PlayStation Vita Sales See Massive Spike in Japan (nearly six times increase)

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I am surprised you showed up so late.The Vita hate phase is on stand by right now.

Actually I was one of the first posters in this thread and just wrote that a little bit more context would have been welcome, instead of this barebone information.

I think at this point higher sales won't have much of an impact on developer support. They've already seen a whole year of poor sales with little to no support from Sony. All projects have either been scraped or moved over to another system by now.

That´s very reasonable. Sales have to be at a decent level for quite some time if they want to change the current situation.
 
I'm disagreeing with the idea that you're bringing up a relevant point by asking about plausible software announcements that would drive sales. No one predicted the (eventual) success that MH would become when MH Portable 1 was announced, so why do you think someone ought to be able to do that for the Vita?

Regarding the notion that another MHP is a realistic scenario for Vita:

Not really. MHP's success was definitely lightning in a bottle (new million-selling franchises are incredibly rare in Japan, let alone multimillion-sellers), but the extent to which it was tends to be overstated in these threads. MHP1 launched less than a year into PSP's lifespan, in a far healthier ecosystem than what Vita has now, and ended up selling around 670K with strong legs. It didn't materialize out of nowhere to multimillion-unit sales at a point when PSP was regularly failing to break 10K per week.

Additionally, MHP only existed because Capcom was far more bullish on PSP back in 2005 than the major Japanese third parties are on Vita now.
 
Additionally, MHP only existed because Capcom was far more bullish on PSP back in 2005 than the major Japanese third parties are on Vita now.
Capcom's effort on MHP was relatively minor, given how big Capcom is in comparison. I don't think it's true that only a major Japanese third party could have made a game like MHP, given how low budget that effort was compared to Capcom's other games.

As to the whole lightning in the bottle argument, the PSP only gets ballyhooed as some sort of currently unattainable environment for lightning ever since MH showed up on a Nintendo system. That's not my recollection of what the mood about the PSP was like when MHP came out.
 
Capcom's effort on MHP was relatively minor, given how big Capcom is in comparison. I don't think it's true that only a major Japanese third party could have made a game like MHP, given how low budget that effort was compared to Capcom's other games.

As to the whole lightning in the bottle argument, the PSP only gets ballyhooed as some sort of currently unattainable environment for lightning ever since MH showed up on a Nintendo system. That's not my recollection of what the mood about the PSP was like when MHP came out.

PSP was in a vastly healthier market position when MHP1 shipped, so I strongly suspect your recollection is colored by wishful thinking.

But here's a related question: how many new multimillion-selling franchises appeared on PS2 in Japan? How many from third parties debuted on DS?

The answer to both is zero, which given everything Vita has going against it, ought to discount any discussion of an MHP redux as realistic.

It's not literally impossible that such a thing could happen, of course, but nor is it impossible that you or I could win the lottery tomorrow.
 
All topics in this forum about Vita have, mostly, two types of characters talking:

* Vita users who are very happy with their console and struggling not because of the lack of games, but because their memory cards are expensive and not enough to add more games on it.

* Users without a Vita and, for some reason (hate against Sony or fanaticism for Nintendo or Microsoft), don't lose any opportunity to try to convince those who have not purchased the console that is a bad investment.

You know what? If you are not interested in the Vita... stop comment BS about it and go play on your precious consoles!

First you pigeonhole most of the detractors as having an agenda and most Vita owners as very happy (at the same time as trying to put a stop to any "Vita has no games" talk).

Then you go on to suggest that only people interested in the Vita (what does that mean, anyway, people interested in sales in general might be interested in the Vita and I hate to break it to you, they may not have much positive stuff to say) should be allowed to speak about it.

Not exactly promoting reasonable conversation.
 
PSP was in a vastly healthier market position when MHP1 shipped, so I strongly suspect your recollection is colored by wishful thinking.

But here's a related question: how many new multimillion-selling franchises appeared on PS2 in Japan? How many from third parties debuted on DS?

The answer to both is zero, which given everything Vita has going against it, ought to discount any discussion of an MHP redux as realistic.

It's not literally impossible that such a thing could happen, of course, but nor is it impossible that you or I could win the lottery tomorrow.

Well, it's not like it's a huge undertaking putting a slightly upgaded version of mh on the vita just to milk some sales, and Capcom is not above that, it just depends on whether they believe there is a market to exploit which, at this point is far too early. A few more weeks of this sales trend would be required before it's even worth it to speculate.

That said, the vita is an awesome piece of hardware and it's nice to see it do well for once.
 
