160,000 Vitas Sold During Black Friday Week

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

160,000 Vitas Sold During Black Friday Week

PlayStation Plus subscriptions increased 259% during the week of Black Friday.

The week of Black Friday might be a nightmare for retail employees, but it proved fairly successful for Sony. The publisher has announced that it sold 525,000 PlayStation 3 units last week, which was a hardware sales increase of 15% over last year. Total PS3 sales, which includes hardware, software, and accessories, grew 9%, and a 250GB PS3 bundle with the first two Uncharted games and inFamous Collection sold out at retailers nationwide.

The PlayStation Vita also racked up some decent sales, moving 160,000 units and selling out of the $199 Assassin's Creed: Liberation bundles. Perhaps aided by the addition of the service to the handheld, PlayStation Plus subscriptions grew 259% last week compared to the same time period the year before.

While 160,000 Vitas sold may not sound like a lot, it was a pretty strong week for the handheld, which has been struggling since its February launch. Of course, the discounted bundles available during the Black Friday weekend probably didn't hurt, either. With another new Vita bundle launching next week [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120864-Vita-Gets-Bundled-With-PlayStation-Plus], perhaps Sony can keep this sales momentum going through the holiday season.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/29/525k-playstation-3-consoles-160k-vitas-sold-last-week/#continued]

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[ResonanceSD]

While 160,000 Vitas sold may not sound like a lot, it was a pretty strong week for the handheld, which has been struggling since its February launch.

Well yeah but coming off a microscopic base, it's not really a good situation for the Vita. The 3DS sold 250k, the WiiU sold 400k.


And the X360? 750k.

 

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

I am gonna take advantage of those free games right now, 90 PS+ subscription, here I come! Thank you sis, for getting me a 32GB card!

The Vita is a great machine, only problem is that the Vita will drain your wallet faster than a speeding bullet!

Agreed. I don't even think the price of the system is bad (I got one on launch day), but the overpriced memory cards... oof. PS+ definitely softens the blow, though. I downloaded some free games as soon as it went live for the Vita last week!

 

[cerebus23]

At lest they getting a toe in the door, now they better put out some solid titles for the thing, that is what ends up selling systems more than anything make great games for it, and we know sony can do that from the ps2 era.

 

[Snotnarok]

I just nicked one off Ebay for a solid price with a mem card and a game, it'd be nice to see this thing be successful and with a large library. ...And their games to be a BIT more sanely priced.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

Kudos to Sony. I've had one since launch, and while it hasn't gotten a huge amount of play from me, due mostly to the lack of titles I'm really interested in me, when I do play it, I enjoy it tremendously. With any luck, the Vita will see a strong holiday season, and more devs will show some interest. It's only in its first year, so I'm not hugely worried, but Sony really does need to pick it up.

And, echoing earlier sentiments in this thread, LOWER THE GODDAMN MEMORY CARD PRICES! Or at least let me use an SD card! If you're going to start bringing free titles into the mix with PS+, I'm gonna need more than 4 gigs of memory, Sony.

 

[mysecondlife]

So during it's launch the WiiU was outsold by both the 360 and PS3 in the US, ouch bad luck Nintendo!

Seemed to do more with Wii U supply in the states. I hear the thing is pretty expensive on ebay. Nintendo's fault nonetheless.

 

[VanQ]

Glad to see it and I hope to see a few more units moved during the holiday season. I myself joined PS+ just last week to grab a few of those free games. WipeOut 2048, Uncharted and Jet Set Radio to be specific. Sony may be struggling but I'll be damned if they don't give their customers some real nice stuff on a regular basis.

And to all the folk still worried about memory card prices, the cost of the games you get for free on PS+ in a single month value higher than a 32gb card + 3 months of PS+. So in the end you do actually come out with more value. Now that PS+ exists for the Vita, there's really no reason to not grab one.

If you're worried about that 32gb filling up too fast, don't worry! You can back up the game files for games you aren't currently playing to your PC and put them back on the Vita whenever you feel like later. As long as you remain subscribed to PS+ you will have access to those games forever.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go rescue Rise from the shadow world in Persona 4 Golden.

 

[Zburator]

Urgh. The 16GB card set me back nearly $70, damn inflated Australian prices.

Still, I am surprised how damn awesome the Vita is. Originally I was only really interested in it for Persona, but damn, Gravity Rush is kick-ass. Now I just need to wait for my copy of Virtue's Last Reward to arrive.

It's an awesome machine, and it's even more awesome for being region-free.

 

[Trishbot]

That damn memory card nonsense has GOT to go. 4 measly GBs is almost worthless. If you're going to seriously game on the machine, you NEED the 32 GB and that makes the Vita nearly twice as expensive as an Xbox 360.

I'm still also disappointed that, one year into the system's life, and the best game for the system is a port of a half-decade-old PS2 game. And 2013 is looking barren indeed.

One year into the 3DS's life and people were calling it a massive flop, despite selling 20 million globally and making a profit on each system sold. The Vita is sitting at around 3.5 million after nearly a year, costs far more to make and develop for, and has no big games on the horizon. My biggest fear is developers will simply stop making games for the system, or at the very least quality games for the system. More Black Ops II tie-in garbage and less Gravity Rush.

 

[Akimoto]

While 160,000 Vitas sold may not sound like a lot, it was a pretty strong week for the handheld, which has been struggling since its February launch.

Or, it could be the idea that Black Friday is the best time to buy a christmas present.

 

[Strazdas]

While 160,000 Vitas sold may not sound like a lot, it was a pretty strong week for the handheld, which has been struggling since its February launch.

Well yeah but coming off a microscopic base, it's not really a good situation for the Vita. The 3DS sold 250k, the WiiU sold 400k.


And the X360? 750k.

this. context is everything.

Or, it could be the idea that Black Friday is the best time to buy a christmas present.

black friday is the best day to lock your do0ors and dont leave your house. i for one dont want to be trampled over for a few dollars cheaper item.