440°

Vita's Price Drop Already Impacting Sales Charts

"There's been some confusion around the internet concerning the recent Vita sales numbers in Japan. Some have said that sales already took a boost without the price drop, and that the system would have outsold the Wii-U without its newfound affordability. This is not so." -GR's Japanese correspondent Heath Hindman

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gamerevolution.com
dbjj120884087d ago

Yeah, now we have numbers to back it up.

bicfitness4087d ago

Not really, the price cut just hit today. But tell yourself whatever you need to I guess.

TheGrimOfDeath4087d ago

^ Be careful guys, we got a 3DS lover around here that won't accept that the Vita is going to grow in Japan.

bicfitness4087d ago

Are you talking about me Grim? I can't stand the 3DS, charging $200 for tech from 2000 is a ripoff, no matter how you want to sugar coat it.

I'm saying that articles like this are pointless until Media Create puts out their numbers. I'm sure that the Vita will get a big jump, what with PSO2 and then Soul Sacrifice right around the corner.

The problem with N4G is that about 1% of its users actually read articles or comments before spamming disagree or posting an opinion.

knifefight4086d ago

bicfitness, did YOU even read the article? The price cut "hit today" in the big box stores, but those only make up roughly half of game shops in Japan. The other half? They cut the price the day after Sony's announcement.

bicfitness4086d ago (Edited 4086d ago )

Its quite assumptive of you knifefight, to pull a 50% statistic OUT OF THIN AIR. I like how you also assume that even if that statistic WERE true, which it isn't, that every retailer that wasn't part of a chain discounted the Vita prior to yesterday (its the 1st now).

Do you realize how dumb those leaps in logic are? You are LITERALLY pulling numbers out of thin air and presenting them - believing them - as fact.

Again, this speaks to what I was saying about random supposition.

knifefight4086d ago (Edited 4086d ago )

Out of thin air? Part of my research is anecdotal, but it took hours and is worth far more than something pulled "from thin air." I don't call going to 10 different game shops to see who cut the price early "out of thin air," and if you do, well then I just feel bad for you.

Just for you, here's a picture I took with my phone last week, of a Vita with a reduced price.
http://i.imgur.com/NTbYXsj....
(Originally I'd attached it to a text message to a friend you, coincidentally, was kinda acting like you and not believing that it was already marked down ^_^)

So...is it "hard evidence" with an exact statistic? No, and it was never presented as such. I said "roughly half" of places to purchase games are big box stores...and that number holds up. Whether it slants one way or the other, still, everywhere I go, the split seems close to even. You're welcome to ride around Osaka with me and count some time.

I'm use the Japanese version Media Create figures; I don't need NeoGAF like half of these other game journalists do. ...And yet, even in the NeoGAF thread that everyone cites, a lot of those posters are also saying that the price was cut early. Read the posts.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

(Among others.)

As a permanent resident of Japan, I can assure you I know far more about the Japanese game industry than your average schmuck, and as a 10-year veteran of game journalism, I can assure you that I know how to check my stuff and mark things that are not certain; kind of like, you know, I did in the article and these comments. It's a plain fact that the price drop has had an impact on the figures. The full impact -- as said previously -- will be seen in the future, yes, and we've seen the beginning now.

Jeez dude, you need to relax. Stop accusing people of making stuff up with charges that you, ironically, are making up.

And stop PMing me.

@Despair
1) It's a comment in a discussion forums on the internet, not a study in a medical journal.
2) My voice is just one of many from around Japan that confirms the early price drop was very widespread.
3) When someone says "30% of Canada's population", do you think they really polled every single Canadian? No, most of such data is taken from sample groups.
4)...And even then, all I said was "roughly half" in a comment forum.

Chill bro ;)

despair4086d ago

@knifefight

in all fairness considering the number of game store in japan (I assume its a lot) and another assumption (though pretty sure about it) that you didn't travel around japan checking game stores, 10 stores is not enough to make even an educated guess as to how many people did the price drop.

