PS Vita Now Selling Less Than PSP In Japan

12 years ago

January 22, 2012 at 12:00 am

The PlayStation Vita debuted to strong sales in mid-December. New devices usually do and a falloff after that is likewise to be expected. But for the week ending January 15 — a month after its Japan release — the PS Vita had fallen to 18,361 units sold.

Not only is that far less than the 325,000 sold in its opening week, it’s even less than the PSP is selling, according to the numbers published by Media Create (and reported by Andriasang). The PSP moved 22,538 units in the same week ending last Friday. The numbers do not include online sales figures.

Vita’s slide looks like this, week to week: 324,859, 72,479, 42,648, 42,915 and 18,361. It’s way too early to call that a flop, certainly not with its US, European and Australian debuts coming, but it could be that the PS Vita is running into some of the problems behind the 3DS’ underwhelming release, or people are reluctant to adopt early because of what happened there.

PlayStation Vita Sales Fall Below 20,000 [Andriasang]

Comments

61 responses to “PS Vita Now Selling Less Than PSP In Japan”

READ THE COMMENTS

Will

January 22, 2012 at 8:31 am

Maybe the launch line up doesn’t appeal to many Japanese gamers?

Reply
1. Vinven
  
  September 21, 2012 at 6:30 am
  
  Honestly I think it may have to do with the fact that many great PSone classics are available on the playstation network to download onto the playstation portable. So not only do you have movies and great psp games on umd, but also FF7 and Legend of Dragoon.
  
  Reply
Sam

January 22, 2012 at 8:39 am

They need to release a Monster Hunter.

Reply
1. dan
  
  January 22, 2012 at 9:52 am
  
  i 100% agree… but they also need to fix up their marketing… just look at the japanese ps vita commercial… look at it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOtCfzDkqZ4 …. IT’S HORRIBLE
  
  Reply
  1. chuie
    
    January 22, 2012 at 10:55 am
    
    The ad’s alright, certainly not offensive. I think it just follows the general idea behind the vita ads in Japan, which is about showing the sort of emotions that the gamer will come across as they play the PSP Vita.
    
    Reply
2. azza002
  
  January 22, 2012 at 10:43 am
  
  This. When a MH is out, sales will be around the 1 million mark
  
  Reply
Zap

January 22, 2012 at 8:40 am

So…..is that almost the whole 500k shipment then?

Reply
TheHiggs

January 22, 2012 at 8:46 am

I have a jap launch model, even if I could speak Japanese, the launch line up is terribly limp wristed. I’ve created an account on the HK store and that is even more underwhelming. When you look at the Australian (and EU/US) launch, I just don’t see how it can fail. It’s an absolutely impeccable line up.

I think because it doesn’t have the insanely bizarre Japanese games like schoolgirl knickers horse racing, it’s just not hitting the critical mass. I wouldn’t be too concerned gamers, the rest of the gaming world will see it succeed….. Al la Xbox360 style.

Reply
MrBS

January 22, 2012 at 8:47 am

Remember when the PS2 was outselling the PS3? Remember when the GBA was outselling the PSP? Remember…..

Give it time. PSP, PS3 both slow burns.

Reply
Hubble

January 22, 2012 at 8:55 am

Article title makes it sound like the Vita is selling cheaper than the PSP.

Reply
1. Josh
  
  January 22, 2012 at 1:03 pm
  
  Uuh not really guy..
  
  Reply
Dave Gibbon

January 22, 2012 at 9:08 am

No need to panic, everyone. The Vita will be around for the long haul. PSP took time to find it’s feet too.

Reply
1. Martin
  
  January 22, 2012 at 9:53 am
  
  The PSP was a comparative failure. Its feet are covered in concrete and fish are swimming by. All in one media unit!!! UMD video fail! Media extender fail. memory card price fail. Digital comix fail. Mobile phones surpassed the psp abilities pretty early on. As I said a comparitive failure in the market. I own one – Im a late adopter -now at the end of
  
  Reply
  1. Martin
    
    January 22, 2012 at 9:55 am
    
    Its life I am picking up cheap games. The PSP was soundly beaten by Zelda and angry birds. Some good games but DS is superior gaming system in terms of quality AND sales.
    
