Support NeoGAF

[frankie_baby]

That may be true but what else can we expect them to say? Admitting it's a failure of a launch wouldn't be a very savvy PR move.

Nintendo did and it worked out great for them

 

[slaughterking]

Why does it read like people are going to blow a load when Vita goes <10k? They don't come out and say it directly, but you can tell from all the :lol emotes and eager anticipation. These low sales aren't good for the handheld market and video games in general.

A few weeks ago I said it directly!

 

[AranhaHunter]

cvxfreak says Resident Evil Portable became Revelations on 3DS.

Is he an insider? How would he know for sure?

 

[Alrus]

Why does it read like people are going to blow a load when Vita goes <10k? They don't come out and say it directly, but you can tell from all the :lol emotes and eager anticipation. These low sales aren't good for the handheld market and video games in general.

Most people enjoy looking at trainwrecks.

 

[liger05]

Why does it read like people are going to blow a load when Vita goes <10k? They don't come out and say it directly, but you can tell from all the :lol emotes and eager anticipation. These low sales aren't good for the handheld market and video games in general.

I'm laughing @ those who a few months ago said the 3DS was finished and when the vita price was anounced predicted the demise of Nintendo and how much a bomba the 3DS was going to be.

 

[A Twisty Fluken]

Why does it read like people are going to blow a load when Vita goes <10k? They don't come out and say it directly, but you can tell from all the :lol emotes and eager anticipation. These low sales aren't good for the handheld market and video games in general.

Some people just want to watch the world burn.

Spoiler

I am some people

 

[Aostia]

10k is a sort of psychological threshold, but it is clear that 10.023 units is nothing different than 9801 units; the trend is terrible imo, and there's nothing that could help so far (no price cut announced, weak line-up).

Vita is doing bad.
But it has nothing, up to now, in my opinion, that should justify better performances.
Games? On other platforms, including PSP.
Price? The highest.
Brand awerness? On portable market Nintendo one is obviously the strongest.

Let's see if it will have the strength to turn upside-down it's actual trend once games will be announced (next Friday)

 

[Barack Lesnar]

Actually doing something to get people interested in the system, actions speak louder than words.

Going ahead with a launch with a hardware which isn't very competitive, paired with a poor line-up for the region, and nothing worthwhile on the horizon isn't a very savvy business move either.

Outside of having a Monster Hunter 3 port at launch, what else could Sony have done in terms of their launch window line-up?

I'm just saying, there is no going back after you admit defeat. It's similar to post-NPD press releases. X manufacturer isn't going to mention their console was last place in sales. They're going to try to spin it. It's just the way PR works.

 

[duckroll]

Is he an insider? How would he know for sure?

He is definitely in the position to have industry knowledge, yes. He's a respectable long time member here, and he doesn't tend to make stuff up for the fun of it. I don't know if it's actually true, but that's what he said in the last thread where we discussed this.

 

[Man God]

Actually doing something to get people interested in the system, actions speak louder than words.

Besides a massive price cut what can Sony even do to get interest? It's not like their internal studios have ever released a megahit selling portable game in Japan.

 

[saichi]

Sell trough must have been pretty amazing for One Piece Musou. Maybe it really could pull a million as this is not XIII-2 situation (600k first week sales against 850k first week shipment).

I expect ToX kind of legs. ToX has great first week sell through as well but it had no legs at all. I suspect OP would dip below 100K next week or maybe lower than 70K.

 

[Brazil]

I'm so happy at One Piece's numbers. Since last year I'm a Musou fanboy, and this year I found out that I'm an One Piece fanboy too, so...

Can't wait to get my hands on my imported copy.

 

[Castor Krieg]

I'm laughing @ those who a few months ago said the 3DS was finished and when the vita price was anounced predicted the demise of Nintendo and how much a bomba the 3DS was going to be.

People said it after E3, when 3DS was still priced the same as Vita. Back then it was true.

 

[Truth101]

Outside of having a Monster Hunter 3 port at launch, what else could Sony have done in terms of their launch window line-up?

I'm just saying, there is no going back after you admit defeat. It's similar to post-NPD press releases. X manufacturer isn't going to mention their console was last place in sales. They're going to try to spin it. It's just the way PR works.

They should have released Hardware they could have actually been competitive on. They trapped themselves; not being able to drop the price, not being in a position to moneyhat exclusives.

Maybe things will turn around when production costs go down and they can actually drop the price without taking huge loss.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

I think people just like picking arbitrary numbers and getting all pumped when they reach that number. High or low, doesn't matter.

From my SalesAge lurking and posting days, it seems like the number talk is strictly emotionless, but it's okay to have a sense of humor about certain barometers of success or failure. People like narratives, and even when we're trying to analyze numbers, the stories still emerge from the depths.

