14 DAY TRIAL // The newly launched PlayStation Vita handheld from Sony has performed worse than expected in its second week on sale on the Japanese market, just as the Nintendo 3DS, its chief rival, has continue to have the best sales period of the year.
The 3DS has managed to sell 482,200 units during the week that ended on December 25, according to the chart compiled by Media Create, increasing its numbers significantly from a previous week total of 367,691, which was also record breaking.
Second place in the hardware chart was picked up by the old PlayStation Portable handheld, which also managed to post a solid increase in sales, from 64,468 to 101,121 units, while the Nintendo Wii has managed the rare feat of getting on the last place on the podium, with sales that evolved from 60,916 to 91,176.
The PlayStation 3 home console also delivered an increase in sales to 75,943 and even it performed better than the PlayStation Vita, which only moved 72,479 devices to gamers, a very sharp drop from the 324,859 it managed during its launch week.
Sony is thought to have initially shipped about 500,000 Vita handhelds to retailers and overall sales so far are well below that number.
Meanwhile, the Nintendo 3DS has pushed its Japanese sales total over the 4 million mark.
The older DS line sold more than 10,000 for the first time in quite some time, beating the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 2.
It is not clear what Sony can do in order to push PlayStation Vita higher, short of cutting the price of the associated video games or putting together some creative and attractive bundles.
The Vita is set to launch on Western markets in late February of 2012.
Sony might also be considering a price cut for the Vita, but some time needs to pass before it can be put into effect without destroying confidence in the fortunes of the device.