    Reply
    1. James A
      
      January 22, 2012 at 11:15 am
      
      Have to disagree on the quality part, psp games looked and played better than most ds games.
      
      Reply
    2. Lewis
      
      January 22, 2012 at 11:50 am
      
      Which Zelda game was that? The stupid port that made absolutely no use of the new features? Or the ‘new’ one that had you going back to the same dungeon after every other dungeon?
      
      Nintendo’s big franchises like Zelda, Mario and Pokémon stopped Being original around the time when the Nintendo GameCube was released and please don’t give me that fanboy rubbish and say they can only be compared to each other, Skyward Sword? What a bland game.
      
      Oh and your ‘cheap games’ argument is also rubbish. There is a reason why Angry birds is still in the apple game charts, no one has come up with any ‘decent’ games since (there’s quite a lcanon glorified sequels up there too huh?) and I got bored of AB as soon as I unlocked all the varieties of birds as it was just a slightly more complicated case of rock paper scissors.
      
      So please don’t tell me there is not a market for dedicated portable consoles anymore and go and sit in a corner, eagerly awaiting Mario Kart 8, you never know you might be able to fly planes around the track!!!
      
      Reply
      1. Kai
        
        January 22, 2012 at 5:31 pm
        
        Butthurt Sony fanboi alert.
      2. Ian
        
        January 23, 2012 at 4:01 pm
        
        this!
        
        And may I also add: “I got bored of AB as soon as I unlocked all the varieties of birds”..er so you got bored by the time you played through 80% of the game? Wow. That must really suck to be you.
      3. Scott
        
        January 22, 2012 at 9:01 pm
        
        Wow, Lewis has probably gone back to licking his PSP
      4. Martin
        
        January 23, 2012 at 9:43 am
        
        What cheap arguement? Read what I said. I own BOTH systems – do you??? And i never said there was not a market for dedicated portable console. READ what I said PSP fanboy before you dribble more fan juice out.
    3. Matt
      
      January 23, 2012 at 1:06 am
      
      In Japan the PSP has sold over 18 million units. To put that in perspective, if it keeps selling this well it will pass PS2 lifetime sales and be the 3rd best selling video-game console/device in Japan. (I think its DS -> PS2 -> PSP _> GBA -> Wii at the moment.)
      
      Personally i would call that a success and don’t see the problem with PSP outselling Vita at this point. A lot of late adopters are still buying PSP’s.
      
      Reply
  2. NegativeZero
    
    January 22, 2012 at 12:29 pm
    
    “Sold less than the competition” does not equate to failure. It moved over 70 million units worldwide, I’m pretty sure that Sony would argue it was quite successful for them.
    
    Reply
    1. Martin
      
      January 23, 2012 at 9:36 am
      
      As I said COMPARATIVE failure. I am not a nintendo fanboy. @Lewis – still looking for a discussion on why sony games are better quality than the ds games i mentioned rather than a fanboy rant
      
      Reply
      1. hh
        
        January 23, 2012 at 9:50 am
        
        … Metal Gear…
        
        dun dun DUN!
      2. Martin
        
        January 23, 2012 at 10:19 am
        
        Dah dun dah! Havent played it! So cant compare. Good game- I assume?
losturtle

January 22, 2012 at 9:18 am

The Vita is a soulless piece of anti-fun that looks KIND-OF pretty. It’s expensive, doesn’t offer much that people would actually use and the games so far have been typical Sony launch fare. If you don’t offer some kind of visible new experience besides console (visual) quality games on a handheld, will the masses care enough? To be fair though, the 3ds was being labelled a “failure” at this point as well. I doubt the Vita will ever find the share Sony wants it to, at best it’ll reach solid sales in the holiday season.