Besides a massive price cut what can Sony even do to get interest? It's not like their internal studios have ever released a megahit selling portable game in Japan.

Even if they know their actions aren't silver bullets, lots of little attempts would at least gather something more than the silence they have now. But it would be more fair to criticize them in three months or so.

 

[Clear]

3DS sales are sliding too. Which considering they have thin to zero margins on the hardware and had to cannibalize DS/i sales to establish themselves isn't neccessarily a great situation.

They are going to need a hardware refresh sooner rather than later, and they've set themselves a very low bar to limbo under price-wise.

Sony, as people rightly point out, haven't done much to cement their position in the territory with Vita. But that doesn't mean they don't have cards yet to play, and with PS3 still shifting steadily visibility isn't a problem.

 

[Man God]

People said it after E3, when 3DS was still priced the same as Vita. Back then it was true.

No both systems still had basically the same software announced that they do now outside of Monster Hunter. Vita still would have landed like a dead fish in Japan.

 

[Takao]

[PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors # <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.03.01} (¥8.190) - 655.774 / NEW


Damn!

You're not banned anymore! :O

 

[pestul]

People said it after E3, when 3DS was still priced the same as Vita. Back then it was true.

It was? I'm not sure Vita would be lighting up the sales charts in Japan right now even if 3DS remained at launch price.

 

[Mpl90]

Strange that no one have already done the joke "It prints money!" with One Piece. Where are the "It prints berries" gifs? XD

13./00. [WII] Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games <SPT> (Nintendo) {2011.12.08} (¥5.800) - 30.222 / NEW
02./00. [3DS] Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games <SPT> (Nintendo) {2012.03.01} (¥4.800) - 43.155 / NEW

Tradition confirmed.

 

[liger05]

3DS sales are sliding too. Which considering they have thin to zero margins on the hardware and had to cannibalize DS/i sales to establish themselves isn't neccessarily a great situation.

They are going to need a hardware refresh sooner rather than later, and they've set themselves a very low bar to limbo under price-wise.

Sony, as people rightly point out, haven't done much to cement their position in the territory with Vita. But that doesn't mean they don't have cards yet to play, and with PS3 still shifting steadily visibility isn't a problem.

Kingdom Hearts alone this month will give the 3DS a very nice boost.

 

[Durante]

Between OP and Tales, Namco Bandai must really love PS3 right now. Their major properties are almost as successful as they ever were on PS2, which is quite impressive considering all the talk about the decline of the console market in Japan.

 

[test_account]

And not one of them will be a series thats exclusive to vita

I dont think that this matters that much. What matters the most is if the games are good. There excist both good and and not so good games within the same series.

 

[boingball]

Vita managed barely to keep above 10k. Probably for the last time. Nice bump for the PS3 thoug and the PS2 is not only outselling the 360 but also the DS! So not all is gloom and doom for Sony. At the end of the year PS2 might even sell more than Wii, Vita and PSP...

 

[mclem]

Is he an insider? How would he know for sure?

If it's Resident Evil, cvxfreak knows.

 

[matmanx1]

Just like the 3DS before it the Vita needs to at least get to "healthy" status for a couple of reasons. Competition in the marketplace is a good thing and especially competition against the iOS/Android market that so many journalists think is our gaming future. I'd like to believe there's still a market for dedicated gaming handhelds and especially one that plays games as well as the Vita. It would be a terrible shame if a device of that quality fails due to lack of interest.

I would also not like to see Nintendo get complacent although with the slew of quality titles releasing this year for the 3DS it doesn't look like that's going to hapoen anytime soon.

 

[frankie_baby]

They should have released Hardware they could have actually been competitive on. They trapped themselves; not being able to drop the price, not being in a position to moneyhat exclusives.

Maybe things will turn around when production costs go down and they can actually drop the price without taking huge loss.

They tried to make a portable that'd be a techfreaks wet dream despite that not really working for them with the psp and also doing what were probably the 2 biggest mistakes that nintendo made with the 3ds when they should've had time to at least learn from 1, namely high price (probable they couldnt do anything by that pointcos of the tech) and making the system look almost exactly like the predecessor

 

[Sohter.Nura]

Price cut would help Sony, but not even a price cut can save them right now. Besides, with the situation that Sony is in overall, they couldn't afford it anyway.

Sony needs games. It needs games SOON to help establish their PSV brand. I'm not talking about Gravity Daze, it needs things like Dissidia Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Monster Hunter.

It's a real shame for Sony because unlike Nintendo, who can develop games that are must have for their system as well as blue ocean titles, Sony can't do neither.

