Sony Euro boss: Japanese Vita sales not indicative of international reception [Joysti

[DP ServBot]

Sony Europe president and CEO Jim Ryan isn't worried about the success of PlayStation Vita the US or Europe, despite quickly dwindling sales in Japan, reports MCV. Judging the potential international success of any product based on Japanese reception is difficult, said Ryan. Specifically in regards to PlayStation hardware, Ryan believes it is "dangerous to the point of impossible to take any experience from the Japanese market and try and extrapolate it, and propose upon what will happen in Europe or North America."

The various international markets are simply too different, said Ryan, and they are "diverging to a greater extent than they were different in the past - if that's even possible." Ryan makes a good point, but it's worth noting that Japan has long been one of the most enthusiastic markets for the PSP, the Vita's predecessor. It will be interesting to see the reaction in Europe and North America, where the reception of Sony's handhelds has been somewhat cooler.

For now, Ryan and Sony are chiefly concerned with preparing for the Vita's European launch on February 22. The Vita will release in North America on the same day.Sony Euro boss: Japanese Vita sales not indicative of international reception originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[ProgrammingAce]

Strangely, i agree with one of the senior execs at Sony... feels dirty.

Japanese sales have always been a poor predictor for other markets. Unfortunately for Sony, it's historically been in the other direction. Things that sell incredibly well in Japan tend not to do as well in the west. In this case, I think the Vita was designed by Japanese engineers to appeal to Japanese consumers, and it hasn't done that so far.

Generally, electronics that are designed to appeal to the japanese tend to do poorly in the west. So we'll see how it goes. I can say that I was very interested in buying a Vita at one point, but lost interest when i found out about some of the stupider decisions they made in the design.

[Bojay1997]

Strangely, i agree with one of the senior execs at Sony... feels dirty.

Japanese sales have always been a poor predictor for other markets. Unfortunately for Sony, it's historically been in the other direction. Things that sell incredibly well in Japan tend not to do as well in the west. In this case, I think the Vita was designed by Japanese engineers to appeal to Japanese consumers, and it hasn't done that so far.

Generally, electronics that are designed to appeal to the japanese tend to do poorly in the west. So we'll see how it goes. I can say that I was very interested in buying a Vita at one point, but lost interest when i found out about some of the stupider decisions they made in the design.

I don't know, I don't think the Vita is any more tailored to Japanese tastes than the original PSP was. I don't think there are really particular designs that appeal to certain cultures more than others as the iPad and iPhone have shown with global success. I know that was always the argument with the Xbox and 360, but I think not understanding the market and not having developers on board with the top franchises really hurt those systems rather than their specific designs. I think the Vita's price (including the games and mandatory memory card), the generally poor global economy and frankly the widespread availability of low cost alternatives to handhelds in the form of iPad/iPod games, smartphone games, etc...are what have impacted sales more than anything. Time will tell, but I think Sony is in for a rude awakening in the US and Europe given the pricing right now.

[kupomogli]

At first you'd think it'd be a smart move for Sony to launch in Japan first, but it's like Sony is pulling a Sega Saturn(not quite as bad, but sort of. Saturn was more like. Surprise!!!!) Almost every title in the Japanese launch line up is either developed by a western developer, which rarely ever sells well in Japan, or aimed towards the western audience(It's Ridge Racer. Riiidge Raaaccer!!)

Releasing Vita in Japan against such a strong Nintendo line up and very few games that the Japanese are interested in of course it's not going to sell well. This in turn is going to hurt the sales in other countries. You'd assume poor sales in one area would be poor sales in another so it will put you off in buying it.

Either Sony should have released the Vita in the west first, which is where the line up was aimed for. Or they should have held off and released the Vita in all major regions at once. If they released it in all regions, this would have made it so the Japanese didn't think they were being snubbed after supporting the PSP well, this would have given more time for other games to be closer to development, so more Japanese themed titles would be released in the near future, and the weak sales in Japan wouldn't have mattered to western gamers because they'd see the higher sales in all other regions.