Reply
1. Lewis
  
  January 22, 2012 at 11:58 am
  
  Overpriced huh? Have you even heard of Apple?
  
  And I can’t see what more you can stick onto a device without it becoming unportable, it’s got all the bells and whistles other devices use for their games plus more, and besides you say providing a console experience (HD graphics, powerful processing etc.) on a handheld is a bad idea…why?
  
  Reply
CommenterGuy

January 22, 2012 at 9:40 am

Don’t care, I still want one. Vita has PSN, there will be awesome indie titles released there. Handheld, portable with buttons and touch areas – loads of fun. Me wants!!!

Reply
NAmetocomment

January 22, 2012 at 10:15 am

Give it time, the launch lineup is catered towards western tastes. Theres really nothing there that would be big in Japan, once a couple JRPGs get released it will be fine

Reply
NAZ

January 22, 2012 at 11:11 am

I wouldn’t look too much into this for two reasons.
1. The 3DS has recently had a price cut and has just recently released some major titles just before xmas.
2. These launch titles are more for the “Western” audience. Like previous posts have said, if they released a well known Japanese game (ie Monster Hunter) it would be a different story. Considering the 3DS has a number of these titles out now, it’s not surprising the Vita is doing poorly.

Reply
bigsexy

January 22, 2012 at 11:15 am

MAYBE if they stopped releasing the SAME DAMN GAMES ON RELEASE over and over and over and over someone may be interested. None of the aus release titles are appealing. I don’t want fifa, i don’t want wipeout, i dont want a pathetic gol game and i certainly don’t want a fail ass racing game. How long will it take them to get it through their heads that its fucking boring.

Reply
Martin

January 22, 2012 at 11:33 am

GFX are just part of the equation. Laytons, Hunters, Zeldas, Mario bros, super Mario 64, Mario kart, the list goes on… These games plus many more are QUALITY games. What are you talking about. Play better? My DS lite is easier to use than my PSP 3000 – I don’t accidentally turn my DS off. Quality games on PSp – monster hunters / god of war??? Seriously so many MORE quality games on DS. Yes there is a lot of casual crap but so?? The AAA games of Nintendo outweigh the small selection of PSP games in terms of quality, playability and actual numbers of good games.

Reply
1. Martin
  
  January 22, 2012 at 11:34 am
  
  Sorry – response to James A above
  
  Reply
2. Martin
  
  January 22, 2012 at 11:41 am
  
  In all honesty – I use my PSP more to stream play tv to my backyard than to play games on. And when I do play games on it they are more likely to be ps 1 games than PSP rubbish.
  
  Reply
3. Lewis
  
  January 22, 2012 at 12:05 pm
  
  …and you’ve even mentioned Mario 64 (a game released a decade ago btw.) down here too…oh and I’m pretty sure prof. Layton is the same or at least similar puzzles but simply performed in a different context. Wow. Has Nintendo milked it’s money cow for you
  
  Reply
  1. Martin
    
    January 23, 2012 at 9:38 am
    
    And what pray PSP games are comparabl???? A n64 port is still better quality than most psp titles.
    
    Reply
  2. Martin
    
    January 23, 2012 at 9:46 am
    
    Mario 64 was released more than a decade ago. Really?? I own the boxed n64 cartridge you condescending f!
    
    Reply
moloko

January 22, 2012 at 12:34 pm

Sony getting spanked by Nintendo again LOL

Reply
1. Pado
  
  January 22, 2012 at 10:11 pm
  
  Because the 3DS sold so amazingly well compared to their previous portable consoles? Shut up guy.
  
  Reply
  1. Ian
    
    January 23, 2012 at 4:45 pm
    
    Yes. Yes it did. 15 million sales in its first year in fact.
    
    Reply
Pariah

January 22, 2012 at 1:22 pm

Then watch the sales skyrocket in Japan when Monster Hunter Vita is announced.