I also think not having PSP to PSV backwards compatibility really has sucked for Sony. Nintendo could kill the DS right away when they launched the 3DS, because developers could still develop DS games and sell them to the existing DS user base, but as well to the new 3DS user base.

Sony can't kill the PSP because it needs the money that comes from it, but it needs to kill it to make the PSV sell more.

 

[boingball]

I'm laughing @ those who a few months ago said the 3DS was finished and when the vita price was anounced predicted the demise of Nintendo and how much a bomba the 3DS was going to be.

I still believe that the Vita would have had a chance to outsell the 3DS if Nintendo had not lowered the price AND Sony had ensured that Monster Hunter is being kept on their portable. Obviously the 3DS was never finished, since it will always get Mario and Pokemon. But it would have been an interesting race. Now the 3DS is much cheaper and has Monster Hunter and the Vita has no games. Well done Sony...

 

[chickdigger802]

So is the one piece game any good? Saw 1 boring ass video on YouTube, but that's just 1 video.

Does Sony have any first party IPs that are hot in japan?

 

[zroid]

3DS sales are sliding too. Which considering they have thin to zero margins on the hardware and had to cannibalize DS/i sales to establish themselves isn't neccessarily a great situation.

They are going to need a hardware refresh sooner rather than later, and they've set themselves a very low bar to limbo under price-wise.

I don't know about that. Yes the 3DS sales gradually decline week-to-week, but that's to be expected in weeks without big software to garner new interest. It's generally fairly consistent though, and as we saw recently with Love Plus, when a popular game is released, the system sales will get a boost. This will probably happen again soon with Kingdom Hearts, so I don't see the 3DS in any danger of slipping much below where it is now.

Also, I would expect the revision (which I do not believe will be released till late 2012 at the earliest) to cost significantly more than the current model, which will remain at $170 while both are in production. My guess is 3DS "Lite" will be positioned at $200.

 

[Exterminieren]

3DS sales are sliding too. Which considering they have thin to zero margins on the hardware and had to cannibalize DS/i sales to establish themselves isn't neccessarily a great situation.

Sales decreasing in weeks with no big new titles being released is hardly a massive shocker.

I'd wait for Kingdom Hearts or Kid Icarus before saying this.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

3DS sales are sliding too.

I don't agree. 3DS sales are slightly less on weeks that don't have a "Japan explosion bonanza!" release, but they're still steamrolling everything else and dominating the charts. The software has incredible legs. They're doing fine, in the context of each week.

They are going to need a hardware refresh sooner rather than later, and they've set themselves a very low bar to limbo under price-wise.

I think a refresh would do good, but I don't see the point of doing it now. And The DS Lite sold within the same price window as the original DS and that didn't matter in the least bit. It really depends on what the hardware refresh does and how games will take advantage of it. And how many hardware limited special edition bundles they have for it.

Sony, as people rightly point out, haven't done much to cement their position in the territory with Vita. But that doesn't mean they don't have cards yet to play, and with PS3 still shifting steadily visibility isn't a problem.

So then what cards do they have? Hearing people talk about nebulous silver bullets for the Vita really gets old.

 

[Hammer24]

Whats the word on the street in Japan: is the Vita seen as a true successor to the PSP, or more like something like the PSP Go?

 

[frankie_baby]

Kingdom Hearts alone this month will give the 3DS a very nice boost.

Not just kh but also hatsune miku, and kid icarus ( both of which should debut higher than the ltd of any vita game) not to mention a new colour and several new bundles 3ds will do very very well this month

 

[The_lascar]

One Piece might be the most surprisingly successful software for the last few years, at least since Friend Connection.

Every new volume of the manga sold like 3 millions in Japan within a few weeks, when Naruto "only" sold 1 million. You can't compare that to Tomodachi Collection who came from nowhere.

 

[jj984jj]

Terrible reviews?

As a OP fan who likes musou (aka, the target audience), the game seems pretty great to me outside the unstable framerate.

It's definitely way better than hokuto musou.

I don't know why, aside from maybe the content level and the two bug videos I've seen (and the QTE stuff, but that should be minor if it is a complaint I'd think), but it's been getting average or worse score from user reviews on mk2 and 4gamer. I don't know if it's reflective of the actual reception of the game though.

 

[Mrbob]

Going ahead with a launch with a hardware which isn't very competitive, paired with a poor line-up for the region, and nothing worthwhile on the horizon isn't a very savvy business move either.

How big is SCEJ, and what exactly are they doing?

I have no idea how the Vita will do in the West, but SCEA/SCEE are much more prepared for the Vita launch than SCEJ. SCEA and SCEE have had a steady stream of content ready for launch and post launch. There was what, 7 years between the release of the PSP and Vita? Should have had ample time to get ready.

