Sony May Soon Be Forced To Drop Price Of PS Vita

Victor D'Angelo Jr. • Jan 25, 2012 • Comments ()

The Sony PS Vita launched in Japan back in December and came storming out of the gates, selling at a very high rate.

As a matter of fact, in the first week of release, Sony managed to sell nearly 325,000 units of the PS Vita in Japan.

This seemed like great news at first heading to Christmas and beyond, but the news would quickly turn sour for the gaming juggernaut known for the PlayStation brand.

Week two sales were released for the PS Vita shortly after, and revealed that the next-gen handheld only managed to sell roughly 72,000 units in its second week of release.

This was not good news for Sony, as it showed that the early adopters, the hardcore fans, picked up the handheld, and the demand from mainstream consumers may not have been where Sony wanted it to be at launch in Japan.

Things have since taken a turn for the worse, as weeks three and four of the PS Vita release saw sales of roughly 43,000 units respectively for both of those weeks. Since then, the PS Vita has not managed to break more than 20,000 units sold in any of the subsequent weeks.

To put it into perspective, the original Sony PSP actually outsold the PS Vita in the most recent week of sales, and it is expected that this trend may continue.

WIth the PS Vita set to release in the U.S. on February 22, 2012, the belief is that this trend may continue in the U.S. as well.

The launch of the PS Vita will likely go over big, but what happens in the following weeks could be a clone of the sales pattern in Japan.

This was a similar issue to what Nintendo ran into shortly after the release of the Nintendo 3DS handheld, and they were forced to quickly drop the price of the handheld.

Based on these latest sales numbers, one would have to expect that Sony may have to do the same.

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Sony is getting very close to the point where they have to make some key decisions as to where they want to go with their new next-generation handheld, the PS Vita. This is due to the fact that the new handheld has not been received well in Japan.\n\nThe Sony PS Vita launched in Japan back in December and came storming out of the gates, selling at a very high rate.\n\nAs a matter of fact, in the first week of release, Sony managed to sell nearly 325,000 units of the PS Vita in Japan.\n\nThis seemed like great news at first heading to Christmas and beyond, but the news would quickly turn sour for the gaming juggernaut known for the PlayStation brand.\n\nWeek two sales were released for the PS Vita shortly after, and revealed that the next-gen handheld only managed to sell roughly 72,000 units in its second week of release.\n\nThis was not good news for Sony, as it showed that the early adopters, the hardcore fans, picked up the handheld, and the demand from mainstream consumers may not have been where Sony wanted it to be at launch in Japan.\n\nThings have since taken a turn for the worse, as weeks three and four of the PS Vita release saw sales of roughly 43,000 units respectively for both of those weeks. Since then, the PS Vita has not managed to break more than 20,000 units sold in any of the subsequent weeks.\n\nTo put it into perspective, the original Sony PSP actually outsold the PS Vita in the most recent week of sales, and it is expected that this trend may continue.\n\nWIth the PS Vita set to release in the U.S. on February 22, 2012, the belief is that this trend may continue in the U.S. as well.\n\nThe launch of the PS Vita will likely go over big, but what happens in the following weeks could be a clone of the sales pattern in Japan.\n\nThis was a similar issue to what Nintendo ran into shortly after the release of the Nintendo 3DS handheld, and they were forced to quickly drop the price of the handheld.\n\nBased on these latest sales numbers, one would have to expect that Sony may have to do the same.