Reply
Stevorooni

January 22, 2012 at 1:30 pm

Not many games at launch: The Vita and Sony are doomed. DOOMED!
Serveral games come out months later: The Vita and Sony are great. GREAT!

It’s your typical console launch problem, once people get over the hype and novelty of launch titles you then have the slow wait for the good games to be developed. It happened to the 3DS, it’s happening to the Vita and it’s a pretty safe bet that it will happen to the WiiU, PS4 and Xbox3.

Reply
James

January 22, 2012 at 1:37 pm

Half a million unit sold in a month isn’t bad. I wonder what they forecast though?

Of course the bulk were in the first week, but there’ll be aberrations through the year with big game releases so on this trend thats roughly 6 million units in Japan a year, and post world wide release you’ll see that probably replicated in Europe and America (hopefully), and sell probably 15 million units a year based on that maths, give or take. This is on par if not a little higher than PS3 no?

All this naysaying is really too soon. Once the title releases pick up I think Vita will do well. Plus there’s really no ‘killer app’ for Japan. I’m sure they like Uncharted like the rest of us but the games that have people lining up on the streets over there are Final Fantasy and all that jazz. There’s the American and European launch soon, and if you look at the launch library it’s probably more suited to those markets.

Reply
Boomzzilla

January 22, 2012 at 3:36 pm

It’s exspensive and not selling that great, I think a lot of peep’s will wait for an expected price drop that may never come.Potentual buyer’s would have been “burned” by the 3DS price drop or at least be aware of it.But remember the original psp was a bit of a slow burner but eventually got to 70 million, pretty good for a company’s firdt handheld.

Reply
lalaland

January 22, 2012 at 4:15 pm

i say it again,

3ds had it worse on launch and still sold better, MH didnt help 3ds until much later so dont say MH saved the 3ds..

Im positive that even if there was no MH on 3ds it will STILL sell better and im 100% sure that mario kart 7 will beat out sales of uncharted, so no 3ds does not need a third party game to help it sell it which is wat MH is

I say it in a way sony fanboys understand
“a lower gfx game outselling a behemoth gfx game, WHYS?!?
yeh tats rite coz all u care about is gfx

Reply
Franz

January 22, 2012 at 7:29 pm

Sizable range of launch titles, but a lot of them are trash, even Ridge Racer PSV blows, wasn’t actually produced by Namco.

The PSV is one device that could’ve benefitted from an expansion bay, for all sorts of add-on gadgets, Hell, give it an radio addon that not only lets you control a RC car with the sticks, but comes with a camera you place on the body of said RC car and then you can see from it onscreen.
Sony you need me.

Reply
Steven Bogos

January 22, 2012 at 10:13 pm

Kotaku Commenters:

3DS has slow sales (that are actually bigger than when the DS was first released): Good riddance, nintendo should focus more on actual games than gimmicks and remakes lol

PS Vita has slow sales: Oh no, the Vita is in for the long run, they’ll come back! Give them a chance!

Reply
1. Terrak
  
  January 22, 2012 at 10:58 pm
  
  At last some one else notices the quite obvious double standards this website. When the 3ds had low sales the definately didnt pull and punches in the coverage, now that the psp vita is out and dropped to almost 5% of its initial sales (within a couple of months of its launch mind you) ‘its too early to call it a flop’ wow really? COnsider the 3DS outsold the orginal DS, yet the site had no qualms in claiming its sales have ‘fallen off a cliff’ and Nintendo is desperate.
  
  Yep this site isnt biased NOT!
  
  Reply
  1. Zap
    
    January 22, 2012 at 11:17 pm
    
    Chill pill. Take one with food, twice per day.
    
    Let’s all wait like two weeks for the non-Japan territory launch, along with all the games. If it flops there, great. If it goes gangbusters, great.
    
    Much easier than having an aneurysm. Two weeks, then its sorted one way or the other.
    