[Bojay1997]

At first you'd think it'd be a smart move for Sony to launch in Japan first, but it's like Sony is pulling a Sega Saturn(not quite as bad, but sort of. Saturn was more like. Surprise!!!!) Almost every title in the Japanese launch line up is either developed by a western developer, which rarely ever sells well in Japan, or aimed towards the western audience(It's Ridge Racer. Riiidge Raaaccer!!)

Releasing Vita in Japan against such a strong Nintendo line up and very few games that the Japanese are interested in of course it's not going to sell well. This in turn is going to hurt the sales in other countries. You'd assume poor sales in one area would be poor sales in another so it will put you off in buying it.

Either Sony should have released the Vita in the west first, which is where the line up was aimed for. Or they should have held off and released the Vita in all major regions at once. If they released it in all regions, this would have made it so the Japanese didn't think they were being snubbed after supporting the PSP well, this would have given more time for other games to be closer to development, so more Japanese themed titles would be released in the near future, and the weak sales in Japan wouldn't have mattered to western gamers because they'd see the higher sales in all other regions.

I'm sorry, but which titles are you referring to as "western" titles? Of the Japanese launch titles, almost all of them are from Japanese developers and some are part of massively successful Japanese series such as Ninja Gaiden, Dynasty Warriors, Shinobido, Everybody Loves Golf, Blazblue, Katamari, Ridge Racer, etc...In fact, the only "western" style game in the Japanese launch line-up seemed to be Uncharted. The launch titles were all pretty Japanese centric IMHO and while I love the niche aspect of the games and consider it a plus, I think it might turn off western buyers looking for something better known or more familiar, especially since with the exception of some Ubisoft titles already available on other platforms, the US launch stuff is pretty similar to the Japanese launch titles. Is your whole argument really just another way of saying that they needed Monster Hunter as a launch title which is what has really propelled 3DS sales in Japan along with the price cut?

[kupomogli]

My mistake. A lot of websites were listing all the Sony games under the Japanese launch line up. Still there's more than just Uncharted that launched in Japan. F1, Uncharted, Little Deviants, Michael Jackson, Dungeon Hunter Alliance, and Asphalt are the Japanese launch titles. Out of 18 titles, that's still one third.

Regardless. It doesn't help that Sony released the Vita the month that the three biggest titles hit the 3DS with a weak Japanese launch.

Ninja Gaiden

This wasn't a launch title.

[duffmanth]

I still think the US and European launches for the Vita will net the same result as the Japanese launch. You'll have your early adopters and hardcore gamers picking it up day one or within the first few days. Then, it'll probably trail off for a while until the price of the system and memory cards drop, and when some good AAA games start coming out. I'll probably get one eventually, when you can buy cheap used memory cards and there are some games actually worth buying other than Uncharted.

[WCP]

When it first got announced that Vita would be launching only in Japan in December 2011, I said that I felt that it was a mistake that they picked Japan. A couple of people said I was crazy. They said that Japan has supported the PSP much more than any other audience, and that it made sense to launch in a place in which you are guaranteed to have success. I vehemently disagreed with that notion. I was thinking that launching in Japan was actually the worst possible decision, BECAUSE of the success of the original PSP. Japan is happy with the current PSP, and they weren't clamoring for something like the Vita. I thought that launching in North America first made more sense, because PSP was pretty much a failure in North America, and we don't have very many people here that are perfectly content with their current PSP's. The Vita, being given a whole new name and everything, could have gotten off to a great start had it came to North America first.

