PlayStation Vita Sales

[compl3x]

Sony president and CEO, Kazuo Hirao, recently took the stage at Sony?s Consumer Electronics Show presentation earlier this week, to show off the company?s latest electronics. Following the presentation, Hirai spoke with the press, where he fielded a few questions, including one about PlayStation Vita sales.

When asked how PlayStation Vita sales were, Hirai responded: ?I would say it?s on the low end of what we expected,? adding that he feels it takes 5-10 years before he can say a product has been successful. With regard to year-end holiday sales, Hirai said sales were ?pretty much? in line with expectations, pointing out that Sony lowered their sales forecast in November.

November was the second time Sony had to lower their Vita sales forecast. Originally, the company?s goal was to sell 10 million Vitas and 6 million PSPs worldwide by March 31st, 2013. In August, they revised that forecast down to 12 million units of both devices combined, without providing a breakdown of how many sales they expected for PSP and Vita individually.

Finally, November?s revision saw the forecast lowered again, this time to 10 million units combined by March 2013. Once again, no individual expectations for PSP and Vita were provided.

In related news, Vita?s direct competitor, the Nintendo 3DS, recently hit 10 million units sold in Japan alone. As of September 30th, 2012, worldwide 3DS sales were at 22.19 million units. The device should be comfortably over the 25 million mark in worldwide sales by now.

The last sales update we received on the PlayStation Vita was back in August, where Sony revealed that the device had sold 2.2 million units worldwide.

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?I would say it?s on the low end of what we expected,?

Yeah, no kidding.

[Motoko.]

Are there any good games for the Vita?

Only ones I can think of at the top are Persona 4 Gold and Uncharted

[compl3x]

Are there any good games for the Vita?

Only ones I can think of at the top are Persona 4 Gold and Uncharted

Gravity Rush is pretty good. The Need for Speed port is supposed to play well.

[Blackhearted]

I can't beleive that with all the things they (pretty obviously) did wrong, that they originally expected to sell 10 million vitas in a year.

[REM2000]

Gravity Rush is pretty good. The Need for Speed port is supposed to play well.

+1 NFS is a solid racer,

Little Big Planet and Uncharted are really good

[HawkMan]

5-10 year....right.

[The Laughing Man]

They should have pulled out of the handheld market after the PSP

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

The vita (hardware) is nice and well designed. Software selection.... not so much.

Sony announcement for the passport program (hook up psp w/ umd version of game to ps3 and get vita copies of some games) then latter saying, oh we didn't mean north american market didn't help things. Taking about a year to have PS1 game compatibility (via psn) is a bit late.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

I'm still optimistic that the Vita will turn around. it'll never reach the 3DS sales numbers, though.

The hardware is fantastic. The device is just amazing; however, like others have said, the games are suffering. Uncharted was amazing. I've played some of Gravity Rush and it's cool. Escape Plan was a neat concept. Wipeout 2048 is great, but i wouldnt have purchased it. i got it for 'free' from PS+. I bought Sine Mora for vita too; it's pretty wicked. LBP was neat, but it felt like any other iteration so i had no motivation to buy it.

Sony continues to make use of proprietary formats. Somehow they never learn - they dont work. The Vita memory card is too overpriced. The system is too expensive. The 3G gimmick needs to die.

in the end, if sony could just drop the price of the system and the memory card, theyd see huge sales increases - much like the 3DS did when they dropped the price.

[Blackhearted]

in the end, if sony could just drop the price of the system and the memory card, theyd see huge sales increases - much like the 3DS did when they dropped the price.

Along with reducing the prices they should also do like the nintendo did and include a (small) memory card with the system. There's little reason outside of greed to not include something like a 4gb card without the additional cost.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

It's also worth mentioning that there are several good games set to be released this year

PS Vita 2013 Releases

[HawkMan]

Or maybe we should accept that handheld gaming systems doesn't have the mass appeal it used to anymore. I know it's heresy to say it, but for the majority of people their touch phones are good enough. they just want something to distract them on the bus ride.

yeah for core gamers it's not enough, but we're not a majority, and we generally prefer to play on bigger systems anyway. I mean when would I play ? I'm either at home, at work or I'm driving to or from, two of the placesI can't play the other place... I have my Xbox, WiiU, and PC's.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Are there any good games for the Vita?