    Reply
    1. Terrak
      
      January 23, 2012 at 8:51 am
      
      Really? The 3DS may have had a slow start but it eventually out did its predecessor yet this site had no problem in giving it a wave of negative coverage. I can give you a list of links if you want
      
      Now the psp vita comes along and it does significantly worse then its predecessor the psp yet this site has no problem in giving it a chance. Sure if it was ok numbers (like a little slower then the psp) then sure give it time but now its selling within 5 weeks of its launch almost 5% of its launch numbers, for it to bounce back and not only beat it predecessor but be a serious challenger for the 3DS it looks like taking a miracle and looking at past trends at looking at whats happening with the psp vita now that seems unlikely to happen
      
      You do realise the point i was trying to make has nothing to do with the sales numbers and every bit to do with the way this site spins the facts. 3DS gets (practically) all negative spin, psp vita gets a chance. tell me how thats fair and impartial considering the psp has done worse then the 3DS?
      
      Reply
      1. Zap
        
        January 23, 2012 at 10:15 am
        
        Take two, twice a day.
        
        That much anger and bile isn’t good for you.
        
        There are plenty of articles about both systems, both pre and post launch, that are good and bad. However, a tech site doesn’t need to be “balanced”, it’s not like we’re dealing with a political war here.
        
        Are you really going to count up the number of articles for each console and yell bias? If they’re equal, are you going to scour each for the number of sentences or comments that are negative about each console?
        
        Kotaku pointed out several major issues with the 3DS at the time it launched; Kotaku is pointing out several major issues with the PSV now.
        
        There have been a range of articles about how awesome Mariokart 7 is; there’s been a constant level of negative comment about the price of a 3G Vita and the price of it’s memory cards.
        
        Honestly, if the way people are reporting on the PSV is so aggravating for you – and it really does seem to be your pet hate right now, given the sheer number of articles you’ve commented on in the same way, and constantly crying “BIAS” or “Sony lovers!” – stop reading this articles.
        
        The authors won’t mind. Really.
        
        No-one’s going to write each and every PSV related article with a prefix statement on every single issue that’s already been reported, along with a tally of how many negative comments were made about the 3DS vs the PSV. No one cares.
      2. Terrak
        
        January 23, 2012 at 1:12 pm
        
        Its not just the amount of articles its the spin they put on it. Spin news one way it makes something seem good. Spin it another way it may look bad. Thats my problem how the news was spun.
        
        I had no problems with the way this site spun the intial sales of thr 3ds. Had no problems at all. If you want proof i’ll give you a link to all the negative 3ds stories and you can see for yourself i made no comments about how bias this site was against Nintendo. None. I dare you to check.
        
        Doesnt have to be balanced? Oh so now you are confirming they are biased?
        
        Well you are welcome to link me to articles which display psp vita sales negatively, here is an article right now explaining the dire situation of psp vita sales, nope no negative spin. Just facts. Again i can link you to over a dozen 3ds artices with negative tones.
        
        I think ive made my point, all youve done is told me to stop reading the articles and placed no evidence on the table suporting your argument. Whether it changes the site as i said before is not important. To expose bias was my point and you have backed that up with your comments so thank you.
      3. Terrak
        
        January 23, 2012 at 1:23 pm
        
        Its not just the amount of articles its the spin they put on it. Spin news one way it makes something seem good. Spin it another way it may look bad. Thats my problem how the news was spun.
        
        I had no problems with the way this site spun the intial sales of thr 3ds. Had no problems at all. If you want proof i’ll give you a link to all the negative 3ds stories and you can see for yourself i made no comments about how bias this site was against Nintendo. None. I dare you to check.
        
        Doesnt have to be balanced? Oh so now you are confirming they are biased?
        
        Well you are welcome to link me to articles which display psp vita sales negatively, here is an article right now explaining the dire situation of psp vita sales, nope no negative spin. Just facts. Again i can link you to over a dozen 3ds artices with negative tones. Just saying something aint proof thats just an opinion.
        
