14 DAY TRIAL // Kaz Hirai, who is the leader of the consumer products division at video game publisher and hardware developer Sony, has officially announced that, at the moment, the sales numbers for new the PlayStation Vita handheld stand at just over 500,000.
This is the exact number of devices that Sony has shipped to retail chains in Japan before the launch of the device, which took place on December 17 of last year.
Months before the handheld was actually out a number of retailers in the country refused to take any more pre-orders for it, fearing that Sony would not be able to supply the necessary devices.
Analysts also predicted that the device would sell close to 1 million units before the end of 2011 in Japan, with some fearing that the company will not have enough devices for the United States and the European launch.
But the Vita performed worse than expected during its first week on sale and has since then lost even more sales, moving less units that the older version of the PlayStation Portable.
The Vita is position by Sony as a hardcore gaming device that is better than smartphones or the Nintendo 3DS at delivering experiences for true gamers.
The PlayStation Vita will be launched on Western markets in late February of this year and Sony plans to deliver the same two basic versions as in Japan, one with 3G and one which only uses Wi-Fi.
Analysts are predicting that the handheld will perform better on Western markets and that Sony will soon cut it price and unveil a number of new high profile title in an effort to move more devices.
The Nintendo 3DS handheld also performed worse than expected during its first few months and only rebounded once it got a price cut and received high profile games like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7.