Sales of all consoles were down this week in Japan, with the sole exception of the Xbox 360.
While the 360's jump is most likely explained by the release of
Kinect Star Wars, the reason for the declining sales of the Vita remain less clear.
Deeper and downNintendo's 3DS dropped roughly 40 per cent from 121,921 to 72,115 units, after enjoying three booming weeks of sales attributed to the releases of
Kid Icarus: Uprising and
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.
The PlayStation Vita, on the other hand, dropped roughly 26 per cent from 12,105 units last week to 8,931 this week.
The PS3 (down 4,401 units to 19,370 this week) and the PlayStation Portable (down 3,552 units to 14,804) both managed to outsell the Vita handily, and for yet another week the combined sales of all three PlayStation devices don't come close to matching the sales of the 3DS.
A reaction?Prospects for an increase in the Vita's sales remains unlikely barring action on Sony's behalf as the next weeks (and months) will bring only a smattering of major titles.
The brightest ray of hope are the likely boost in hardware units once the eagerly anticipated
Final Fantasy X HD and
Persona 4: The Golden (both ports) launch.
On a positive note: news from Japan this week is not all doom and gloom for Sony.
Bandi Namco’s
2nd Super Robot Wars Z: Saisei-hen PSP title was the week's top-selling game although Nintendo's strength on the top ten list remained unquestioned.
Six of the ten top-selling games were 3DS titles and
Pokemon Conquest (strictly speaking, a DS title) was present as well.
[via
Gamasutra]
Joined:
Feb 2012
Post count:
105
Axe99 | 22:21 - 12 April 2012
This is hardly surprising, given the lack of software for Vita (and PS3) that appeals to Japanese audiences in recent weeks. And not unusual for new systems to have a software drought early (don't forget the 3DS had similar patches early in its life). Given the 3DS just had a hyped Ninty first-party game, and a Kingdom Hearts title, and the Vita/PS3 have had almost nothing, comparing the two levels of sales right now is a dash misleading ;).
Of course, if the Vita never gets any Japan-friendly titles again it will crash and burn in Japan, just like if it never gets any Western-friendly titles it'll do the same in the West ("game systems without games struggle" is hardly breaking news though ;)) - but newly launched systems often suffer through patches of game droughts and poor sales. The lack of historical perspective in this article only reinforces the ridiculously short-term perspective of many in the gaming industry.
I'd also note that for an article that made a point of the 360 receiving a bounce in sales in the first line, no less, not actually mentioning those sales is a tad peculiar ;).
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Post count:
108
Etharius | 16:53 - 12 April 2012
It really does feel as if Sony launched with a bang and then forgot to follow up. The games already released are now running out of steam, and I for one am really waiting on Gravity Daze for my next fix. Only Disgaea 3 to keep me going until then, and to be honest I'm only picking that up to show support for NISA.
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Post count:
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zxcvbnm | 10:13 - 12 April 2012
so would the price go down
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