The portable console war in Japan has always favored Nintendo's 3DS over Sony's Vita, but never quite like this.
Last week, the Vita hit a new all-time low in the country, selling only 4,021 units. By comparison, the 3DS sold nearly 47 times that many, at 187,077.
The numbers only tell half the story, however: 3DS sales were bolstered significantly by the release of Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which debuted at number one on the charts with 721,786 copies sold.
Still, it's clear that Sony is having a very difficult time selling anyone in the country on the Vita, and a lack of desirable software in the region isn't helping matters. The Vita had no new releases last week, and none of its games appear in the top 30 chart. There are, by comparison, fourteen 3DS games.
For a closer look at the numbers, last week's Japanese sales charts are available here.
I can now safely say that the Vita is now the new Dreamcast type product. I really do hope they turn it around, but to me there is way to much holding down this cycle of handhleds to get anything done anymore. Just let it go Sony, and come back strong later with a product that is tageted to the audience current requests.
Don't mix the trackers, the hardware numbers (187077 and 4021) are the numbers Media Create reported. On the other side the 721786 units for Animal Crossing were reported by Famitsu.
Media Create says the game sold "only" 603064 copies. On the hardware side Famitsu reports that the 3DS sold 168662 units and the PS Vita 4263.
That's unfortunate for me... because the one game I really want to play is Gravity Rush, and it's only on the Vita. So I have to get a Vita, and I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be a dead in the water system.
Just look around places like Craig's List... Tons of people are offloading them. I'm not even sure a price drop will save it. The games just aren't there.
Media Create says the game sold "only" 603064 copies. On the hardware side Famitsu reports that the 3DS sold 168662 units and the PS Vita 4263.