Sony's PS Vita portable console launched in Japan on December 17 and one third party report claimed later that 321,000 units of the console were sold in Japan in its first two days. Now a new report claims that sales of the PS Vita have basically dropped off a cliff during the second week of the console's sales in Japan.
AllThingsD.com reports that according to the Japanese research firm Media Create sales of the PS Vita went down to just 72,479 units in the second week of sales in that country. The sales of the PS Vita were just below those of the Playstation 3 console and well below the number one best selling console in Japan, Nintendo's 3DS portable console with 482,200 units sold.
The article speculates that the drastically lower second week sales for the PS Vita might have to do with inventory issues. However, there are no reports that indicate that their is a shortage of PS Vita units on sale. The far more likely explanation is that the PS Vita is priced much higher than current portable game consoles and as such is keeping consumers from purchasing it, even during the normally busy Christmas sales week.
Meanwhile the PS Vita is still set to debut in the US and Europe on February 22. Sony will likely demo US-themed PS Vita launch games at CES in early January.
18 Comments - Add comment