I think that it mostly was a "pride" thing, by the Japanese leadership within Sony. Launching in a foreign territory first, no matter how logical, wasn't going to fly. So, now they reap what they sow. The Vita could have been this years version of "Kinect", which was the hot Xmas item late 2010. Instead, the 3DS ended up selling very well during the Xmas season, and now the Vita will have to hope that it can catch up to Nintendo's head start. I was super positive about the Vita, and I really wanted to buy one, but with all of this doom and gloom news, I think it would be a bad idea to buy a Vita at launch, because I think a huge pricedrop is pretty much guaranteed within about the first 9 months or so, because I don't think it's going to sell very well. There are lots of things stacked up against it now. The whole memory card thing, the price of the games. The battery life. With the way everything is priced with the Vita, it will be very difficult for somebody not to spend nearly $350 just to have the thing up and running with a decent sized memory card and a game. That's just way too much money for a portable game system, that isn't exactly very portable (I've heard the thing is really huge).

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this whole thing plays itself out.

[Leo_A]

My mistake. A lot of websites were listing all the Sony games under the Japanese launch line up. Still there's more than just Uncharted that launched in Japan. F1... Out of 18 titles, that's still one third.

F1 is a much bigger deal in Japan than it is in the United States. While it may be developed by a Western developer (Sumo Digital for Codemasters) and will probably sell more copies in Europe, it's still going to be an appealing product for Japanese. So I don't see it serving as an example of a Western oriented game that won't have mass appeal in Japan.

[kupomogli]

When it first got announced that Vita would be launching only in Japan in December 2011, I said that I felt that it was a mistake that they picked Japan. A couple of people said I was crazy.

I was one that thought Japan being released first would have been a good idea.

There are lots of things stacked up against it now. The whole memory card thing, the price of the games. The battery life. With the way everything is priced with the Vita, it will be very difficult for somebody not to spend nearly $350 just to have the thing up and running with a decent sized memory card and a game. That's just way too much money for a portable game system, that isn't exactly very portable (I've heard the thing is really huge).

A lot of misconception in this paragraph. Infact, it's a lot of general misconception because everywhere you hear every complaint you listed blown up larger than it is.

The battery life is just under the PSP. According to most sources, the average Vita battery life is over five hours(which is only slightly under the PSP or PSP Slim using the original battery size.) However, there is one Japanese gamer that did a battery test with the Vita, 3DS, and Monster Hunter Slim PSP with all the systems highest settings. The 3DS comes across at two hours and 35 minutes while the Vita comes across at three hours and 47 minutes. Obviously the highest settings aren't always going to be used, which is why both systems are sure to get more battery life. Even without all the settings to the max, the 3DS lasts three to four hours anyways, which is far below the average five hour Vita life described by multiple sources and right there with the Vita at max settings.

Despite what you may have heard on the internets, all games are not $50. On the CAGCast, I think it was Wombat who was saying you're spending a minimum of $320 with a $50 game and a $20 memory card. IGN mentioned the games are all $50 in their Vita review, and plenty of other sites. There is one game that is $50. That's Uncharted. Most other games are $40, but there are a few that are $30. Apparently they're even cheaper if you get the digital versions. From what I've heard, all Vita games will release digitally the same day as the physical releases. People hear $50 and assume every game is $50 without doing any research for themselves. Maybe that's in Sony's favor, because they go to the store day one and see the prices are much lower and then buy more? Probably not.

And last, not being portable. The system isn't that much bigger than the PSP. Have you seen a comparison? PSP is 4", Vita is 5". Screen size is always measured diagonally, so it increases height and width, not just width.

[The 1 2 P]

I think that the Vita is going to be another slow starter, just like the 3DS was.

[WCP]

I think that the Vita is going to be another slow starter, just like the 3DS was.

Yep. I would imagine that the first weeks sales will be decent, because there are enough gadget junkies that will jump on it immediately, but after that I expect a precipitous drop in sales in the weeks to follow. Sony will probably announce at e3 that they are lowering the price to $199.99 and including a 4GB memory card and a voucher for "Little Deviants". Certainly a price drop just 3 months and about 3 weeks after the launch would seem a very drastic measure to take so early, but I honestly wouldn't be shocked by it. If that isn't announced at e3, then I would guess it will be a late August / early September announcement.

