Sony Still Thinks the Vita is Doing Well

[The Wooster]

Sony Still Thinks the Vita is Doing Well

Sony remains unconcerned by the Vita's poor sales.

I'm actually starting to run out of negative adjectives to describe the Vita's sales performance in Japan. Let's look one up shall we? 'Abominable,' there's a good one. Last week's Vita sales were abominable.

According to Media Create [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=461515], Sony managed to sell 18,942 units last week, meaning the Vita's lifetime sales stand at 535,423. Despite the handheld's poor sales performance Sony is still smiling.

"As far as the sell-through, three weeks have passed and sell-through is 500,000. This was announced on the 10th of January. So as a start, I think we had a very - a good start," said CFO Masaru Kato during a fiscal third quarter earnings conference call. "Including software and hardware, we are carrying out the sales promotions and we do it to boost the sales, and we do not think we have any problems."

Hardware marketing boss John Koller made similar comments a few weeks back [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115242-Slow-Vita-Sales-Dont-Bother-Sony ], insisting that the Vita was selling "to forecast."

Perhaps Sony is hoping that the handheld's western release will put sales back on track, or perhaps it simply has bigger problems to worry about. The company recently posted a massive financial third quarter loss [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.343452-Sony-Takes-Massive-2-Billion-Third-Quarter-Loss], putting its projected annual loss for the 2011 fiscal year at $2.9 billion.

Assuming the Vita's sales don't pick up, I think I'm just going to save myself a trip to the online thesaurus and just start making up words. Next week's sales are going to be "terribad."

Source: Industry Gamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/sony-doesnt-see-any-problems-with-vita-sales/]


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[Daystar Clarion]

Typical PR bullshit.

The Vita could make Sony hemorrhage money and they'd still put on a brave face and call it a success.

"We beat our sales forecast! We sold 7 Vitas this week!"

 

[T'Generalissimo]

"This is actually perfect, we've got an ideal place to store all these unsold Vitas: the recently vacated space where we used to keep our 2.9 billion dollars!"

 

[MarsProbe]

It will be interesting to see how well the Vita does when it's released over here...soon, right?

I don't know, but I just can't see a dedicated handheld gaming device really flying off the shelves these days. When was the last time you ever saw someone use a PSP/DS on public transport anyway? Or anywhere public, for that matter...

 

[Sylveria]

Wonder if the PSP outsold it again, like it did on launch week.

 

[Strain42]

It will be interesting to see how well the Vita does when it's released over here...soon, right?

I don't know, but I just can't see a dedicated handheld gaming device really flying off the shelves these days. When was the last time you ever saw someone use a PSP/DS on public transport anyway? Or anywhere public, for that matter...

"If you don't see the crazy person on the bus, it's probably you."

I wonder if that applies to handhelds too? I have no shame about playing a game in a restaurant or on a bus or something. The whole point of handhelds is they're meant to be portable after all lol

...well...portable and not steal your TV so you can watch Netflix or something while you play them

In regards to Vita sales...I'm actually a little sad. Not because I'm some die hard sony fan, but because about 85% of my gaming now days is on handheld consoles, and since I've yet to pick up a 3DS and the last DS game I bought was almost a year ago, it was nice to be excited for what the Vita might offer us.

Like most consoles, it's trying to sell itself on future potential, because right now it has a small library made even smaller by most of its games being ports or remakes.

I do hope it picks up some, but if it doesn't...oh well.

 

[keideki]

I love how alarmist these stories are getting. Before we all declare the Vita dead and Sony kaput why don't we wait for the international release? We all know that Japan is married to Nintendo handhelds for better or worse.

 

[xyrafhoan]

I wouldn't say that 500,000 units in less than a month is as dire as it seems compared to the "millions of copies sold at launch" situation you get with games like COD here in North America. A system costs more to buy, the Japanese consumer market in particular is pretty dire in terms of pricing (we complain about $60 games, but after a price conversion most Japanese games are like $80-90 even for handheld games), and the game doesn't have a killer app like Monster Hunter yet. Like the 3DS, it's going to take time for the Vita to build up a library of good games. And when the system hits North America, the sales will likely see a big improvement as it seems most of the Vita's early game market has more of a Western slant to it anyway. Uncharted and Mortal Kombat, for instance. But inside of Japan, very few games ever break the 1mil sales mark. 100-200K sales is much more of a reasonable benchmark for short-term success in Japan, and the Vita has at least broken that.

In terms of lifetime sales, though, I think dedicated handheld consoles are going to suffer more and more in the era of smartphone gaming. A lot of lower-end games are making their way to phones instead, so both Sony and Nintendo are going to have to step up their marketing game to make their systems worth it to the developers.

I love how alarmist these stories are getting. Before we all declare the Vita dead and Sony kaput why don't we wait for the international release? We all know that Japan is married to Nintendo handhelds for better or worse.

Actually, the PSP is pretty much on par with the DS in Japan, with the popularity of Monster Hunter driving a huge number of PSP sales. It's the DS that is the overwhelming winner in North America over the PSP.

 

[ShaneGunWolf]

Products normally do sell more in the states, anyway, so the possibility of sales picking up is fairly high.

Still, I'd rather have a 3DS or something...

 

[MarsProbe]

It will be interesting to see how well the Vita does when it's released over here...soon, right?

I don't know, but I just can't see a dedicated handheld gaming device really flying off the shelves these days. When was the last time you ever saw someone use a PSP/DS on public transport anyway? Or anywhere public, for that matter...