You may be right or not but don't think that just because you live in japan and visited a few stores that you know about the statistics or the percentages or even a good guess on how many stores dropped the prices early.

bicfitness4086d ago (Edited 4086d ago )

knifefight,

First and foremost, I PM'd you once, don't flatter yourself and make it sound as if I'm stalking you or sending you multiple messages.

I'm also not the one writing hyperbolic articles based ENTIRELY ON ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE. If you wrote this article, you should steer clear of this sort of journalism in the future. Its uniformed and messy - we have enough of that already. Next week, you better hope that the Vita doesn't go over 30K in the 1st week of March, or your "evidence" and sampling will be seen to be as sloppy as I think it is.

And what exactly did I "make up"? I'm not the one creating articles based on thin supposition. I like how you toss out accusations like that without actually indicating what (nothing) that you're speaking about.

Get a clue.

P.S. Doing a statistical sample size analysis from a pool of "ten" is flawed from the start. I shouldn't have to tell you that. What demographic and income bracket were these neighbourhoods in? How much stock do they typically carry? How much volume do they move in a week? What sort of marketing and merchandising exposure do they get compared to big box stores? Did you answer every one of those questions for each establishment polled? And even if you did, good. Now go get 90 more samples.

You're defending sloppy journalism, with equally as sloppy research. Good stuff.

For the record, you said "roughly half". That should have read "roughly half of the ten stores that I called". Or was it all of the ten stores that you called? In any event the metrics and methodology should ALWAYS be presented along with whatever information you are trying to make assertions toward.

I have friends that are journalists, and yeah, it is hard. What you call diligence is not even the tip of the iceberg.

bicfitness4086d ago

Here ya go knifefight.

Some more anecdotal evidence. I'll still wait for the official numbers, but apparently, you should have too.

http://n4g.com/news/1184238...

JUST SOLD OUT IN JAPAN SINCE THE PRICE-DROP. This is why your article was lolworthy.

knifefight4085d ago (Edited 4085d ago )

You mad?

Anyone with a brain can see that the widespread price cut has has some measure of impact on the current sales figures. Thank you for even more evidence to support my claim. Like the article (that you didn't read) says, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

You, however, are arguing with someone from another country about what is happening IN that country. That's something a crazy person does. You are acting literally insane. I (and many others in Japan) have reported that the price was dropped early, and you're like "Nuh uh!" without being here. One of us has no qualification in this discussion, and it's...you.

You said: "you better hope that the Vita doesn't go over 30K in the 1st week of March, or your "evidence" and sampling will be seen to be as sloppy as I think it is. "

^ But it will. I think it will. With PSO2 and Senran Kagura coming on the 28th, then Tales-R and Soul Sacrifice coming on the 7th, heck yes I think it's going to break 30k, in both of the next two weeks. Maybe even 50k? We'll see. History shows again and again that appealing software sells hardware. To deny that is to deny what's right in front of you.

You seem to be in this "all or nothing" mentality, when that's not true of the universe we live in. "An impact" means nothing close to the full effect, yet you're acting like it does. Not hardly, my friend. Such thinking is a bit extreme, yet I concede that gamer culture has perhaps led you this direction. They want to give every game a score of 1, 2, 9, or 10 out of 10 points. It's sad, really, and my heart goes out to you. The truth, in all matters, usually lies in the middle of the two extremes. I hope you don't mind my use of "usually," here.

(English side note: you are also confusing the word "evidence" with the word "proof." They are not the same, but you are using them as if they are. This is not correct and only harms discussion.)

You're also underestimating the power of advertising and the size of the shops. Now that the word will be out, and commercials will be playing, and the big box stores will have banners flying all over the place announcing the cut, you can be sure the FULL effect will be seen, not just "an impact."
It doesn't matter if "roughly half" of the places you can buy games are independent shops. Think about this: how big are they compared to the huge guys? Numbers do not equal size. But! But! Does it have an impact? You bet.

The sellout at some stores is exactly why several cut the price early. They got rid of their Vitas, ordered more stock before Sony runs out. Will that happen everywhere? Not hardly. But since there's the "it could happen to you" idea, stores jumped the gun on the price cut. Simple.

