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Worldwide Vita Sales Revealed in Sony Earnings Call (1.8 million)

People come to CoD for the multiplayer and you won't be doing that on a train over 3G as it won't be supported and the ping is dreadful anyway. You won't be doing it with public wi-fi ping either.

No shit. But believe it or not the game will STILL appeal to many many gamers. And I'm not just talking about COD.
 
This thread will be used to feed so much crow 1 year from today, hopefully not all of the doomed camp are banned by then.

What gets me is the same sentiment for the 3DS before the price drop and the heavy hitting titles released.

I'm not going to pretend the Vita is crushing em right now but things aren't as dire as people are making it.
 

DiscoJer

Member
I can't think of a single game that can save Vita. Price drop will help though.

Diablo 3

Has a slim chance of happening. (If there is a console version, it could be ported.) Probably not. But I think it would be huge on the Vita
 
I can't think of a single game that can save Vita. Price drop will help though.

I can only speak for myself but the appeal is a console quality machine in portable form. It's not going to appeal to everyone. It's not going to sell like an iphone. Nor should it. It's a much more focal purposed device.
 

Diablos54

Member
What gets me is the same sentiment for the 3DS before the price drop and the heavy hitting titles released.

I'm not going to pretend the Vita is crushing em right now but things aren't as dire as people are making it.
But they were 'heavy hitting titles' on the way, that had been known since launch.

Vita? Not so much...

And if Vita's sales are as bad as they seem this month, things will be as bad as many people are making it.
 

impact

Banned
I can't think of a single game that can save Vita. Price drop will help though.

an exclusive GoW and/or Final Fantasy would do wonders. Didn't Crisis Core sell a shitload, even in the US? Now just imagine if it got an actual GOOD Final Fantasy!
 

ReaperXL7

Member
I can't think of a single game that can save Vita. Price drop will help though.

Before Monster Hunter I think most probably shared that belief with the PSP. Systems sellers can come from the most unlikely places, so really you just never know when one will pop up for a new system.
 
But they were 'heavy hitting titles' on the way, that had been known since launch.

Vita? Not so much...

And if Vita's sales are as bad as they seem this month, things will be as bad as many people are making it.

Regardless they weren't in gamers hands. Period. And there was the SAME naysaying. Maybe the Vita *will* flop. It's certainly possible. But it's not there yet. I agree that Sony needs to adapt and do it fucking fast. They have a lot riding on E3 and getting out the impression that they plan to stick with the Vita. If they need to lower the price point then that's what they need to do. They *REALLY* need to pack some memory cards in with these machines. They screwed the pooch on that.

But the machine itself is fantastic and has a world of potential for gamers that want high quality, high production quality portable games. Sure...there are many many people content with cut the rope and whatever knockoffs Gameloft is releasing but there's definitely a market for the Vita.

It just needs games. And PSONE Classic Support...I really don't know what they were thinking.
 

DSN2K

Member
I think 1.8m is pretty woeful frankly....I fully expect Sony privately to be very disappointed with that.

Facts are its expensive and doesn't have the software to justify spending such money. Drop the price and get some games on the platform and it will sell...3DS has showed this.
 

Diablos54

Member
an exclusive GoW and/or Final Fantasy would do wonders. Didn't Crisis Core sell a shitload, even in the US? Now just imagine if it got an actual GOOD Final Fantasy!
Crisis Core was the only good thing to come out of the VII orgy. :(

It just needs games. And PSONE Classic Support...I really don't know what they were thinking.
This sooo much. And a price drop. Then things shouldn't be too bad.
 

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
:(
Sony really needs to throw their weight behind this if they want so see serious results.

The hardware is amazing, but if there's nothing to play on it, it could be dead in the water...

PSOne support is needed quickly. PSP games via PSN is a big #2. I like that they had a good launch, but there is very little on the horizon to get me excited.

DON'T WASTE THIS POTENTIAL, SONY! I don't want to play my 3DS and get hand cramps...
 
I think 1.8m is pretty woeful frankly....I fully expect Sony privately to be very disappointed with that.

Facts are its expensive and doesn't have the software to justify spending such money. Drop the price and get some games on the platform and it will sell...3DS has showed this.

They *should* be disappointed. They're up against heavy competition. What I personally would do:

-Crunch the numbers and see how much of a price drop could be done on the hardware. If it's not possible take the loss on 4gb Memory Cards and begin packing them in by default. "You mean I have to buy a game -and- a memory card! Fuck that"

-Give users some free psp minis as an incentive. The Ambassador program worked wonders for nintendo.

-Get PSOne Classic support in the console asap. Have a firmware upgrade ready to be released the day after your E3 press conference and announce it at E3.

