for was a price drop. And it yes, it took a year for that to happen in Japan.

[dedicatedtogamers]

@ mcstorm and maniacmayhem

Yeah, it had a slow start, and I remember hearing all of the same complaints we've been hearing about the Vita for the PSP games of the first year like Medal of Honor, Syphon Filter, and Grand Theft Auto: "I don't want to play console-type games on the go. I have a console for that!"

[Apollosupreme]

So did the 3DS. As an owner of both handhelds I can safely say that year one of the Vita offered up better content than year one of the 3DS; based on my particular tastes.

Going forward it will continue to do so as well. I love the 3DS for fun platformers, Mariokart and a few of the RPGs but the Vita will provide some of that as well, while also offering up legit shooters and high profile sports franchises.

I'm glad I have both because if I stuck with the 3DS alone I'd have an half complete gaming experience. AAA shooters, like is what's to come with Killzone is important to me. So is having a top flight NFL franchise on my handheld. I also like to watch videos on my handhelds and the Vita's screen cannot be matched.

I think you will continue to see strong sales in Japan from here on out because:

1. Price is right now.
2. The library is strong and there is a lot dropping and a lot to drop on through to the summer.

Now what we need is a price drop for everywhere else. I think it will come if the success keeps coming in Japan.

[younghavok]

Picking up steam, but not alot. It outsold the 3ds by 2000 units with one of its biggest titles, while the 3ds had nothing new on the market. Its like when somebody releases an album during a week without any major releases and it hits number one. Yay for it being a number one album, but there wasnt really any competition. According to media create Soul Sacrifice sold under 100k. Like i said its great that it finally sold some decent numbers, but if this thing is as good as people claim, and the demand is their like people imagine, it would be doing more and selling more software. As it stands now the Vita is still niche and it doesnt look like its going to shake that anytime soon. Not as long as the 3ds is getting the top guns in japan. And when it comes to handhelds, Japan is really all that matters.

[ICECREAM]

Sony always comes with great machines and proud gamers always love them.

[LackTrue4K]

I just bot my last Saturday. And I love it!!! Can't wait for killzone to drop on it! :P

[MizTv]

Get persona4 now!!!!!!!

[Baylex]

Well at least is picking up steam in Japan... but what about the rest of the world?
Let's just wait for Killzone :D muahah

I hope, when GTA V is ready, R* starts to make a GTA for the vita.. Oh god that would sky high the vita :D

[Veneno]

Aaaand with our luck they'll get Nihilistic to develop GTA Vita :(

[Baylex]

Hope not... don't say those things :S
Nihilistic is in the mobile business... let them be there ;) lol

[CalvinKlein]

yeah soul sacrifice sold 110K in its first week, thats great. I will be buying a copy when it comes out here, I hope it does really good because they put alot of effort into the game and Id like to see them eager to release more games on vita if it sells well.

[Timmey]

thats even without digital sales!

[ritsuka666]

The numbers are not underwhelming for Vita this week, I'd say they're surprisingly good. That said, two weeks are not going to save a system and given the known releases for Vita the future still looks grim in Japan..

[TongkatAli]

Why is the 3DS not getting the Jump allstars sequel on it ? Oh! It's coming to the PS3 and the Vita. Nice : )

[DarkHeroZX]

by the looks of MH's sales I think its safe to say the Vita doesn't need it to survive, hell it looks to be only hindering the 3DS. I bet capcom is wishing they didn't partner up Nintendo now lol.

[PSNintyGamer]

Hindering? Without having any major releases, the 3ds managed to sell about the same as the vita. The vita had 3 major releases

[younghavok]

its a million seller on the 3ds, how many of those does the vita have right now? None right? Mot to mention it was a port of the Wii version which had already sold 2 million copies. That was free money for capcom. Why is every gaming platform getting Resident Evil besides Vita?

[PSVita]

Look at those WiiU sells.

[alexcosborn]

Could the Vita make a comeback?!