All the article says is "many game shops around Japan," and this is confirmed by the tons of Japanese online (some of which you've read in GAF, above) who say the price was dropped early in their areas. What's written is true. Fact.

What it comes down to is that I am here, and you are not here. I know what's going on, and you have no way of knowing. You don't have a leg to stand on, really.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 4085d ago
bicfitness4087d ago

Nothing is cleared up, the official price drop isn't until the 28th. Without waiting for actual Media Create figures after the 1st week of March, we have NO idea how the new price point is affecting the Vita.

Lots of retailers were discounting the 3DS before its price-cut (after said cut was announced), but it didn't see a bump until AFTER. Just wait for the March figures and we can see if the Vita price cut helped. Anything else is purely speculative and anecdotal.

Hicken4086d ago

Actually, we DO have an idea. We have no concrete numbers, though.

What the article speaks of is fairly common in some places; Japan happens to be one of them.

This isn't about a sales increase prior to the price drop even EXISTING, which is what I think you're arguing happened with the 3DS. This is about the stores that cut the price BEFORE the official date. It can be argued that a significant number of retail locations dropped the price of the Vita prior to the 28th; short of calling up EVERY store- and getting a truthful answer- there's no way of knowing how many places did it early.

But we do know that SOME stores dropped the price early. If we see an increase in sales since the 20th, and we know that even a decent number of retailers already enacted the price cut, we can reasonably assume that the increase was caused BY the price cut.

Checking the increase against recent software releases can help: if nothing noteworthy came out, what else could you attribute an increase in sales TO?

3-4-54087d ago

I own a 3DS...but I hope the Vita starts doing better.

It's bad for handheld gaming if the Vita fails, which it won't, Sony has invested too many millions into this project.

Sounds like with a price cut and the fact more good games are starting to trickle out, things should pick up in 2013.

I want the vita to do well because I want to get one at some point in the future, there are just only a couple games right now that even interest me.

dantesparda4086d ago

How much is the price cut? i've completely missed this

knifefight4086d ago

3G system was 30,000 yen, now it's 20,000.
Wi-Fi system was 25,000, now it's also 20,000.

dantesparda4086d ago

hm, thats odd, why would anybody pick the wifi version if the 3g version is the same price? but thanks

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4085d ago
mrbojingles4087d ago

Its sad that even with a lot of stores cutting the price the Vita barely passed 10k. I'm willing to bet it might barely pass 30k next week (the week of the official drop) and be back to sub-10k numbers by the end of March.

OlgerO4087d ago

were did you find the sales numbers?

knifefight4087d ago

There's a link to them from within this article. In fact it's in the first sentence. >_>

sashimi4087d ago (Edited 4087d ago )

lol you know people never read articles, too many bad ones

mrbojingles4086d ago

17 ppl agree with you shows 17 ppl didn't even read the link.

Heavenly King4086d ago

@Knightfight

Those are the sales of the past week. without the price cut.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4086d ago
kreate4087d ago

Its the lack of games. Im glad sony's first party studios is working on ps4. And not much third party support. So the current situation is expected.

This is what happens when u try to support multiple platforms.

MasterCornholio4087d ago

"This is what happens when u try to support multiple platforms."

LOL and in Nintendos case its the opposite with the 3DS doing well and the Wii U doing badly.

But this usually happens in the beginning.

Baka-akaB4087d ago

you do realize that plenty store sold it out ? even if it's still low numbers . It probably would go for more with restocked shelves

Godchild10204087d ago (Edited 4087d ago )

Its not sad. Not every store dropped the price like other stores. That was mention in the article. Also, I don't think there were any game releases for the Vita last week. This week there are 2, a new color and a official store wide and online price drop.

miyamoto4086d ago (Edited 4086d ago )

What is sad is that people fail to realize that dedicated handheld gaming machine manufacturers are made up of only two major companies: Nintendo and Sony (sorry Neo Geo) against a legion of more bigger mobile competitors like Android, Apple, Samsung, LG, Motorola etc.

They fail to realize the success or failure of either of the two has a big impact on the other and the video game industry as a whole.