-Streamline the digital ecosystem in regards to price. You want players buying games. The value shouldn't be in 15 year old games...it's in keeping users in your ecosystem. Plants vs Zombies should NOT cost 5 times as much on the Vita as it does on the iPhone. PSOne Classics need to get their prices cut. These games are over a decade old.

-Get more apps. There's a lot of potential. I got netflix on like 20 devices now. Skype is nice but the Vita needs more. Push that gorgeous screen and get some apps on it. Apps that don't close the current game so ADD players like myself can swap.

-Secure more games, faster. Ok. I took a gamble that MGS, ZoE and FFX would be phenominal. But there needs to be more coming to entice users to plunge. I agree this is an issue. Where's God of War? Gran Turismo? They took all that time to brag how assests from a PS3 version could be ported easily...well now it's time to wine and dine developers and convince them to invest in your console and that you're in it to win it. There's games that couldn't be done on iOS or 3DS that Sony should push on.
 
Great games, an aggressive price, and good support (i.e. competitive price w/ mini's/comparable type games) will move units. Always has.

As great as that sounds in your head in reality the number of people thinking that is probably fewer than you think.

I reluctantly agree.

A lot of delusional people here! Let's look at JUST Japan for a minute:

1st Quarter 2012 (Jan 1st through March 31st)

3DS: 1,240,445
Vita: 202,504

Vita sales have been abysmal. I eagerly await NPD today for the US figures.

Doesn't look good in the slightest. I doubt Sony will release NPD Vita numbers though.
 
This thread will be used to feed so much crow 1 year from today, hopefully not all of the doomed camp are banned by then.

What's your assumption that the "doomed" camp believes? That Vita will stop being sold within a year, stricken from the annals of history? Because I don't think anyone has said that in all seriousness.

What do you expect will cause the crow-eating? Do you mean that CoD will demonstrably save the Vita, or some other game we can point to as a turning point? Do you think that Vita will be beating the 3DS, or on track to soundly beat the PSP in every territory, or what?

Here's my prediction: Vita will get some decent games at E3 that will have many proclaiming that its fortunes have turned. A price drop will not happen this year, but some decent bundles might. This will not be enough to turn it around, and those promising E3 games (including Call of Duty) will only cause small bumps before returning the system to its normal sales rate. Regardless of whether a price drop happens or not, this is the significant part: by this time next year, Vita will have sold about 1.5 million in Japan and 5 million worldwide. Possibly as high as 5.5. There will be software on the horizon that fans will appreciate, but it will be in much the same situation as the PSP went through.

Now, what's your prediction, so we can look back in a year?
 
I think at this point, if Sony doesn't have a great showing at E3, third parties have written the PSV off for good, just like they did with Wii.
 
The system is just too much money, need something around the $150 mark, most people dont care about specs and all that jazz, they want something affordable with good games.
 

kuroshiki

Member
The system is just too much money, need something around the $150 mark, most people dont care about specs and all that jazz, they want something comfortable with good games.

Usually it is software that drives the desire to own the device. If softwares are just too good to ignore, wallet opens.
 

M_A_C

Member
I don't get why people think these numbers are so bad, especially with the all around horrible NPD's this year. With Madden and Call of Duty incoming, it will get a nice bump as well. I probably will get those on Vita even though I normally skip them on the consoles.
 
I don't get why people think these numbers are so bad, especially with the all around horrible NPD's this year. With Madden and Call of Duty incoming, it will get a nice bump as well. I probably will get those on Vita even though I normally skip them on the consoles.

I dont understand with COD,if it comes out wont mp be wifi only, so why not play console version, 3G cant run that and most people dont have 3G if it could.
 

smug

Banned
It's Sony that doesn't have a pulse.. crummy touch screen implementation (yet another ME TOO copy off of Nintendo) which really didn't add any needed functionality considering your friggin hand is in the way of the action.. Subscription based WiFi?? Really? Who is Sony in bed with on that side of the market? Proprietary memory cards which are a total RIP OFF. The list goes on and on and I don't care what anyways says, you CAN'T defend any of this trickery. Sony is less than half baked and I got the fork to end them. They have suffered long enough, at this point, it's nothing more than a mercy killing to me.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
They *should* be disappointed. They're up against heavy competition. What I personally would do:

-Crunch the numbers and see how much of a price drop could be done on the hardware. If it's not possible take the loss on 4gb Memory Cards and begin packing them in by default. "You mean I have to buy a game -and- a memory card! Fuck that"

This problem would not exist if the Vita took regular SD cards but noooo Sony had to shoehorn another of their redundant proprietary crapola.

Sorry, but I refuse to support that anymore.
 

Card Boy

Banned
I'm glad i didn't jump on board. Also a 3DS revision (with a second analogue stick) will be the nail in the coffin for the VITA at this stage if nothing megaton worthy is shown at E3.
 