[Wedge19]

I don't know if you'd consider it a comeback. I think this is a "come-for -the-first-time".

[nugnugs]

*snigger*

[Y_5150]

"Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years!"

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[mushroomwig]

In order for something to make a comeback it had to be away in the first place, the Vita has been doing fine since release. It's only amateur gaming journalists who like to say otherwise.

[dbjj12088]

Well, more games. That's good.

[abzdine]

huge news!!!
now release FFX HD and it should stay at top spot for good!

[DiRtY]

By cutting the price by 50 - 100 USD and release a popular game in Japan.

And where are all the Japan =/= the world comments? In the next 2-3 weeks the Vita will be behind the 3DS again in every region.

[dedicatedtogamers]

When it comes to the handheld market, doing well in Japan means a lot, because that's where the bulk of the big-name games come from (on handhelds, at least). Of course, not all of these games will come to all other regions but performing well in Japan is a stepping-stone to doing well worldwide.

[miyamoto]

well said.
history has it that all best selling consoles and handhelds succeeded in Japan.

[Blastoise]

Why you always hatin on vita bro? :|

[kamikazepikmin]

because its fun

[kikizoo]

Not only vita, all sony's products and games :)

Dirty tests :
hater : pass
Gamer : fail

[Protagonist]

@DiRtY

Ehh??? was it not the exact same case with the 3ds????

[Siren30]

A region does equal the world if your talking about sony

[majiebeast]

Haters gonna hate go play your 360.

[deafdani]

"By cutting the price by 50 - 100 USD and release a popular game in Japan."

Yeah, because the 3DS's turnaround in sales had nothing to do with a $80 price cut (a 33% price cut), 6 months after the console launched, nor the release of a few pretty popular games (Monster Hunter Tri, Mario Kart 7, Mario 3D Land, Zelda Ocarina). Nothing at all.

[kamikazepikmin]

agreed, this time next month, the vita sales will drop back below 20,000.

[cee773]

@dirty

You realize Japan counts for A third of 3ds lifetime sales.
Japan is very important when it comes to handhelds.
This is why Sony lowered the price in japan first .
They could easily move 2 million vita's this year just in japan lol.
you fail.

[GABRIEL1030]

Great sales for Sony.

[ziggurcat]

vita doom articles to start popping up in 3... 2... 1...

[Gimmemorebubblez]

*preparing for "Vita is doomed" for no reason artIcles.*

[RandomDude655]

"Is Vita selling TOO well?"

[CaitSith]

lmfao

[lovegames718]

Vita Boom!!!!! Haters crying themselves to sleep even though its weird they even care about another systems sales lol

[JonnyBigBoss]

I can't help but hope that it starts doing well.

[Roper316]

that's great for Sony, The Vita is a great piece of hardware. I'm really glad I jumped on that Amazon black Friday sale it was a steal @ 175.00 + 2 games ( ACIII & PSABR ) & 3 months of PS+.

[jams_shop]

Well done Sony.

[TemplarDante]

Announce a pricedrop in my country!,
I'd take 2!

[Knight_Crawler]

That does not make sense...your willing to pay for 2 Vitas and a discounted price but you wont pay for 1 at regular price.

[NateCole]

The wife will not allow him unless she has one?.

[Veneno]

Bros before Hos.

[telekineticmantis]

all those great PSN titles like Joe Danger the movie, make a PS2 classics section for games like GTA san andreas, and serve current customers before they worry about price(which still has to come down soon). How about games like Sonic Colors and other Wii games that Vita can handle. Also, bring over Earth defense Force 2025, or Insect Armegeddo, instead of charging us 30-40$ for te subpar 2017. If you don't have the ability to bring brand new games at the moment this is the least you can do.

[-Falaut-]

My boy Disco Stu!

[despair]

games plus price drop = winning formula. Hopefully japan is just the test region for the price drop and the quality and popular game titles keep on coming.

