14 DAY TRIAL // For the fiscal year that ended on March 31, Sony has reported that the newly introduced PlayStation Vita has sold 1.8 million devices all over the world, with 1.2 million of them moved before March 1 in the United States, Asia and Europe.
Kauzo Hirai, who is the current president and chief executive officer of Sony, stated, “For a game platform, like Vita, the software is the key to success - how good the software is, that is the key to business success. We have to reinforce the software area in order to improve the business, that is the basic line.”
He added, “Vis-a-vis Vita, at this moment, there is no decline or lack of motivation as a portable platform. This is a very important product indeed for us, and therefore we still have a very high motivation to develop this further. There is no change.”
The executive has admitted that the software and the services linked to the PlayStation Vita can be upgraded in the coming months and it seems that Sony is looking to third-party studios mainly when it comes to new content.
The company also estimates that it will sell 10 million PlayStation Vita handhelds during its current fiscal year, which will end on March 31, 2013.
Given the pace of sales so far, this probably means that Sony has plans to introduce a price cut which will make the gaming platform more attractive or that it will boost sales through some other means, including promotions or bundles.
The company has announced that it will launch a new version of the Vita, the Crystal White, in Japan, where sales have been particularly poor, with the device dropping under 10,000 units moved to players just as the rival Nintendo 3DS is close to 100,000.
Sony has posted worse than expected results for the fiscal year and has seen worse sales that expected for PlayStation branded devices.