PlayStation Vita weekly sales flagging in Europe, less than half 3DS

[BoyBettaKnow]

European PlayStation Vita sales have settled into a slump since Sony's machine launched earlier this year.That's according to new figures released by Nintendo as part of its financial report. The data reveals that in Europe weekly 3DS sales are regularly more than double that of the Vita - sometimes far more.
And, just like in Japan, Vita is being outstripped sales-wise by ageing predecessor the PSP.
3DS sales figures have been particularly robust this year, nearing 100,000 weekly sales around the launch of the 3DS XL and New Super Mario Bros. 2. At a glance, the handheld appears to be selling as well in Europe as the Xbox 360, outmatched only by the PlayStation 3.
Last year it was a different story. In 2011 the 3DS struggled to match DS sales until its summer price-cut turned the machine's fortunes around. This year, 3DS has outstripped the DS every week by some margin.
European sales data is hard to come by and Nintendo's charts, shared online for investors yesterday, are the company's own estimates based on sales information provided by market research companies in each European country.
Nintendo also provided sales date for portables in the US, where Vita is similarly behind 3DS.
For its part, Sony has asked analysts to wait until after the important Christmas period, during which Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty games will launch for Vita, before passing judgement. Speaking with Eurogamer, Sony UK boss Fergal Gara said the company will back Vita with marketing to give it every chance in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Nintendo also published home console data, which shows Wii sales sinking throughout the year ahead of the Wii U launch. PlayStation 3 is most popular console in Europe (although Xbox 360 traditionally has the edge in the UK).

Source

Bit of a shame really, the Vita should be doing amazing but as usual Sony don't know how to market a good thing. Hopefully this improves by the time Christmas comes around. At this rate though, I think i may be getting my cheaper Vita sooner than i imagined.

[LfCpS3]

Yea, the product is very good, but the people behind it, especially marketing, are terrible.


Think i might just wait till the price drops down, as it's coming soon.

[BoyBettaKnow]

Same as me, i did pre-order one but bought a gaming laptop the same month so cancelled my pre-order. Seems that was a blessing in disguise as i'm hoping the price of the actual vita itself will drop as well as the overpriced memory cards.

It still needs more games though, and developers wont make more games until it has a larger install base. Kind of a catch 22 situation.

[Nitey]

It is indeed a catch 22. Konami UK had a back and forth with a fan on twitter who was asking why they released a PSP version of PES13 and not at least a Vita port, to at least compete with EAs poor Fifa 13. They basically said the install base was not high enough to justify a port (which is weird because they've ported MGS, New little kings story, and have made Silent hill: book of memories - but anyhow). So I suppose it's in the hands of Sony now to get the systems out there to give publishers confidence in investing.

Hopefully it all works out though, because the Vita is a fantastic machine

[TAZ427]

Marketing is just one of the failures on this. Another major one is the memory cards. I mean really, WTF wants to pay out the ass for an overpriced memory card when you can get a microSD for a fraction of the cost. I bought a 32GB Class 10 for my phone for $20 shipped while a 32GB PSVita memory card will run you $75-$100. That's added cost to be able to get a reasonable amount of storage, just because Sony thinks it will get the extra money out of you on the memory cards. Put 16GB standard onboard flash at < $10 to the bill of materials, and add a microSD slot, which would probably be less expensive than the proprietary slot that they have to make. No instead they try to get you to buy package deals, so I've just got a shitty ass 8GB card, and there's no way in fucking hell that I'm paying $50 for 16GB or $75 for a 32GB card. I'd be glad to spend $20 on a 32GB card though and I'd have taken the extra money and bought another game or two.

I'd be willing to bet that the one thing that gamers hate most about the PSVita is the proprietary storage. And the only logical reason to use it is to try to get some margin on it's sales, when in fact all they do with it is limit their overall sales.

[LfCpS3]

Yea the memory card price was a real **** up on SONY part.

[Soldier 95B]

No surprise here. Sales continue to drop.

[Marcsony]

This sucks i love my vita im still playing launch games and looking forward to upcoming titles.

[ash91]

Seriously how did Sony manage to sell so many PS1s and PS2s?

Nowadays they seem completely incapable of selling anything.

I can't recall ever seeing a Vita advert. When I told people I know that I'd bought one, they asked "what's a Vita?"

Can you imagine someone asking "what's a DS?"

[Blacksite]

I've also never seen a single commercial/advertisement for the Vita.

[Nitey]

Saw quite a lot yesterday between during the champions league football. And AC:L has it's own ad which is pretty awesome that I've seen a couple times

[coolguy]

sales are down all over the world for the vita

[Kuro]

They need to step up the campaigning. I've only seen a Vita commercial "ONCE" and that was pre-release. Come on Sony..

[Sub-stance1]

I think the phones and tablets are one of the reasons why vita is struggling.

[radgamer420]

I think the phones and tablets are one of the reasons why vita is struggling.

Overpriced memory too.

[Sub-stance1]

Overpriced memory too.

Definitely. I think portable gaming is more casual nowadays. At least from what i'm seeing.

[F34R]

I think the phones and tablets are one of the reasons why vita is struggling.

No. Price, content, memory, lack of advertising... that's why it is struggling.

[Soldier 95B]

I think the phones and tablets are one of the reasons why vita is struggling.

I agree totally.

Sent from my PB99400 using Tapatalk 2

[Silver_Knight]

I find it ironic how Vita means life in latin, but the sales and commercial support for Playstion Vita is lifeless.

[F34R]

I find it ironic how Vita means life in latin, but the sales and commercial support for Playstion Vita is lifeless.

It's on life support. It has the touch screen, so you can give compressions to bring it back to life if need be.

[F34R]

I agree totally.

Sent from my PB99400 using Tapatalk 2

If that were the case, then the 3ds would be struggling too? Gimme an example, or something meaningful, that indicates that the Vita, despite the obvious to see issues, is trailing so far behind because of phones and tablets.

[Silver_Knight]

It's on life support. It has the touch screen, so you can give compressions to bring it back to life if need be.

That's only a temporary fix because of the amazing battery life

[DeviousOne]

Needs content and a price drop...once more people get their hands on a vita it will move a lot more units but needs more content than anything at this point

[TGO]

I think the phones and tablets are one of the reasons why vita is struggling.

The only problem with that theory is Nintendo would be effected too
The Vita hasn't got a game people are talking about and even for a impulse buy, once you go to add that memory card to your basket you automatically think, when it drops in price

Sent via Codec

[Bio]

I just don't get why the Vita exists right now. I really don't.

Why didn't they just...hold off production of Vita in favor of 1. stick to fully transitioning the entire PSP library to digital downloads whilst continue pushing any life that was left in PSP Go (they were selling it at a profit, right?), 2. adding more focus on marketing efforts throughout SCE and 3. centralizing all upcoming hardware production on PS4 and spend whatever budgeting efforts are left on developer support? It would seem like after all of that is in place, they could release Vita in the next-gen in a healthier position and climate.