[boybato]

Sony be damned if they won't do the pricedrop for other regions. - I want my friends to enjoy the Vita too!!!

[PopRocks359]

"How The Vita Outsold 3DS This Week"

Price drop?

[Shnazzyone]

I think you solved the puzzle.

[Veneno]

Its just like Jeopardy!

What is a price drop, Alex.

[DivineAssault]

so damn jealous they got soul sacrifice already & i hope they localize tales of hearts r.. Japan gets all the good stuff yet they dont care about vita too much.. I would have a huge collection of vita games if i could read japanese..

[Tidybrutes]

Id be so happy if Tales of Hearts R and/or Tales of Innocence R got localized.

[josephayal]

Congrats To Sony and Microsoft in Japan

[BanBrother]

Wait, how is it possible to sell 1 and a half consoles? :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

[Shadow Flare]

"50% increase"

Someone in Japan bought a second controller

[Shadow Flare]

-

[LastXeno]

Too bad this is going to be the last week. Pokemon XY and Monster Hunter 4 are going to kill momentum.

[DarkHeroZX]

pokemon xy dont come out untio October lol. Not sure about MH4 but the furrent MH is selling piss poor soo.....yeah

[lilbroRx]

I wonder if we will see articles like this when the Wii U starts to outsell the other consoles?

Are we going to get a "How the 3DS outsold Vita this week" when the 3DS takes the lead again?

[TongkatAli]

The Vita has been struggling in Japan. That is why it's a big deal. How typical, no congrats from the Nintendo fanboys, just sarcastic comments, lol.

[lilbroRx]

I'm not a Nintendo fanboy. I'm a PC gamer, but I can recognize the acute bias against Nintendo on this site by the gaming media and their unequal reporting. That is why I ask these questions.

Even if I go by your logic, that gives headway to my first question. Will we see an article like this when the Wii U overtakes the PS3/360 in sales? Will you, who complains that Nintendo "fanboys" don't give congrats to Vita, give congrats to the Wii U, or will you be a hypocrite?

Were the issue the same but the rolls reversed, would you still say the same thing?

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

I don't see why Nintendo fanboys should give you any congratulation remarks. Sony fanboys have been doing nothing but trash talking Nintendo and Microsoft for the last year on this website. Why do you think everyone is so hostile? It's because of remarks like yours.

[Theyellowflash30]

Untill sony has an affordable 32 gb memory card and a biig library of good portable games, not console shooters like killzone. I will not be getting one. And while these sales are good. They are far under the sales of the 3$ds when it got its price cut. What happens when monster hunter 4 and pokemon x & y come out? I can assure you the vita will get smoked.

Not to mention it barely outsold the 3ds with a ton of new software. I know sony is not pleased with these sales. They expected to outsell the 3dsjob by more than a couple thousand units.

[TongkatAli]

It will get smoked, but Sony is making a profit so does it matter ? Where is it written in stone it has to beat the 3DS. The Vita is there for its fanbase that want games on a high quality screen with dual analogs. You Nintendo fanboys got it twisted. Nintendo never mattered to Sony. Why do you think the Vita wasn't a underpowered piece of shit ?

Sony goal wasn't to beat Nintendo in sales. Their goal was to make a better product in specs then the 3DS which they did.

[Theyellowflash30]

Sony goal wasn't to beat Nintendo in sales. Their goal was to make a better product in specs then the 3DS which they did.

Sony doesn't share your opinion, I can assure you of that. Why did they price the PS Vita so close to the 3DS at the beginning? It's their main competition.

Why am I Nintendo Fanboy? Cause I don't like shooters? Because I like the 3DS? Graphics are what is killing Sony, they should focus on gameplay more when it comes to a handheld system.

[Dark_king]

@Theyellowflash30 Hmm I wonder if duel analog sticks are there to make the games look better.

[G20WLY]

Care to share a link citing Sony's sales expectations in relation to 3DS post price drop? No, didn't think so lol...

