Sony has sold 1.2 million PS Vitas worldwide, a promising start for the gigantic handheld console. It's just over two months since the Vita went on sale in Japan, and a week since us Brits were able to pop to our local games emporium and pick one up.
There's no knowing how much we contributed to the total sales, as Sony didn't break down the figures by region. But it did acknowledge the European and US launches helped the Vita "exceed expectations". It's still early days, but maybe smart phones haven't killed the handheld console after all.
The Vita touched down in the UK last week, with Asda undercutting everyone else, charging just £197 for the Wi-Fi-only version. A 21-year-old from Uxbridge was the first Brit to pick one up. It went on sale in Japan just before Christmas, and shifted 321,400 units in the first two days -- though that lagged somewhat behind the Nintendo 3DS, which managed 370,000 in its first 48 hours.
Is 1 million units (and counting) enough? Game studios are famously conservative, requiring what they see as guaranteed sales of millions of copies before they'll commit to the huge expense of producing a game. With 60 million PS3s sold, that's a massive user base to sell games to.
Let's say the Vita sells 5 million this year -- that's great, but it's still a pretty niche system. So we're likely to see a lot of ports of games already created for the home consoles. And if you've bought a £40 game for your PS3, are you going to buy the same one for £30 on your Vita?
The Vita's Japanese launch was marred with some faulty hardware, with some consoles having stains on the screens, and others refusing to boot. The UK launch was relatively glitch-free, though there is a slight software issue. And the Facebook app was pulled, but that was Facebook's fault, according to Sony.
The Vita packs a 5-inch touchscreen, but there's a touch panel on the back, which adds even more controls. That's along with the screen, two thumb sticks, buttons and a d-pad. It is pretty large compared to phones though, and games are a lot more expensive. The battery isn't brilliant either. You can also stream PlayStation 3 games to the Vita without switching on the TV, though they won't be the full versions.
Did you buy a PS Vita? What do you make of it? Do you think it'll sell enough to make it a vibrant games platform? Let me know in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 10
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pablouk1 29 February, 2012 13:38
Why, its pointless
anonymous 29 February, 2012 13:41
I got a Vita 3G launch days and I love it, even though its prone to error messages at the moment, wifi drops to save battery life but then sometimes gives issues if it doesn't reconnect quickly enough, even though its attached to 3G so in theory no internet down time.
Battery life is closer to 3 hours max, with wi-fi/3g on, brightness to minimum, sound half and Bluetooth off. But thats currently fine for my gaming needs (a battery pack will do for long trips).
Game streaming does NOT work between PS Vita and PS3, if you want PS3 games you have to load your PS3 up. Some PSOne games may work via remote play, this is not the same thing though.
Once Sony fix the game streaming issue, and remove the crazy 20mb download limit (or at least make it a switchable option, let it be my choice how much data i download) they'll have the killer device of 2012 and beyond. If they can make games stream reasonably well from PS3 to Vita over 3G then Sony will become a must have device for any PS3 owner who doesn't get much time at home.
I'll do my own comparison of how popular I think Vita is compared to 3DS. Both have a social meeting app in the form of Street Pass/Near. In the almost year I've owned a 3DS I've "met" about a dozen other players "Street pass hit". Since getting the Vita 3G a week ago I've had about double that many "Near Hits". Plus interacting with friends on Vita is far superior to 3DS, decent messaging, group chat and voice chat. 3DS has letters, which is pure kiddy messaging. You can send out a group message and recieve replies, but then you can't carry on a conversation, you have to create a whole new "letter". This is a weak attempt at social interaction by Nintendo quite frankly.
3DS will win the portable Console war from a volume point of view, they just target so many audiences, kids, parents who want their kids to play "kiddie friendly" games, adults who like Kiddie friendly games like Mario Kart (i'm not saying they can't also be fiendishly difficult and engrossing). Whereas Sony has targeted the hard core gamer market, probably male, likely aged between 18 - 45. That said they could broaden that audience if they release some more kid friendly games, skype app, decent media streaming (if you can do it between a PS3 then why not a Sony Laptop, and then why not any PC based setup).
anonymous 29 February, 2012 13:46
Re:pablouk1
"Why, its pointless" I take it your referring to your comments?
If you think Sony releasing a competitor to Nintendo being pointless, well with that attitude you've probably got a Gameboy Classic and complaint that Nintendo don't make any games for it anymore and refuse to buy any of these new fangled (it'll never catch on) colour gaming systems. If we had no competition in the gaming market we'd still be in the 70's playing Pong on an Atari 2600, oh yeah and Nintendo would be making playing cards....
Alistair Lowe 29 February, 2012 23:52
The content looks strong but Sony can charge either a lot for the console or a lot for the games but not both. I can't spend £279 on a Vita to then have to shell out £30+ for every game.
anonymous 1 March, 2012 01:24
I play kiddie games on my 3DS all the time, Resident Evil: Revelations, Metal Gear solid: Snake Eater, Monster Hunter 3G (when it's released in the west), Dead or Alive, Tales of the Abyss, And don't get me started on all the other kiddie games coming out I plan on getting like Heroes of Ruin, Spirit Camera and the 999 sequal. Though I do hope the Vita does well and I am sure it will be as sucessful as the PSP and Game Gear I am a bit confused... Didn't the 3DS sell 3.5 million units in the same timeframe as the vita sold 1.2 million world wide and the 3DS still had a price drop.
anonymous 1 March, 2012 02:47
I bought my vita 3G from a US Navy Exchange store and I bought it with the specific intent of using the Skype app as my cell phone because Skype is so damn cheap compared to most other cellular devices, I enjoy serious gaming too. I been a Metal Gear fan for a long time and I even bought a Metal Gear Peace Walker Special edition PSP and Im upset that Sony doesnt have Peace Walker or the Metal Gear HD Collection in the Playstation store yet. Also not every PS Vita game is going to be 30 Euros or 50 bucks, I bought Hustle Kings Billiards for the Vita for 10 dollars. It all depends on what you like to play and what they expect will be the most sought after in the way of titles. I really enjoyed the demos for Unit 13 (made by the SOCOM US NAVY SEALS devs.) and Asphalt Injection.
anonymous 1 March, 2012 10:02
I'll tell you what's pointless, the 3DS is the biggest suck trash in the universe, I'm complete happy with my PS VITA!
anonymous 1 March, 2012 21:38
I got a Vita on launch and downloaded like 3 games and need a new memory card now :( I wish they would come out with a 512 gb and a terrbyte card already!!
Naryan 2 March, 2012 10:12
I don't want one, but it really is awesome.
It seems people in Japan really don't want anything Sony, regardless of how good it is. All they want is Nintendo, regardless of how asinine it is.
anonymous 3 April, 2012 19:58
i got a 8 gig card and i have 5 games downoaded plus 3 vits games and i still have over 6 gigs left but the 8 gig card was 40 bucks so it was kinda pricy but worth it and i also plan on getting a 32 plus for misic