Chris Schilling:
“Is the Vita on life support?” “Will the Vita really die?” It’s fair to say the irony of its name hasn’t been lost on critics of Sony’s portable. Such headlines may be a little premature, but nor are they entirely wide of the mark: twelve months after its Japanese bow, Vita is undeniably struggling, faced with the twin threat of a resurgent 3DS and Apple’s continued dominance of the mobile space.
It all started so promisingly, too. Around 325,000 units were sold in Vita’s first 48 hours on sale in Japan last December: slightly less than 3DS’s 375,000, granted, but given Vita’s position as a premium device – with a game and accessories, many were paying ¥40,000 (£328) for their new console – it was considered a very healthy start.
Second week sales weren’t quite so robust: Vita sales dropped by 77 per cent in the week before Christmas. Not only was it outsold by its forerunner, but, more gallingly, by a ratio of almost 6:1 by its closest rival, Nintendo’s 3DS. By the third week in January sales had dropped to 18,361 units, as Vita reached just over 450,000 sales. In its first month on sale, it had shifted over 40% less than 3DS in its first month, and we needn’t remind you that Nintendo considered its own sales in that time so disastrous that a massive price cut was deemed the only solution. Sony had been selling Vita at a loss since day one: following Nintendo’s example was clearly out of the question.
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Vita is not selling good cause there is not much games to it. The 3DS is obviously no match for PS Vita in terms of specs but Nintendo were smart enough to line up some of the most interesting games like Pokemon . Sony , if you keep whining about good graphics , you would lose all your money idiots. Just look at how famous Minecraft is.Minecraft has the most sh1ttiest graphics ever in pc games. Its famous cause of the gameplay and that game's feature . You, Sony must learn from Nintendo.
Doesn't matter what we say or don't say here, fact of the matter is that its not selling even with a solid line up of games and price drops. More games may change this situation but really, as a parent I would rather get my children tablets than a Vita.
Well the PS4/Orbis is gonna be coming out in the not so distant future. Perhaps Sony could further their PSVita investment by having two SKUs at the PS4/Orbis launch, one with just the console... and one bundled with the PS4 and Vita.
The Vita is a wonderful gaming hanheld but sony is handling it in the worst ways.
It really pains me to see it like this.
2013 Will be a big hit or miss for the Vita.
If sony plans to release the ps4 next year they need to blast out a price cut(on the memory cards aswell),MARKET the damn thing with GAMEPLAY from it's GOOD games, and SUPPORT the vita with some 1st party games atleast to get it pumping more.
I can't see how other devs will support it if sony themselves aren't giving any.
And if the ps4 releases 2013 with none of those things being done this won't be a happy year for the Vita :s