 

[Nibel]

I'm laughing @ those who a few months ago said the 3DS was finished and when the vita price was anounced predicted the demise of Nintendo and how much a bomba the 3DS was going to be.

Well, most of those 3DS naysayers doesn't seem to post when there is nothing negative to post about the system. :lol

I just hope that Sony will blow us away at their conference. Give us some great games and yo' sales shall rise to heaven, Sony!

 

[Aostia]

Kingdom Hearts alone this month will give the 3DS a very nice boost.

3DS in the latest weeks:

70.744
76.322
94.667 (Love Plus)
67.558
75.018
84.789 (Resident Evil)
80.960

to me, it's stable and healthy. Great standard weekly numbers plus peaks with important games.

 

[Sohter.Nura]

Not just kh but also hatsune miku, and kid icarus ( both of which should debut higher than the ltd of any vita game) not to mention a new colour and several new bundles 3ds will do very very well this month

I don't think Kid Icarus will do well. It's been 20 years since the game came out, and except for people played SSBB, I don't think anybody remembers the brand.

KH though, that will definitely raise sales for the 3DS.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

dat ps3 bump


Vita needs some sweet reveals on the 9th or else Sony is being stupid.

 

[Man God]

Not just kh but also hatsune miku, and kid icarus ( both of which should debut higher than the ltd of any vita game) not to mention a new colour and several new bundles 3ds will do very very well this month

Not to mention the crap load of special edition 3DS's they have in the works. 3DS at this rate should roll on comfortably through May.

 

[test_account]

I think both games never went cancelled, since they never existed in the first place.

Sorry, i missed this quote earlier. Yeah, the games might never got pass the production start, but i mean that the games were planned to begin with by the companies. I dont think that Sony announced a Resident Evil PSP game without Capcom even knowning about it, and the same with Nintendo and Assassins Creed, that Ubisoft didnt know about it.

 

[zroid]

I don't think Kid Icarus will do well. It's been 20 years since the game came out, and except for people played SSBB, I don't think anybody remembers the brand.

KH though, that will definitely raise sales for the 3DS.

I think KI:U may surprise some people, and will have longer legs than many expect. The more I see of the game, the more clear it becomes that this is a Sakurai joint through-and-through, so the Smash Bros. fans will have something to love here.

The brand may not sell itself, and it certainly won't hit holy trinity levels, but I have a feeling it will stick around on the charts for a while, especially if the Smash Bros. fans get on board. I think they will once people begin to understand the game better.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

Besides a massive price cut what can Sony even do to get interest? It's not like their internal studios have ever released a megahit selling portable game in Japan.

Free 3DS with the purchase of a Vita???

 

[frankie_baby]

I don't think Kid Icarus will do well. It's been 20 years since the game came out, and except for people played SSBB, I don't think anybody remembers the brand.

KH though, that will definitely raise sales for the 3DS.

I'm nor expecting huge numbers our of the gate from it but with the amount of effort nintendo is throwing at it (everything including a free kitchen sink) it should easily do a healthy 100k how it does from rhen though is gonna be dependant on word of mouth

 

[LOCK]

Great week overall, and beginning of the 3DS's March explosion.

 

[Dragon]

Vita managed barely to keep above 10k. Probably for the last time. Nice bump for the PS3 thoug and the PS2 is not only outselling the 360 but also the DS! So not all is gloom and doom for Sony. At the end of the year PS2 might even sell more than Wii, Vita and PSP...

So you're predicting that Vita will never go above 10k again in Japan. Do I have that right?

 

[Bebpo]

I don't know why, aside from maybe the content level and the two bug videos I've seen (and the QTE stuff, but that should be minor if it is a complaint I'd think), but it's been getting average or worse score from user reviews on mk2 and 4gamer. I don't know if it's reflective of the actual reception of the game though.

Would be interesting to see if because it's selling to a wider audience with those numbers, if a lot of reviews are by non-musou people. Because honestly, if you're not into musou, all musou games are going to seems pretty weak with slashslashslash x 1000 for 40 min stages.

I'm not that far in the game, so I'm going to hold off judgment for now. But it seems the smaller playable character roster is made up by the fact that the characters are all unique and have the deepest and largest movelists of any musou game; closer to actual action game movelists than musou movelists. The QTEs so far have been great in an Asura's Wrath/God of War way to make the battles more cinematic (and it's a nice looking enjoy, so it works). As for bugs and overall content, can't really say much since I haven't run into any and I haven't seen all the content in the game. Personally though, if it's more of a 30 hour game than the usual 60-100 hours it takes to see all the content in a musou game I'm not going to complain; musou games are too long as they are to unlock everything.

The framerate is a bummer though. It's not terrible as it always sticks above at least 30fps, but it's rarely 60fps and always somewhere in between.