Pack in mem cards will not sell units. Does anyone really think that is the thing the public is waiting for?

Good bundles might. Uncharted + system + 4 gig card for $250, that could help. But that's probably as much a loss for Sony as simply dropping the price to $200.

I'm glad i didn't jump on board. Also a 3DS revision (with a second analogue stick) will be the nail in the coffin for the VITA at this stage if nothing megaton worthy is shown at E3.

3DS revision with second stick could be a nail for 3DS, considering splitting the market is terrible and their existing users don't even have the capability to shore up the difference because CPP is not available anywhere.

Nintendo does not want two sticks to become standard at all, and honestly, it's of limited utility. One or two genres of games compared to tons more that have no use for it.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
Sony's games don't sell systems. What are they supposed to announce? They need third party support, and they aren't getting any.

Pretty sure these came with some HW purchases.

Gran Turismo (1997/1998)
10,850,000

Gran Turismo 2 (1999/2000)
9,370,000

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001)
14,890,000

Gran Turismo 4 (2005)
11,440,000

Gran Turismo (PSP)(2009)
3,610,000

Gran Turismo 5 (2010)
7,430,000

(not counting spin-offs)

Granted I took these numbers from Wikipedia so some of it may not be accurate, but I don't know where you guys get legitmate numbers from. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Turismo_(series)

Also God of War, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, and Infamous to name a few all seem to have sales in the millions from the information that I can see. I think (and maybe i'm wrong)misconception is that because Sony does not have an exclusive that sells like Mario, or Halo, or Gears, that their exlcusives don't move hardware. I think the reality of it is that despite not having that "It" game, it has a number of franchises that have proven to move their systems "together" combined with 3rd party support of course.

Sony just does not push any of their franchises as that it series for them except maybe Gran Turismo, but all of the friends that I have that game on Xbox want Halo, and Gears, but just about every friend that I have that owns a PS3 is interested in a different exclusive. Some GOW, some LBP, some GT, etc.

I think the key for Sony, as it's always been is getting a good "diverse" line-up onto the Vita, because if they can't get that one game that appeals to a mega ton of people, having multiple games that appeal to only alot is just as good imo, Or who knows, maybe i'm wrong and the Vita is already dead. Bring on E3.
 

Bebpo

Banned
They could have the best lineup in the universe and they'll still do bad unfortunately.


Need constant excellent software that appeals to mass audiences AND a price drop. Needs to be $199, especially since you gotta add in all the extra costs for memory sticks.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
So first we have people here honestly arguing that MH would do better on consoles and then someone made a bold prediction about all the crow eating us negative types would be doing next year.

This is above and beyond the people who actually think those numbers are good.

Man I like this thread a lot.

Vita has a serious identity issue and had its market gobbled up by Apple. Sony doesn't have the software that it can produce on demand to keep people happy. The system while a serious bit of kit is seen as overpriced by some and by others it is just looked upon as another PSP despite Sony doing its damnedest to rebrand it.
 
Ummmm, 3DS is crushing DS right now. (lifetime to this point) And 3DS has only one holiday, DS had two by the 14 month mark.

The DS did 87 million 2007-2009. That's not going to be repeated with the way smart phones and tablets have become ingrained in our culture.
 
Pretty sure these came with some HW purchases.

Granted I took these numbers from Wikipedia so some of it may not be accurate, but I don't know where you guys get legitmate numbers from. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Turismo_(series)

Also God of War, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, and Infamous to name a few all seem to have sales in the millions from the information that I can see. I think (and maybe i'm wrong)misconception is that because Sony does not have an exclusive that sells like Mario, or Halo, or Gears, that their exlcusives don't move hardware. I think the reality of it is that despite not having that "It" game, it has a number of franchises that have proven to move their systems "together" combined with 3rd party support of course.

But hardware didn't bump when those games came out. They aren't "system sellers". The last time the hardware got a bump with software was MGS4 and that wasn't even a first party game.
 
I'm optimistic about the Vita's future, and believe many talking down on its chances for success will adopt it down the line.

Edit: Also, no matter how you slice it, the 3DS was in dire straits for a period after launch. It will take better software than is available now, as well as more perceived value among consumers to change the Vita's current situation, but it can surely be accomplished.
 

DR2K

Banned
an exclusive GoW and/or Final Fantasy would do wonders. Didn't Crisis Core sell a shitload, even in the US? Now just imagine if it got an actual GOOD Final Fantasy!

An exclusive GoW is a obviously going to happen. The kind of FF you're talking about SE hasn't made in over a decade.
 
They could have the best lineup in the universe and they'll still do bad unfortunately.


