As we all know, and there are some out there who will tell you on a daily basis, the PS Vita has had a rough time in terms of sales. Sitting at around 4 million after the Christmas period, it was looking pretty bad for the powerful handheld.
On February 28th, Sony introduced a massive price cut in their native Japan, bringing the price of the PS Vita more or less in line with its closest competitor, the Nintendo 3DS systems. It seems the price cut has done its job, and done it well too. Last week the hardware sales figures from Media Create stated that the PS Vita only sold 11,456 units that week, being outsold 3-1 by the Nintendo 3DS XL, and only selling 2,000 more units than it’s predecessor, the PSP.
Now however, the PS Vita has actually outsold the Nintendo 3DS XL, in fact, it was the biggest selling console in Japan overall, shifting a not too shabby 62, 543 units, outselling the Nintendo 3DS by more than a 2-1 ratio, and even flogging more than the 3DS XL, around 12,000 more to be precise.
Take a look at the quick summary below for a comparison:
These are the latest sales figures:
Vita – 62,543
3DS LL – 50,265
3DS – 27,174
PS3 – 25,725
PSP – 11,171
Wii U – 10,021
Wii – 1,383
Xbox 360 – 486
And these are last weeks sales figures:
3DS LL – 49,317
3DS – 25,412
PS3 – 18,529
Vita – 11,456
Wii U – 9,633
PSP – 8,981
Wii – 1,317
Xbox 360 – 473
As you can clearly see, the recent price-cut has worked wonders and no doubt Sony will be pleased to see more units in the hands of happy customers, happy customers who will then be purchasing games, accessories and all the rest.
What does this mean for the PS Vita? Well, it could all have been dummy run for Sony to test the waters and see how people react to a price-cut in preparation for a European and North America price-cut, which is rumoured to be announced at this years E3, along with our first look at the PlayStation 4 console itself. Obviously, more PS Vita’s out in the hands of consumers is good for Sony, but it’s also promising for everyone else who invested in the handheld. With more people out there ready to buy games, developers and publishers should be looking to take the PS Vita seriously at last and start producing some top-tier titles that really showcase what can be done with the nifty console.
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Do you own a PS Vita? What games are you playing at the moment? Let us know down in the comments.
Source: Media Create