PS Vita’s Worst Week Hits Japan – Should We Be Worried?

[mankind]

Following the release of the most recent set of Japanese retail sales estimates from Media Create various sites have been running stories with head lines along the line of Lowest Weekly Sales Yet for PS Vita! There is no denying the PS Vita has recorded its lowest weekly sales yet but is that anything to worry about?
For roughly the last three months, once the holidays were out of the way, the sales pattern in Japan has settled down with the PS Vita normally occupying fourth spot in the chart behind the 3DS, PS3 and PSP respectively. There is the odd hiccup with the PS Vita beating out the PSP or the Wii overtaking the PS Vita for a week as popular software titles create a corresponding bump in hardware sales but the situation is pretty stable.
The vertical grid lines denote the months so the graph shows the end of December then January, February, March and the start of April. The 360, PS2 and the two DSi variants are not included as between them they normally only record around three to four thousand sales each week and just clutter the graph.
The 3DS’ high sales during the holidays squash the normal monthly sales marking them hard to read so here are the same numbers with the vertical scale changed to show only the first 100,000 sales.

On there it does become apparent that the green line showing the PS Vita’s weekly sales has dropped to a new low. What is also apparent however is that all the other lines dipped at the same time too.
Already it looks like the PS Vita might not have had a bad week it is simply that Japan bought fewer consoles across the board. With the exception of the 3DS all the consoles had their worst week for the period we are looking at.
The next question is whether the PS Vita recorded a poor week of sales in relation to the other consoles. In other words did its proportion of the total sales fall. Let’s have a look.
The red line on that graph is the combined weekly sales for the five consoles in the previous two graphs. You can see that that combined number is the worst yet this year. The key thing though is that the PS Vita has maintained its share (7.3% if you’re interested) of the combined number.
While the PS Vita is not growing its share of the hardware market neither is it falling in any dramatic fashion. The larger dips in its weekly share correspond to peaks in sales for either the PS3 or 3DS.
While on the subject of the 3DS it’s always fun to compare sales.

If Sony are to be concerned about any aspect of the PS Vita’s sales its that on the whole the from-launch sales curves for it and the 3DS look very similar. Before anyone gets too excited though remember that the 3DS had a February launch compared to the PS Vita’s December one. February, March and April are quiet months for console and game sales and on that graph the 3DS is already into June so it is comparing sales at different times of the year and we would expect sales to be starting to pick up.
That peak at the end of the 3DS’ line makes an important point though. That’s the week that Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D launched in Japan. Software is undoubtedly the key to hardware sales once the initial excitement about a shiny new toy with blue LEDs has worn off. The PS Vita had a spectacular launch line-up of titles but it desperately needs a second wave of system-selling games.
I for one think it unlikely that Sony will panic over PS Vita sales like Nintendo did when the 3DS failed to perform at retail last summer. I doubt we will see a price drop announced before gamescom 2012 in mid-august where I suspect Sony will announce price drops for both PS Vita and PS3.
My biggest concern for the PS Vita is that if Sony does intend to release the successor to the PS3 (and as an aside I would be very surprised if they call it the PS4) that Sony’s developer studios will be switching focus to that new platform already much the same as happened with the PSP releasing the year before the PS3.
The PS Vita also needs memory cards with higher capacities and soon. Where are the 32GB cards for Europe? Why are there no 64GB cards anywhere? As our cards fill up and we start having to juggle their contents every time we want to download something new we are all going to be less inclined to make all those impulse purchases aren’t we?
Source: Media Create

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2012/04/...we-be-worried/

This device need more game ASAP. I havent touched my vita in weeks.

[three3-times]

I saw this article just after i had a vita brought for me for my bday.......

contemplating getting it sent back and putting it towards summit else.

This is exactly what happened with my 1st ps3, got it launch day, games were shit and not enough, ending up selling it and getting another when the games increased.

[AaronSOLDIER]

That's what I plan to do with every system from now on (which is why I didn't get a Vita).

[F34R]

I've had a blast with my vita, and own six games so far. These numbers don't mean much to me in that respect.

[Lethal_NFS]

I've had a blast with my vita, and own six games so far. These numbers don't mean much to me in that respect.

Same here. Japanese sales mean nothing to us here. 360 sales have always sucked in Japan and that has had zero affect on the rest of the world.

[R3D D3V!L]

I think the Vita is the best system Sony has made. If they support with with quality games, people will buy it.

[Thorzilla]

Sony console launches: doom, gloom, doom, gloom.
Fast forward 3 years later and their consoles are the ones with the best exclusives and amazing sales. Really, who cares?

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Sony console launches: doom, gloom, doom, gloom.
Fast forward 3 years later and their consoles are the ones with the best exclusives and amazing sales. Really, who cares?

Pretty much this. Who cares if it gets off to a slow start. As I said in another doom and gloom thread, when Vita goes down to €200 and has CoD, Assassins Creed, Bioshock, Killzone, Resistance etc etc etc, then shit's gon' get real. Sony pretty much expected this start up, saying along the lines that as with all other console launches, the initial audience is the mid to late 20's core gaming male and later the rest of the spectrum.

[mooninites]

Meh a bit more time and it'll pick up some steam. Almost time to pick one up for myself. Game selection is awesome.

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

[three3-times]

Right now, id only buy Uncharted and thats it..........so ive just rented it instead!

i do love how sexy and light it is though!

[woodsy85]

These numbers dont mean anything.
In my opinion sony released vita at the perfect time. They released with great games, although lacking in number, at the beggining of the year when the games draught starts for all consoles. There will be a few games launching in the summer and then the mass of games wil release in the winter.
This is good news for christmas sales where the vita will have plenty of new games and a solid backup of titles released throughout the year.
I think sony released the Vita knowing that the lack in sales would be inevitable, but i can see sales around christmas going through the roof.

[Fon]

At least I have a good number of PSP games to keep me entertained. I'm just waiting for Resistance: Burning Skies!. I don't know what they can do with their situation in Japan.. Perhaps a price drop?.

[F34R]

Games. That's what they need to do. No one wants a system without enough content to entertain them with.

[Sylar]

I think some retailers need the drop the prices as well, gamestation was selling uncharted for £45, they can go suck a fat one

[Minnzy]

Bad sales affect me buying one here... less chance for RPG's