Based on what they have already stated multiple times. They said they have been working with both first parties and third parties to bring more Vita titles to the market, that they will announce more games in the near future and this year they'll adopt an aggressive strategy with Vita.
We'll see how things unfold but they are giving the impression that they have at least a few cards to play. I don't think that the Vita will ever be a smashing hit with sales numbers but if they work well the system could find its own niche and they can hope to bring that 35k current baseline to something like 90k-100k in the future.

They have said many things. They said all of their studios are or will make vita games, naughty dog denied that statement. They got kevin levine to announce bioshock, but it wasn't confirmed in the first place. They said last year that they are pouring in $50 million for its advertising campaign and that its launch will be the biggest ever, and that's obviously not true. Its precisely that they had said many things for the past 1 year that people feel they are talking without base.

Dont forget that they are launching the ps4 this year too.
 
Given the failure of Western IP as massively popular as AC/COD to move hardware even during the holidays with discounted bundles, and the dearth of exclusive support from the major Japanese third parties (really, dearth of announced support in general beyond Namco Bandai and Tecmo Koei), what could plausibly be announced at this point that would have that kind of impact?

i don't understand why you keep mentioning AC and COD as games that should have moved way more vita units than they did. both were spinoffs released along side the heavily promoted big brother versions on consoles. AC was pretty good but did not get rave reviews as a must have title and cod was panned across the board and yet both sold respectable numbers and ubisoft have actually come out and said they were happy with the sales of the vita game? what is going to stop them from making more vita games and maybe even better ones this time around if they see promise? maybe activision will actually have an in house version of cod vita and promote it alongside their main game. there most probably will be a gran turismo game that will have heavy promotion with its ps3 version. a diablo game, minecraft etc.... all these are possible on a vita and yes this could all be a pipe dream and never happen and vita could be dead like you say but some of you guys just come off as adamant and are so sure vita is dead and there will be no coming back. if i were a betting man i would say you will probably hear about upcoming titles for vita, ps3 and maybe ps4 if there are any by the end of april when they announce their forecasts for the following fiscal year.
 
i don't understand why you keep mentioning AC and COD as games that should have moved way more vita units than they did. both were spinoffs released along side the heavily promoted big brother versions on consoles. AC was pretty good but did not get rave reviews as a must have title and cod was panned across the board and yet both sold respectable numbers and ubisoft have actually come out and said they were happy with the sales of the vita game?

1. AC and COD are roughly as popular as or more popular than any other established Western IP that could conceivably be announced for Vita at this point.
2. Both games were released in the biggest shopping season of the year.
3. Both were made available as part of reasonably priced bundles, with further discounts on Black Friday and other parts of the holiday season.
4. Both got a fairly sizable marketing push.

Despite everything Vita's two flagship holiday titles had going for them commercially, at the risk of repeating myself:

5. Vita sold fewer units than PSP did during the 2011 holidays, at a point when it was universally regarded as dead or near-dead in the west.

Yes, both Liberation and Declassified would have performed somewhat better if they had been higher-quality games, and likely more so if they had released a few months apart from their console counterparts. But despite that, given factors 1-4, the overall result was so incredibly awful that it suggests that (a) there is simply very little demand for Vita hardware in the West, and (b) the demand for console-style handheld games aimed at males 17-30, such as it exists, is simply not great enough to move Vita hardware in large quantities.
 
The sad part is that this is probably the end of dedicated gaming handhelds from either company.

the sad part is that the video game industry will experience a massive contraction soon and every company will die except Sega.

Return of the King.
 
I loved the psp, and the recent buzz about indie games has had me thinking about a later vita purchase. However, while people like me might mean the world for an indie company I don't expect the bigger ones to care. Shame about Monster Hunter, it really fit the format. Would love to see it with decent graphics. Speaking of which, Soul Sacrifice looks awesome and I had no idea of it's existence.

And oh, fuck touch based gaming.
 
When 3DS is selling faster than PS2 in Japan, and is seeing decent numbers in the West, and Nintendo is still absurdely popular among kids?

Wat?DS sells almost on par with 3DS in US and in Europe it dosen't do so hot for a new platform at that price with many games.In general it is selling very bad in west and i wouldn't call the numbers decent.
 
Even if the Vita's sales resurrection is permanent (it's not. It's a sales spike) then I still don't see any developers/publishers willing to commit to new Vita software if it wasn't on the drawing board already.

There was always going to be higher demand at a lower price point. Duh.
 