Investors, developers and publishers are watching the health of 3DS & PS Vita's competition to determine if there is a good future for them against mobile gaming.

People should open up their minds.

No one in their right mind wants dedicated handheld gaming to be endangered or extinct.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4086d ago
Aleithian4087d ago

Now if they would just bring the price drop to the States...

crazysammy4087d ago

Yea its amazing how they showed the holiday jump in Vita sales when *GASP the price was knocked down and there was a bundle deal!

I am not for dropping system prices just to do it, but sometimes you need to stimulate your sales, and in this case they needed it. Come on US sales drop!

MadLad4087d ago (Edited 4087d ago )

Drop the price to around $200 and package a quality game and a memory unit, and I will buy one. Considering there is a strong library for it at that time.
I am interested in the system itself, but I need games to justify the cost.
The library just isn't there for me yet.

Hell, I haven't even purchased a 3DS yet.

admiralvic4087d ago

Isn't that asking a bit much? I mean the only way for you to consider the system is to get a memory card (some people would probably complain if it was "only" 4 gb too), "quality game" and a price cut of 20%, in addition to expecting developers to spend large sums of money to get you to support it?! The simple fact is that the library WILL grow if people SHOW there is a market for it. If we all sit on our hands waiting for awesome games to come out, then nothing is going to happen / change. This is a large reason why the 3DS has "better" games, because they have a better market / more people to sell to.

SilentNegotiator4086d ago

The memory card prices are horrible. Their decision to go proprietary really sucks.

Maybe asking for a game is a bit much, but we all know that the price is holding Vita back and the memory cards are inaccessibly small and expensive.

MadLad4086d ago (Edited 4086d ago )

The price of the handheld, no matter the power, is too high. Though, obviously, that is but one person's opinion.
The cost of the Vita's storage is rather expensive and is a necessity. Even a small card should come with the system.
As for the games, there is no reason for me to own a system that doesn't have games I am interested in at the time of purchase.

Consumers shouldn't support a market just in the hopes that it grows to be something worthwhile. Companies serve me. Not the other way around.

chadboban4087d ago

Hope sales really do pick up. I'll wait for the actual Media Create charts before I say anything although I do believe that they will see an increase. I'm hoping to get a Vita myself by the end of the year, I think it'll complement my 3DS quite nicely.

Show all comments (49)
60°

The Nordic Game 2024 (NG24) Spring conference is to host more than 150 speakers

"While the 20 year anniversary edition of Nordic Game, NG24 Spring's homepage on 21-24 May in Malmö, Sweden, is getting closer, the organizers announced that more than 150 speakers are now lined up for the show." - Nordic Game.

170°

I Miss When Games Came In Full Package Rather Than Broken Mess Filled With Microtransactions

The gaming industry has drifted away from offering full-fledged games to putting unfinished titles that are jam-packed with microtransactions on the market.

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gamescordia.com
Christopher1d 23h ago

It's not the fault of the gaming industry. Gamers were told what was happening, were warned about where this would lead, did nothing, and now are acting like it's the fault of publishers that they kept buying these games and investing in MTX. If only those gamers at that time felt as strongly about these things as they do Helldivers 2.

Hugodastrevas1d 23h ago

I don't think MTX target the common gamer but instead predate on the so called "whales". It's gambling pure and simple.

Christopher1d 21h ago

Oh, so it's okay to buy MTX-laden games as long as you don't spend money on MTX, which has led to even more MTX-laden games with even more predatory practices where content that used to be unlocked is now behind paywalls?

C'mon now people. You gave the corporations and inch, and they kept taking and taking. Community members told people that investing in these things alone would only lead to more and more MTX and putting more and more behind paywalls. But it's only the fault of the corporations, not the people who kept supporting it with purchases as more and more was taken away?

Hugodastrevas1d 21h ago

@Christopher that's a straw man, I didn't say any of that I just added context.

-Foxtrot1d 18h ago

Well exactly

People stand up for something which seems small to them and they get called whiners or negative. Then years later the shit hits the fan and they all go “why is this happening?” Like they are innocent.