Stop panicking, 3DS will be back on top in weekly sales soon enough and the Vita is hardly troubling it in terms of lifetime sales.

Would it really hurt you that much to be happy for Vita on this occasion? :|

[Theyellowflash30]

I'm not happy because of the price of the 32 GB memory cards. Sony is raping the consumer with those prices. 32 GB SD cards are as low as 20 bucks. The Vita's are like $70 and up!

[G20WLY]

Raping? Really?! What an inappropriate use of a horrible word.

The great news is you have a choice, so enough with the drama already. Consumers vote with their wallets. If you want something, you buy it. If not, you don't. You realise something's worth is directly linked to what someone will pay, don't you? If you will pay 20k for my car, do you expect me to say, "tell you what, give me 10k"?!

Now, about that link - did you manage to find it, or are we just sweeping the stuff you make up under the carpet? :P

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Great to see the Vita doing so well!

[LastXeno]

We'll see if they can stay on top, it takes a lot of dedication. The 3DS has been selling 60-80k every month in Japan, thanks to Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest, Mario, and Animal Crossing, Vita doesn't really have these kind of powerful franchises.

[sherimae2413]

your so dense oni-chan ofcourse we vita fans will know that it wont always stay on the top but we are glad that the vita has now its relevance in japan isnt that hard to understand

thats what are wrong with you nintendo fans. you always brag about sales! is that a side-effect of always being top-on-sales yet the games you offer are.... are.... kiddy? ^_^

sorry im a girl and 27 but i will choose killzone over kirby

[kenshiro100]

I'm sure the naysayers feel stupid by now.

[TBONEJF]

DISCO STU SAYS VITA SOLD OUT OH YEAHH

[chobit_A5HL3Y]

isn't it duff man who always says, "oh yeah"? lolz

[TuxedoMoon]

That's cool. Still waiting for a more major price drop and some more games before investing in the Vita.

[chaos-lockheart]

the price drop i get, lol but the more games before investing, I'm pretty sure unless your super rich, I don't think your going to buy 20 games at the same time

[Prodigy-X]

Soul Sacrifice that's why.

[wingman32x]

Congrats to the Vita for hitting an important milestone. Hopefully things will get at least as close as DS/PSP soon.

3DS will always be more important to me personally, but it's good to see things looking up for the Vita.

With a system like that, it was only a matter of time until things picked up.

[T3MPL3TON]

First off this is a flat out lie. If you look at media creates site. They have it listed as:

Vita - 62,543

3DS LL - 50,265

3DS - 27,174

That's:
62,543 for the Vita
77,439 for the 3DS

I don't know where you learned but where I learned 77,000 is more than 62,000.

[knifefight]

You are posting the numbers from Feb 25th to March 3rd.

The numbers in THIS column are the numbers from March 4th to March 10th.
PSV - 63,581
3DS - 61,008

See also:
http://www.4gamer.net/games...
(Japanese)

The official Media Create site will update with the numbers tomorrow. For now, it is still showing the old numbers, as indicated by the date at the top.
http://m-create.com/ranking...

See the part where it says （2013年2月25日～3月3日） ?
That means those are the old numbers, Feb 25 to March 3. Not the newest set of numbers.

[Drainage]

fluke month

[chaos-lockheart]

@muffinbutton

Sony fans are happy so what, I see you are so evil you like to see people cry and suffer.

[jakmckratos]

Oh my God...such an epic picture...I love you Disco Stu

[vitullo31]

what the hell is the matter with all you morons none of you are gamers your a bunch of losers who gives a flying fuck what system sells more buy which one you like play the games you want and shut the fuck up

[darren_poolies]

"Wikifuckingpedia to the rescue."

"The Wii-U is really hitting its stride, managing to sell approximately half what the PSP did."

I enjoyed that, might have to visit this site more often.

[valormeer]

Soul Sacrifice this week, Also Persona 4 Golden has just hit in Europe