Yeah, Nintendo will march on almost certainly. The 3DS is still quite popular, and Nintendo's business model is more robust as it relies more heavily on first party studios to carry the weight. They'll certainly need to adapt, but the 3DS isn't the end. That sounds like people are trying to lump Nintendo in with Sony to suggest they're both doing equally bad in this department.

But even if Sony leaves the dedicated portable space, I have no doubt that they will continue pushing portables in some form or another. They'll focus more on phones, or tablets, or whatever else is popular by the time the Vita is old in 2016. It will probably be a less "traditional" experience, but I'm sure they'll be in the mix, as portable technology is simply far too popular and profitable for a company of Sony's size to give up on.
 
Even if the Vita's sales resurrection is permanent (it's not. It's a sales spike) then I still don't see any developers/publishers willing to commit to new Vita software if it wasn't on the drawing board already.

There was always going to be higher demand at a lower price point. Duh.

Sony's best hope is that the sales of lower tier niche games in Japan and indie games in the West continue on their more positive trend, and the system is reborn as a niche/indie selling system. That is at least plausible.

That would obviously under-utilize the system's technical power, and also probably limit its sales potential compared to, say, the PSP. We almost certainly won't be seeing any "AAA Blockbuster" games for the system any time soon. But if the Vita can carve out a spot for itself as the otaku/indie games machine, that's certainly better than nothing.
 
Wat?DS sells almost on par with 3DS in US and in Europe it dosen't do so hot for a new platform at that price with many games.In general it is selling very bad in west and i wouldn't call the numbers decent.
It outsells everything but 360 in America and everything but PS3 in Europe. I guess no systems are selling decent these days then.
 
Wat?DS sells almost on par with 3DS in US and in Europe it dosen't do so hot for a new platform at that price with many games.In general it is selling very bad in west and i wouldn't call the numbers decent.

No, 3DS is selling decently in the West. Those are not bad numbers by far. Also, we must consider that the price is still quite high for an handheld platform.

guess you missed that MH4 3DS trailer..

Or are we now at the stage where people believe anything below the Vita's capabilities is not decent graphics??

Well, many people actually believe that if Monster Hunter had been released on Vita, it would have been a graphic masterpiece... I believe, instead, Capcom would have upgraded the graphics just a little, also because Monster Hunter really don't care about that. And not that Soul Sacrifice is the best looking game on the platform...
 
Well, many people actually believe that if Monster Hunter had been released on Vita, it would have been a graphic masterpiece... I believe, instead, Capcom would have upgraded the graphics just a little, also because Monster Hunter really don't care about that. And not that Soul Sacrifice is the best looking game on the platform...



True. People think the game would have been looking like Dragon's Dogma or something. It would just been the same game, running at native Vita res and MAYBE better textures.
Also, the "wasted potential" talk is kinda annoying. If devs had to choose one plateform to make sure there's no "wasted potential" we'd be all playing on PC.
 
No, 3DS is selling decently in the West. Those are not bad numbers by far. Also, we must consider that the price is still quite high for an handheld platform.

How can a handheld has decent numbers when it is selling on par with it's predecessor?We all now that handhelds sell very bad in the west.3DS doesnt sell decent.It is below decent and this is the truth.Smartphones,tablets etc changed the market and it doesnt seem this will change soon.Whoever dont see this is delusional.
 
The 3DS, while disappointing in terms of Nintendo's own expectations they set, is still massively profitable with Nintendo selling their hardware at a profit and their own 1st party software selling a ton. It'll end up selling at least 60 million units worldwide by the end and Nintendo isn't going to quit after that. I think they'll try something vastly different than the DS line though as another DS model in the same vein (3DS with upgrade graphics) would probably be a huge failure. Vita will never even outsell the 1st year of the 3DS, so I don't even see where there is a comparison there. Even the Wii U comparison makes more sense.
 
How can a handheld has decent numbers when it is selling on par with it's predecessor?We all now that handhelds sell very bad in the west.3DS doesnt sell decent.It is below decent and this is the truth.Smartphones,tablets etc changed the market and it doesnt seem this will change soon.Whoever dont see this is delusional.

I'm guessing wider sales talk is acceptable as long as it's not about Vita, huh.
 
Guys no matter how much you wish it neither Sony or Nintendo are going to abandon the handheld scene. Nintendo handhelds are the biggest thing they have going for them and is certainly more profitable then their console efforts. Alos Sony is not stupid enough to let Nintendo have a monopoly on such a large market. I think if the Vita does not pick up pace Sony will just try and make it profitable and not risk the investment.
 
