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

[alexcosborn]

Thanks for clearing that up!

[dbjj12088]

Yeah, now we have numbers to back it up.

[bicfitness]

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

[TheGrimOfDeath]

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

[bicfitness]

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.

[knifefight]

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.

[bicfitness]

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.

[knifefight]

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 ;)

[despair]

@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.

[bicfitness]

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.

[bicfitness]

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.

[knifefight]

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.

[bicfitness]

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.

[Hicken]

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?

[3-4-5]

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.

[dantesparda]

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

[knifefight]

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

[dantesparda]

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

[mrbojingles]

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.

[OlgerO]

were did you find the sales numbers?

[knifefight]

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

[sashimi]

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

[mrbojingles]

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

[Heavenly King]

@Knightfight

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

[kreate]

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.

[MasterCornholio]

"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-akaB]

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

[Godchild1020]

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.

[miyamoto]

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.

[Aleithian]

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

[crazysammy]

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!

[MadLad]

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.

[admiralvic]

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.

[SilentNegotiator]

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.

[MadLad]

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.

[chadboban]

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.

[GABRIEL1030]

Vita is a great device, have a great power, nice OLED screen, excelent free PLUS games like Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Nija Gaiden, have an excelent intenet conection, is one of the best systems that already exist. But the problem of the low sales is: the market is saturated with games and systems, and now with PS4 in the horizon will be more difficult to promote the device because much people is excited about the new generation.

[jut420]

"I am lying to you. Me telling you that is what separates me from most game journalists."

lol so true *brofist

OT: I hope the system starts taking off, because it's the best handheld I've ever owned and I'd hate to see so much potential be wasted.

[SpiralTear]

Whoever posted this should've used a preview image without subtitles. The joke just doesn't work as well with them there.

Seriously, though: the Vita is a fine system, one that (aside from the annoying rear touch pad), has pretty much every hardware feature that a gamer could want. Dual analogs, nice screen, touch features...yeah. The only issues I have with it are the overpriced proprietary memory units and more high-profile games.

Hopefully the price drop will encourage developer support (*cough*Bioshock*cough*), and maybe, just maybe, a global price drop.

[ExCest]

On the topic with the image: And the subs are stupid as hell. What kind of subber puts "keikaku" only to translate it above? That's a waste of time and ruins the flow of reading.

Unless that's some kind of joke I'm not getting.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Now all we need is a memory card price drop, and new NON-CONSOLE PORT games to kickstart the sales increase even more.

[admiralvic]

Memory Cards are constantly on sale / at a lower price. You can quite often find a 32 gb for 70 dollars. Sure that's still high if you compare it to the Micro SD, but it will be a LONG time before you start seeing 32 gb cards for 20 dollars.

[TheFinalEpisode]

Anybody else came here for a Death Note (thumbnail)reference?

[baraka007]

yes but that show made me mad... *spoilers* stop reading!!!
how could they make the whole thing be figured out by a 7 year old child bleh seriously the only thing that kept that show from being awesome IMO

[animegamingnerd]

yup i did

[haymoza]

Light Yagami is pleased.

[o-Sunny-o]

Vita deserved more attention. It's damn time it does! I love my Vita it gave me more games I want than the 3DS. I'm getting my 3DS back when an game I care about comes out like Luigis mansion, Animal Crossing, or an actual Zelda game.

[darkziosj]

3ds still have better games, not just sub-par console ports.

[despair]

gahahahahahhahahahahahahaha... .*inhales*...gahahahahahaahahah ahahah...*passes out*