The issue aswell is younger gamers who grew up with all this thinking it’s normal and we all just look like old farts yelling at clouds when we’re trying to help us all, even them.

Crows901d ago

Who woulda thought that listening to your elders could be a good idea...too late now

Hofstaderman1d ago

It all started with that damn horse armour. Back then I thought nobody was stupid to buy into that crap. How wrong I was....

CrimsonWing6923h ago(Edited 23h ago)

I like how people move the goal-post. First it’s, f*ck any game with MTX’s, f*ck GaaS games, f*ck this game with “optional” MTX’s (Dragon’s Dogma 2), Helldivers 2 is ok because it’s fun and even though it has Battle Passes or Season Passes and MTX’s it’s ok because… you don’t need to buy them? 🤷‍♂️

HellDivers 2 is the best selling game this year. Just think about that, games like FF7 Rebirth sold poorly, but a continuous game that lives off recurring revenue sells extraordinarily well. Then we’ll hear everyone b*tch about a GaaS future.

I really wonder what this industry would’ve been like if we never gave into this crap, and yes I’m saying “WE” since I’m guilty of it, but man it’s literally no closing the door once it’s been opened.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 23h ago
Hugodastrevas1d 23h ago

This is what amazed me the most when playing hours upon hours of stellar Blade version 1.00.00 no bugs, no crashes, no sudden drops in frames, no screen tear, no falling from the world, just a complete package on a game under 50GB.
I think Korea will play a major role in gaming in the long run , because they're releasing banger after banger.

isarai1d 22h ago

Still pretty common to find if you stay away from the AAA publishers, in the last 10yrs ive probably only bought like 3 games combined from EA/ACTIVISION/UBISOFT. Even now i still buy games that work right out the box perfectly fine. Just recently got like 6hrs into Alone in the Dark, and not a single sign of any of that bs, really enjoying my time with it.

shinoff21831d 15h ago

There's such a misconception about every game needing a patch,this and that when in reality it's not even close. You nailed it isarai

Crows901d ago

It's really only AAA devs and publishers that seem to have these constant problems

z2g1d 1h ago (Edited 1d 1h ago )

And we as gamers have to accept our role in that. Constantly never being satisfied. Constantly demanding more while paying less. Constantly demanding better frame rates, better graphics, more modes and faster faster faster…. Then review bombing the product when a demand isn’t met. Meanwhile those same demands are making games more difficult, complex and more expensive to create than ever before, on shrinking timelines that burn out employees and make their lives miserable.

You wanna know why so many games get delayed? Cuz the original release dates weren’t realistic to begin with, but you can’t tell a gamer their game is further away than they want to hear. Some dev or game designer will be threatened physically. That builds even more pressure and rushing. We are officially squeezing water out of rocks and still complaining about that how hard you have to squeeze the rock be just waiting for rain. Most of the time we take it out on the developing studio, when it’s the publisher making the calls.

All you need to do is read the comments on most websites and social media to see how toxic, entitled and petty the gaming community at large is, and realize how that transforms into impossible expectations on the parts of game makers.

Crows901d ago

Nope. Some gamers are to blame. Never demanded anything you mentioned.

A fully finished and functioning product is a standard. It's not demanded. If someone sells you a tv that only works 60% of the time are you going to recommend it OR write a review calling out the obvious problem...it's not a demand...it's a standard.

A standard triple A publishers can't seem to hit consistently.

thorstein23h ago

You've never heard of planned obsolescence.

HankHill20h ago

I take it you like microtransactions? 🤣

Kinza550121d 1h ago (Edited 1d 1h ago )

This is one battle that gamers have never won, hahaha. They were parading recently for their "win" against Sony. Where's the energy for this one, guys? LMAO!

Show all comments (21)
70°

Gamescom Latam 2024 has just announced its finalists for the latam BIG Festival event

"The most important games event of Latin America, gamescom latam, has unveiled the finalists for its flagship award ceremony, the gamescom latam BIG Festival, which celebrates the best in the global market of games." - Gamescom.