After respectable sales numbers in its first week on the Japanese market, the PlayStation Vita is in a bit of a free fall, selling just over 100,000 units in the subsequent two weeks following.
Things are only getting worse for the Vita, it seems. Sony’s newest handheld only managed to sell just over 42,000 units from December 26 to January first. To put that into perspective, the Vita’s predecessor, the PSP, sold almost 63,000 units in the same time span. Even worse, the Nintendo 3DS sold almost 200,000 units.
Since it hit store shelves on December 17 in Japan to January 1, the system has only sold around 440,000 units.
These numbers are very concerning coming from a Japanese consumer base that bought the original PSP in droves.
So, why isn’t the Vita selling up to expectations?
For one, it could be the software released so far. While there is not a lack of quality software being released for the handheld, with games such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss, much of it has a bigger audience in the West. However, this will change if the rumors of a Monster Hunter game for the system are true.
What it really comes down to is the price of the new handheld. The Vita is currently selling for ¥29,980. Comparatively, the 3DS is selling for a mere ¥15,000. In fact, some Japanese retailers have already begun cutting the price of the WiFi/3G model more than 15% to ¥24,999.
The Vita will sell for $250 and $300 for the WiFi and 3G models respectively in the U.S., though there have also been rumors of the 3G model getting the boot.
And that price is for the system alone. Add in the cost of a memory card that is necessary to store saves for many games and to download titles from the PlayStation Store and it becomes hard to justify the purchase over cheaper options like the PSP and 3DS, or even something like iPod Touch or iPhone.
Grumblings of a necessary price cut before the Vita hits U.S. markets February 22 have begun to circulate if the handheld is to gain any measure of success in sales.
Sony is walking a fine line here. They can either keep the price the same and gamble on it doing better in the West than it has so far in Japan or they can admit it was priced too high, cut the price and risk consumers thinking something may be wrong with the device.
The 3DS price drop is playing a big role in the Vita’s trouble. Nintendo was facing similar troubles selling its latest handheld when it launched. Consumers were reluctant to pay a premium for a dedicated portable gaming device when they had so many other options that had other capabilities. There was real excitement over the PlayStation Vita and what it could do for the same amount of money. The momentum was all in Sony’s favor.
That all changed when Nintendo made the drastic move and cut the 3DS’s price. Sony was suddenly facing a vastly different competitor.
History could very well be repeating itself. Everyone lauded the original PSP when it came out. It was decisively the better handheld. Yet, the DS went on to become one of the most popular video game systems ever. While the PSP did very well, especially in Japan, it never got the acclaim that the DS did, although it was much more technologically impressive.
There is no doubt that the Vita is a sexy piece of technology that looks like it will be much better supported than its predecessor. Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on one come February.
However, Nintendo looks like it has finally established a foothold in the market with the 3DS with a strong software lineup and sales over the holiday.
The situation is not yet dire for the Vita, but Sony can not just sit idly by.
Sony has to get people excited for the Vita. Sony has to give the consumers more for their money. Sony has to continue to support their system.
Sony has to do something.