"If you don't see the crazy person on the bus, it's probably you."

I wonder if that applies to handhelds too? I have no shame about playing a game in a restaurant or on a bus or something. The whole point of handhelds is they're meant to be portable after all lol

...well...portable and not steal your TV so you can watch Netflix or something while you play them

In regards to Vita sales...I'm actually a little sad. Not because I'm some die hard sony fan, but because about 85% of my gaming now days is on handheld consoles, and since I've yet to pick up a 3DS and the last DS game I bought was almost a year ago, it was nice to be excited for what the Vita might offer us.

Like most consoles, it's trying to sell itself on future potential, because right now it has a small library made even smaller by most of its games being ports or remakes.

I do hope it picks up some, but if it doesn't...oh well.

I haven't played a handheld console in public for ages either - and I was the guy you would see sitting on the bus, not caring if I was flailing about playing Ouendan on the DS in full view of everyone else. It would indeed be sad if the Vita didn't do very well - as convenient as it is to be able to play games on you phone these days, it still couldn't match the excitement of when you first get your PSP or DS. That, and the sleek contours of a phone cna't match the rather charming way the UMD discs would get launched out of the PSP if I picked it up after laying the thing down on a flat surface. I'm pretty sure that wasn't a standard design feature...

 

[Robert Ewing]

Seems like a bit of PR bumfuckery to me.

I bet inside their corporate HQ they are all silently shitting themselves, contemplating suicide. Only perking up when a camera faces their way.

Despite all these poor sales figures I am actually interested in purchasing a Vita. I dunno, I've always thought handheld's were a waste of valuable plastic and solder, but this Vita, while it still may be very bad, is good enough for me to actually consider getting a hand held. I remember borrowing my brothers DS, and I wanted to hang myself, it was a unwanted throwback reminding me of all the times that gaming should of swiftly forgotten, or paved over. Christ, I haven't had a hand held since my gameboy color Pokémon special edition. It wasn't perfect by all means, in fact I swiftly got bored of it and all it's limitations that my new and shiny grey playstaion effortlessly overcame.

But no, the Vita seems genuinely interesting to me, but the hardware may impress, but the game list? Ehh... Less than enticing. So on that basis alone, i'll sit out the Vita until some decent games that actually interest me come out. Which may be quite unlikely...

 

[Xanthious]

I said this about the 3DS and I will say the same thing about the Vita. The days of the handheld gaming market being what it used to be are over. The market for portable gaming devices has shrunk significantly. The blame? It's squarely on the shoulders of the iPhone and Android devices you see becoming more and more popular.

People like having one device for everything and your iPhone or Android phone is that device. They play games, play MP3s, play video, make phone calls, surf the web, take pictures, shoot video, bury dead hookers . . . ok well maybe they don't take pictures all that well but my point still stands.

Handheld gaming is now a niche market. If you aren't in grade school or a hardcore gamer odds are that handheld gaming via the likes of a PS Vita or 3DS is in your rear view.

For example my nephew is in the sixth grade. He wants to sell his 3DS he got for Christmas and has started working like a Hebrew slave for various family members because his 3DS "is for little kids" and he wants an iPhone now. I agreed that if he saved the money on his own to buy himself an iPhone (although I still have hope I can sway him to an android device) I'd add a line for him on my plan and pick up the tab on the monthly bill.

Bottom line is I think the numbers look bad when compared with past sales because the market for handheld gaming is shrinking at a pretty crazy rate. Furthermore, I think this is due almost wholly because of the surging popularity of smartphones.

 

[LiquidSolstice]

Sony doesn't want to admit it's entertainment systems are suffering? This is news? Sony has forever been on track to go against the grain with high prices and "high-end" electronics. They're convinced they're Apple, but they simply just don't have the fanbase and quality control to command such prices and devices.

My prediction is that Sony is just going to end up downsizing and producing really, really good smartphones. As of now, their biggest money spinner comes from Sony BMG.

 

[FalloutJack]

It will be interesting to see how well the Vita does when it's released over here...soon, right?

I don't know, but I just can't see a dedicated handheld gaming device really flying off the shelves these days. When was the last time you ever saw someone use a PSP/DS on public transport anyway? Or anywhere public, for that matter...

That would be me with a PSP. That would be plenty of others here too. My city has a strong anime-and-japanese-culture convention aspect to it. Lots of con-goers play DSs and PSPs. The ones I see outside of conventions still do.

The Vita, however, still failed its intelligence check when it forgot to connect itself somehow to the profits OF the PSP. Cut owners off from the previous handheld for yet another one by the same company with few games and no backwards compatibility? Only the truly-dedicated will bother, and only for bragging rights. Those who are keeping an eye on their money in America (DURING A RECESSION!) may not see this as a good investment of their cash.

 

[Lunar Templar]

is much as a i wanna point and laugh

can't yet, not till it comes state side, after that, it keeps selling like this, gonna go full on Joker laughing at it

 

[FoolKiller]

Assuming the Vita's sales don't pick up, I think I'm just going to save myself a trip to the online thesaurus and just start making up words. Next week's sales are going to be "terribad."

I love a good portmanteau.

I also love how Sony can be so optimistic. They don't need better sales, what they need to do is figure out that they shouldn't be entering a new handheld into the market at this time. Maybe Kaz Hirai will have some answers.


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