Need constant excellent software that appeals to mass audiences AND a price drop. Needs to be $199, especially since you gotta add in all the extra costs for memory sticks.

I don't think this is quite the prescription for success.

What the Vita needs is a lineup of games that aren't possible on any other platform. Games that justify the existence of the hardware beyond graphical fidelity. Instead, many games that have say...touch-screen features...tend to feel tacked-on rather than essential experiences that make you want more just like it.

It needs an identity and it needs games that take advantage of the various hardware features. It really has none at the moment, let alone anything that makes a strong impression.

Trouble will be finding developers who are willing/able to make such games...who would take the risk of making them exclusively for the Vita. Especially with sales like these.


An exclusive GoW is a obviously going to happen. The kind of FF you're talking about SE hasn't made in over a decade.
I don't think an exclusive GoW would do a goddamn thing. It may pacify the existing user base, but people aren't going to run out and buy new hardware just to play GoW. Unless--again--it employs controls and experiences that simply couldn't have been done on the PS3+Sixaxis or Vita.
 
Dear Morons Running Sony,

Lower the price of PSP games on PSN so that people will actually view them as a viable alternative to new Vita games.
 

coldfoot

Banned
Only way to save Vita that I can think of is a Vitandroid phone with the PSPGo form factor.
But Sony won't do it and Vita is doomed to fail.
 

BigDug13

Member
I'm optimistic about the Vita's future, and believe many talking down on its chances for success will adopt it down the line.

Edit: Also, no matter how you slice it, the 3DS was in dire straits for a period after launch. It will take better software than is available now, as well as more perceived value among consumers to change the Vita's current situation, but it can surely be accomplished.

The 3DS in dire straits is not the same as Vita in dire straits. 3DS struggled when it had no competition. 3DS being overpriced did not push potential buyers to purchase a competing game system. Vita's struggle is in the face of coming out second in release schedule against a competitor who already corrected themselves and priced themselves to win. Being $100 more than the competition without factoring in mandatory memory purchase does push people towards the competing system.
 
Vita has a serious identity issue and had its market gobbled up by Apple

No. No. No.

Apple did with its iOS devices what Nintendo did with the Wii. It opened up gaming to a completely new audience that normally didn't game. No one is sitting at home debating between a multipurpose device and a dedicated handheld gaming console. I take both with me to work everyday. Apple opened up gaming to a fuck ton of new people and their low production values and prices keep the games coming in and that's fine. But to say Apple is gobbling up Vita's marketshare is rubbish. Sure, there's bound to be SOME overlap but it's no where near as bad. Apple just opened the market up. Sony didn't.

But 3DS sales prove there's room for handhelds.

The business man on the train flicking his finger to toss birds wasn't going to buy a Vita.
The grandma reading a book on her ipad wasn't going to buy a Vita.
The college kid playing Tetris *might* wasn't going to buy a Vita. He's not really into gaming and doesn't care for much except a 99c diversion for the bus ride.
 

Thoraxes

Member
No. No. No.

Apple did with its iOS devices what Nintendo did with the Wii. It opened up gaming to a completely new audience that normally didn't game. No one is sitting at home debating between a multipurpose device and a dedicated handheld gaming console. I take both with me to work everyday. Apple opened up gaming to a fuck ton of new people and their low production values and prices keep the games coming in and that's fine. But to say Apple is gobbling up Vita's marketshare is rubbish. Sure, there's bound to be SOME overlap but it's no where near as bad. Apple just opened the market up. Sony didn't.

But 3DS sales prove there's room for handhelds.

The business man on the train flicking his finger to toss birds wasn't going to buy a Vita.
The grandma reading a book on her ipad wasn't going to buy a Vita.
The college kid playing Tetris *might* wasn't going to buy a Vita. He's not really into gaming and doesn't care for much except a 99c diversion for the bus ride.
It proves there's room for the 3DS.
 
The 3DS in dire straits is not the same as Vita in dire straits. 3DS struggled when it had no competition. 3DS being overpriced did not push potential buyers to purchase a competing game system. Vita's struggle is in the face of coming out second in release schedule against a competitor who already corrected themselves and priced themselves to win. Being $100 more than the competition without factoring in mandatory memory purchase does push people towards the competing system.

Until I see a second analog stick on that console it most certainly has NOT corrected itself...

<Looks at Kid Icarus & MGS3 collecting dust on the shelf...sobs...>
 
I think the problems with drawing parallels to the 3DS initial launch are numerous. The biggest one is that the Vita wasn't out when the 3DS was struggling. The Vita has to try to succeed in a relatively stagnant market when one device is already doing quite well.

Bottom line, Vita needs to pick it up fast. If sales like this continue, 3rd parties are going to have little incentive (short of moneyhatting) to put significant resources into the system.
 
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