        I think ive made my point, all youve done is told me to stop reading the articles and placed no evidence on the table suporting your argument. Whether it changes the site as i said before is not important. To expose bias was my point and you have backed that up with your comments so thank you.
        
        I’d take a chill pill if you take your head out of the sand
cars

January 23, 2012 at 2:08 am

“PS Vita Now Selling Less Than PSP In Japan”

But will it blend?

Also, this article would be relevant if was Kotaku Japan, not aus.

Reply
1. Terrak
  
  January 23, 2012 at 8:54 am
  
  Wait why is it not relevant?
  
  http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/10/the-new-nintendo-3ds-is-as-cold-as-ice/
  
  “Ice Ice white baby. According to Vooks, the latest colour being plastered onto the struggling 3DS in Japan is…”
  
  http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/the-3ds-launches-at-a-lower-price-some-japanese-people-buy-it/http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/07/3ds-rocks-japanese-retail/
  
  considering this ‘Australian’ website reported Japanese sales numbers of the 3DS. Seems only ‘fair’ right?
  
  Reply
Mike

January 23, 2012 at 5:37 am

The vita will sell well outside of Japan as the psp doesn’t really get new games anymore anyway but Japan so the vita is the only way to have a Sony handheld with new games

Reply
Benny

January 23, 2012 at 10:21 am

Based on the comments, I think the more interesting topic here is; Sony v Nintendo, or Japanese versus Japanese. My question is; when is the western world going to rise from the dead and take up the challenge? An Xbox handheld perhaps?

Reply
Wonko

January 23, 2012 at 1:50 pm

I don’t care. I’m looking forward to the launch and to a hopefully great hand-held experience (lol)

Reply
1. Wonko
  
  January 23, 2012 at 1:55 pm
  
  Did I just report my own comment?
  
  Did I just reply to my own post…. Aaaaaarrgghhhh Mondays!
  
  Reply
P3SS3SSOd

January 23, 2012 at 5:52 pm

The Japanese market works solely on announcements. Announcing games for a system will spark off sales, as mentioned with Monster Hunter. The time since launch has been virtually devoid of any new game announcements. I’m sure there’ll be an onslaught of announcements soon enought, probably after the u.s/eu launches, and then things will change.

I’d expect very little to change in regards to Japanese sales numbers in the mean time.

Reply
MG192019

February 2, 2012 at 4:46 am

I really want a vita, and I WILL DEFINITELY buy one…. but because launch games aren’t that interesting (apart from Uncharted) I’ve decided to buy it after 3-5 months or so, when games begin to mature…
Well, that’s probably what Japanese people are doing at the moment… saving their hard earned money until the Vita is worth every penny..
So yeah, It’ll catch up….

Just imagine games like Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Grand Theft Auto, Monster Hunter, etc, etc, on this device makes my heart skip a beat… Dang! I would surely wait for that day when I’m able to play those games on the go!!….

Reply

Here’s When McDonald’s Will Be Open On Anzac Day

Team Fortress 2 Patch Fixes Bug That Made Game Think Players Were Gordon Freeman

Steam Changes Refund Rules To Close ‘Early Access’ Preorder Loophole

Horror Dating Sim Sucker for Love Sets A Hot New Standard

GTA V Trevor Actor Says He Shot Scenes For DLC Before It Was Scrapped

The Best Gaming Deals In Australia Today

Where To Buy A Steam Deck In Australia And New Zealand

Big W’s Nintendo Switch Offer Is One Of The Cheapest In Australia Right Now

JB Hi-Fi Is Clearing Out Games For As Little As $2

Grab A Solid Bargain While Samsung’s Portable SSDs Are Up To 54% Off

PS Vita Now Selling Less Than PSP In Japan

Comments

61 responses to “PS Vita Now Selling Less Than PSP In Japan”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply