from ign and forbes

 

 

Is a price drop imminent?

 

 

It's old news now that PlayStation Vita isn't selling very well in its native Japan. As we already reported, Vita is off to a rocky start, only selling 72,479 in its first week on the market after pushing about 325,000 in its first 48 hours.

 

This precipitous decline hasn't gone unnoticed in circles outside of the gaming realm. In fact, Forbes tech contributor Tero Kuittinen has written a scathing article titled "Sony in Big Trouble with PS Vita," outlining the problems the company is currently facing with Vita.

 

Kuittinen notes that Vita's "second week brought devastation," especially when compared to Nintendo 3DS' second week on the market. Nintendo 3DS was widely believed to have had a terrible start, only more recently pushing bigger numbers now that games players want have finally starting arriving. Yet, 3DS sold 370,000 units in Japan in its first week, and 210,000 units in its second. In other words, it beat PlayStation Vita by 45,000 units in its first week, and a massive 137,500 units in its second week.

 

"That drop off led to steep further sales erosion," the Forbes article notes, "which forced Nintendo to implement an unusually early and steep price cut." This, of course, begs the question if Sony will do the same. Tero Kuittinen thinks that it will. "Sony will likely be forced to cut the price of the PS Vita from 24,000 Yen (~$311) to well below 20,000 Yen (~$259) very soon."

 

But the problems don't stop there. Kuittinen continues, "The upcoming US launch could be a true debacle for several reasons. Sony has decided to price Vita at $250, higher than the Amazon Kindle Fire. The hottest games like the latest Uncharted are priced at $50, while many other major titles are $40. The pricing seems delusional in light of the Japanese response to the PS Vita."

 

However, Kuittinen saves perhaps his harshest words for later in his article. "The 3DS should have been a surefire blockbuster in its domestic market -- the summer softness in Japan may have been an early warning sign of the coming global portable market malaise. The disastrous second week of the PS Vita is the second sign." The reason? The Forbes author argues that the rise of the smart phone and tablet markets are much to blame.

 

But he also argues that Sony should be concerned, as it seems to be on recent word that Sony had no comment when asked about Vita's sluggish sales. "…the portable console market may now have entered an age of permanent, slowly accelerating decline," Kuittinen concludes. "The true test of the industry is the United States, where consumers are embracing games designed for smartphones and tablets. The possible shrinking of the portable game consumer base would hit the runner-up Sony before Nintendo really gets mauled. The rot sets in first at the periphery."

I am pretty sure everyone knew that the PS Vita was going to have a shitty launch. It may have more games than the 3DS at launch, but its alot more expensive at launch when you think about it.

I just hope when they drop the price that include other territories! I think most stuff are overpriced, memory card for instance.

That makes me very sad, I love my DS and PSP. And I know I'm going to love the 3DS when I get it, the PSVita really had me interested and I'm still very tempted to get it, KH title or not. It annoys me whenever I hear that tablets and smartphones are gaining in on gaming territory; that's fine and dandy for casual gamers. But I don't want to find my self having to buy a friggin phone or tablet for a game I really want to play, because I don't use all the millions of useless apps and whatever crap these things come with. I prefer when my phone is a phone and my gaming console is my gaming console. :angry:

How is playing games on phones better than handheld consoles? I will never understand this.

 

Sony should have priced the Vita at $200 and $250.

That makes me very sad, I love my DS and PSP. And I know I'm going to love the 3DS when I get it, the PSVita really had me interested and I'm still very tempted to get it, KH title or not. It annoys me whenever I hear that tablets and smartphones are gaining in on gaming territory; that's fine and dandy for casual gamers. But I don't want to find my self having to buy a friggin phone or tablet for a game I really want to play, because I don't use all the millions of useless apps and whatever crap these things come with. I prefer when my phone is a phone and my gaming console is my gaming console. :angry:

 

Exactly.I'm upgrading to a smart phone when it's time (in, like, March or something), but it's a phone. When I wanna play something on the go, I bring my PSP. That won't change.

 

Well, it wil. When I wana play something on the go, I'll be bringing my Vita. Suck on that, phone companies!

Exactly.I'm upgrading to a smart phone when it's time (in, like, March or something), but it's a phone. When I wanna play something on the go, I bring my PSP. That won't change.

 

Well, it wil. When I wana play something on the go, I'll be bringing my Vita. Suck on that, phone companies!

 

Exactly! I've held off on owning 'fancy' smartphones and have been doing just fine without one; there may be a time when I'll need to get one. And that's fine, but I don't see the point of having popular big title games on phones one day, what if you get a call while you're playing? Sure they can pause...but glitchy things can happen. And it'd be like buying a PSP, but having to pay a montly fee to keep the thing working. e.o I don't care if it means having to carry more stuff with me, if it's helping out Sony and Nintendo, I'm totally ok with that. Long live handeld consoles!!!!! -flails arms- xDD

How is playing games on phones better than handheld consoles? I will never understand this.

 

Its usually a dollar sometimes good demos are even free. Arguably you are getting more bang for your buck.

This saddens me. I was really hoping the Vita would do well, despite both the Nintendo Fan inside me telling me to hate it, and knowing that the fanboy wars would escalate between Sony and Nintendo fanboys. Perhaps they will be able to "pull a 3DS" if you will, and turn an initial failure into a modest success (well, first year modest success).

 

I must say that this does disturb me deeply. Despite the majority of gamers denying that SmartPhones/Tablets are gaming devices, let alone half-way decent ones, it seems that they are indeed affecting video game sales. I can only hope this will inspire Nintendo and Sony to give their all into their new handhelds, and prove that handheld gaming devices are better than SmartPhones/Tablets.

After the sales in the third week of he PS Vita's release in Japan weren't that fabulous Sony decided to drop the price of this handheld.

The initial price of 29000 Yen (ca. 357$) was dropped to 24000 Yen (ca. 310$).

 

Let's hope the price will sink in NA and EU too.

Funny how all the Sony fanboys were trolling about how Nintendo dropped the 3DS's price. hehe, Karma's a bitch

lol I hope they do the same to the rest of the world, would be unfair I suppose?

At least Nintendo gave early adopters bonus free games on the eshop for buying the 3DS early at a higher cost. These poor Vita early adopters won't get anything

The cheaper the better. I can use the extra money I saved on a future KH game. lol

Funny how all the Sony fanboys were trolling about how Nintendo dropped the 3DS's price. hehe, Karma's a bitch

 

Yup shes a bitch indeed. :lol:

 

I still won't buy the Vita though until I see Kingdom Hearts released on it!

 

(as you can guess, I'm one of those people who prefers Nintendo systems but bought a psp just for KH BBS and KH BBS FM)

Funny how all the Sony fanboys were trolling about how Nintendo dropped the 3DS's price. hehe, Karma's a bitch

 

THIS.

I hope the price drop is for other parts of the world too. That way, if they make KH and FF games for Vita, which will force me to buy one, it won't cost quite as much.

I wont buy PS Vita until it price drop , cuz I bought the 3DS and it was expensive , then suddenly after some weeks , the price dropped !!

I am not going to fall into the same mistake again . http://kh13.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.png

Well the 3DS failed at launch like the Vita is so it's no suprise to me. The sales in North America will be off the charts, you can believe that.

The PSP is selling better with 22K sales in Japan. I was considering picking it up at launch, but I'm expecting a price cut before Black Friday 2012 so I'm not. Memory Cards are too overpriced anyway.

Sony is terrible at marketing the system.

I agree, I never expected it to do this poorly. The western focused launch titles and bad marketing must have really thrown them off, possibly the memory cards as well.

 

It is really sad when you think that the 3DS did better*, when it was supposedly "doomed", when it launched with really no system selling games, was lacking loads of features, and came just after an earthquake and tsunami.

 

*Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my 3DS, but even I can agree they blew the launch.

 

EDIT:

Though, this does prove that amount of power/tech doesn't really matter, it is the games. While the 3DS has Mario and Monster Hunter in Japan, the Vita has a library of games aimed at a western audience (none of them really appeal to me, though).

I think the reason behind would be first of all, the expensive memory cards + games (everything Sony is always proprietary) and secondly the games, no big titles has been released on launch. So, I hope they take action and cut the price! at least for memory cards and/or games!

Yeah, I always thought the 3DS would do better than the Vita, but I didn't think the Vita's sales would be this bad.

The Vita lacks the Killer Apps/System sellers. http://kh13.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/sleep.png

 

Kingdom Hearts is one of those that would make me buy a Vita despite its issues, but as you can alreadly guess Kingdom Hearts hasn't show up on the Vita yet.

Ouch. That's what happens when Sony is WAY OVERPRICED.