Only ones I can think of at the top are Persona 4 Gold and Uncharted

• Persona 4 (not my cup of tea, but people are raving about it) - Metacritic Score 94
  
• Need For Speed (awesome, awesome game) - Metacritic Score 79
  
• Rayman Origins (awesome, awesome game) - Metacritic Score 88
  
• Little Big Planet (very good vita specific version) - Metacritic Score 88
  
• Uncharted (actually was not a huge fan, but others seem to like it) - Metacritic Score 80
  
• Gravity Rush (great game) - Metacritic Score 83
  
• Wipeout 2048 (except the horrible loading times) - Metacritic Score 79
  
• Hot Shots Golf (super fun) - Metacritic Score 76
  
• Lumines - Metacritic Score 83
  
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection - Metacritic Score 81
  

Average Score Of The Above Games - 83. Not to bad.

Smaller "Arcade Titles"

• Escape Plan
  
• Sound Shapes (actually won platformer of the year on Gametrailers)
  
• Jet Set Radio
  
• Mutant Blob or whatever it is called
  
• Super Stardust Delta
  

So yes, the Vita has good games. Anyone who says otherwise is either a hater or just never played it. Should it have more games? Absolutely, make no mistake about that.

But to say it is a failed device based on the games and hardware. Absolute rubbish.

To say it is a failed device based on sales. Fair enough, but still I think people are being way to quick to put the nail in the coffin and label it is a failure, but that is our society know. No patience. No looking at the long term. Just what have you done for me lately. I want it yesterday mentality. So perhaps the Vita may not bounce back, but that would be a true shame. It is clearly the best dedicated gaming handheld out there for anyone who has played it.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

how could i forget about Hot Shots Golf! it's awesome! There's so much to play, earn, win. I've sunk many many hours into that game now.

[ahhell]

It is clearly the best dedicated gaming handheld out there for anyone who has played it.

If that were true people would by buying them and devs would be making games for it.

Pretty hard to justify the cost of buying a Vita if there are only a handful of games that are considered good.

At least Nintendo got smart and slashed the price on the 3DS when they weren't selling. Sony isn't exactly known for making smart business decisions.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

If that were true people would by buying them and devs would be making games for it.

Pretty hard to justify the cost of buying a Vita if there are only a handful of games that are considered good.

At least Nintendo got smart and slashed the price on the 3DS when they weren't selling. Sony isn't exactly known for making smart business decisions.

im holding out for Sony's press conference in February. I'd hope to see a price drop on the Vita.

@DL - i just watched the IGN review of Persona 4. the game looks amazing, albeit not right for me.

[compl3x]

I can't beleive that with all the things they (pretty obviously) did wrong, that they originally expected to sell 10 million vitas in a year.

10M does seem pretty ambitious, although I don't know what Sony's projections were for the PSP in its first year.

I guess the only way they could revise the numbers is after they saw what they've done wrong.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

If that were true people would by buying them and devs would be making games for it.

Really? So the best movies are only the ones that were top at the box office? They have to be right? Those are the only ones that sold tickets no?

It is clearly the best dedicated gaming device from a hardware perspective. The analog sticks. The power of it. Again, as far as dedicated GAMING hardware devices, and hardcore games, not this whole "casual" gaming market, it is widely accepted by those who are not blinded by bias, to be the best. 3DS is a close second, but still, Vita is a tad better from a hardware perspective. Sales have zero to do with this fact.

[HawkMan]

Vita is a more powerful device, that also doesn't make it a "better" device. it's more capable at recreating the home console experience. the issue of course is that, people don't want that on the go, that doesn't mean they want "casual" games either. just that Sony did a swing and miss on their target.

Casual gamers don't want it because it doesn't have the games for them and is to expensive. core gamers don't want it, because they'd rather play those core games on their home consoles not on a handheld that despite being the best device for the purpose, isn't that good for the purpose, or they simply don't want to play them on the go.