How can a handheld has decent numbers when it is selling on par with it's predecessor?We all now that handhelds sell very bad in the west.3DS doesnt sell decent.It is below decent and this is the truth.Smartphones,tablets etc changed the market and it doesnt seem this will change soon.Whoever dont see this is delusional.

What're you saying is simply not true. Probably, you want to justify the disappointing results Vita is having by saying that also the other handheld platform is not selling well ("very bad" actually). That's not factually correct.

3DS is not having a large scale success in the West, that's true. But its results are far from bad. Nintendo can still lower the price, and it has Pokémon which is quite a big thing.
 
What're you saying is simply not true. Probably, you want to justify the disappointing results Vita is having by saying that also the other handheld platform is not selling well ("very bad" actually). That's not factually correct.

3DS is not having a large scale success in the West, that's true. But its results are far from bad. Nintendo can still lower the price, and it has Pokémon which is quite a big thing.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/11/29/comparing-nintendo-sony-and-microsoft-black-friday-sales

On the handheld front, the Nintendo 3DS continues to push a healthy number of units. During the same period spanning from November 18th to November 24th, 3DS sold 250,000 units. Strangely, the original Nintendo DS sold more units – 275,000 – though perhaps more interesting is that the original Wii is still selling in the shadow of Wii U’s launch. 300,000 Wiis were sold during the week Fils-Aime discussed.

You were saying?
 

On the handheld front, the Nintendo 3DS continues to push a healthy number of units. During the same period spanning from November 18th to November 24th, 3DS sold 250,000 units. Strangely, the original Nintendo DS sold more units – 275,000 – though perhaps more interesting is that the original Wii is still selling in the shadow of Wii U’s launch. 300,000 Wiis were sold during the week Fils-Aime discussed.
You were saying?

This is ridiculous. DS was heavily discounted on Black Friday to shift stock, and it had mainline Pokemon games come out the month before.

DS having a really good result doesn't automatically mean that 3DS is bombing.
 
On the handheld front, the Nintendo 3DS continues to push a healthy number of units. During the same period spanning from November 18th to November 24th, 3DS sold 250,000 units. Strangely, the original Nintendo DS sold more units – 275,000 – though perhaps more interesting is that the original Wii is still selling in the shadow of Wii U’s launch. 300,000 Wiis were sold during the week Fils-Aime discussed.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/11/29/comparing-nintendo-sony-and-microsoft-black-friday-sales



You were saying?

Selective bolding. Someone trying to make the opposite point could have done this:

On the handheld front, the Nintendo 3DS continues to push a healthy number of units. During the same period spanning from November 18th to November 24th, 3DS sold 250,000 units. Strangely, the original Nintendo DS sold more units – 275,000 – though perhaps more interesting is that the original Wii is still selling in the shadow of Wii U’s launch. 300,000 Wiis were sold during the week Fils-Aime discussed.
 
And so what?
DS is really cheap now, and it has a huge library of cheap games. GBA was selling well above DS in the first period. Still, 3DS is pulling decent numbers (look, I'm not saying good numbers, eh) in the West.

PS: why didn't you bold this sentence "the Nintendo 3DS continues to push a healthy number of units", lol

LOL from the ''not true'' we went to ''so what?''

LgPZ7.gif
 
Guys no matter how much you wish it neither Sony or Nintendo are going to abandon the handheld scene. Nintendo handhelds are the biggest thing they have going for them and is certainly more profitable then their console efforts. Alos Sony is not stupid enough to let Nintendo have a monopoly on such a large market. I think if the Vita does not pick up pace Sony will just try and make it profitable and not risk the investment.

i agree.

Also the same could be said about there consoles

the wii u is languishing right now and ps4 is right around the corner.

In the event that wii u gets utterly crushed by the Ps4
do you people really believe that Nintendo is just gonna quit making consoles and give sony a monopoly in japan in that market ?

Neither of them are going to let that happen.
 
Vita love it...
PSP love it....

DS ok...
3DS love it...

Sony or Nintendo isn't going anywhere. why not let the company worry about the sales..."ain't nobody got time for that"
 
Let´s just compare current lifetime sales

3DS 30 milions
PSV 4 m

It´s obvious who´s in denial.
I don't think anyone is in denial of what platform sales more units, but what point is this bringing out? Seems kinda troll worthy eh? lol...

Wii looked just like that at the start of the generation btw, and look at the numbers today.

Sales vary every year fellas, I seriously doubt either handheld will be off the shelf for the next few years. We should just get back to playing the great games on each unit.
 
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