So, for those that have patience, wait at least till e3 before buying your Vita's cause a price drop and better bundle are surely to come sooner rather than later....

[moggles]

At first you'd think it'd be a smart move for Sony to launch in Japan first, but it's like Sony is pulling a Sega Saturn(not quite as bad, but sort of. Saturn was more like. Surprise!!!!) Almost every title in the Japanese launch line up is either developed by a western developer, which rarely ever sells well in Japan, or aimed towards the western audience(It's Ridge Racer. Riiidge Raaaccer!!)

Releasing Vita in Japan against such a strong Nintendo line up and very few games that the Japanese are interested in of course it's not going to sell well. This in turn is going to hurt the sales in other countries. You'd assume poor sales in one area would be poor sales in another so it will put you off in buying it.

Either Sony should have released the Vita in the west first, which is where the line up was aimed for. Or they should have held off and released the Vita in all major regions at once. If they released it in all regions, this would have made it so the Japanese didn't think they were being snubbed after supporting the PSP well, this would have given more time for other games to be closer to development, so more Japanese themed titles would be released in the near future, and the weak sales in Japan wouldn't have mattered to western gamers because they'd see the higher sales in all other regions.

You're completely right, the title line-up has no appeal for the Japanese market. Games like Uncharted and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 are not likely to do well in Japan, they're clearly catered more towards the US.

It doesn't offer enough to make people want to upgrade from their PSPs - at least that is the case at the moment.

[Leo_A]

Most of the lineup of games are entries in series or genres that have been very popular in Japan. Only Uncharted and a couple of others will perhaps be underperformers in Japan.

[moggles]

Most of the lineup of games are entries in series or genres that have been very popular in Japan. Only Uncharted and a couple of others will perhaps be underperformers in Japan.

There is not a single game that has been released up to now that will perform well. Not one.
They're either more suited to Western tastes or watered down versions of PS3 games.

The lack of TV advertising is a problem too, I am still yet to see to one!
Tsutaya in Shibuya (my most frequented Tsutaya) has dedicated most of it's back wall to the Vita, but it doesn't seem to be getting all that much interest other than nerds hogging the demo model.

The Vita desperately needs some better software, the current line-up isn't all that appealing. People don't want a portable PS3. Until there are games that fully take advantage of the rear panel, I can't see demand increasing. The marketing is quite lame as well, your average Joe doesn't know that it has a touch screen and rear touch panel, it seems that Sony just assumes people know all about it already.

I'm on vacation in England for a couple of weeks, but I'll probably pick a Vita up when I go back to Japan - but that's because I'm a gamer nerd. Can't see it being a mainstream success at the moment, some serious changes in marketing need to be made.

[Graham Mitchell]

Honestly, I preordered one because Escape Plan looked amazing, and really looks like it's going to take advantage of all the control features, but it's release date is uncertain. Gravity rush looked cool too, but same story.

When I look at the currently planned launch titles, there's nothing that looks that amazing (I don't care for Uncharted and I won't be buying it.) I don't know if I'll actually buy any games.

However, I don't regret buying the 3DS at launch. The Ambassador program is actually pretty cool, and I've really enjoyed a lot of the games that came in it. And, of course, Nintendo's current 3DS retail lineup is awesome. So, it'll just take some time. The DS floundered for almost a year after release and look at it now?

Thing is, though, if it were up to me, I wouldn't release a console until there were 3 or 4 definite gems available on the release date. The SNES did it right, I think, but nothing has compared to that launch ever since. Maybe N64, but there was only 1 decent game, not 3.

[Bojay1997]

There is not a single game that has been released up to now that will perform well. Not one.
They're either more suited to Western tastes or watered down versions of PS3 games.

I'm sorry, but this can't possibly be accurate. As I pointed out earlier, many of the Japanese launch titles are from established Japanese developers and have been huge sellers in Japan on other platforms. Even Uncharted 3 sold pretty well in Japan, taking second place on the chart in its debut week, so it appears at least some Japanese gamers like the franchise. There is something well beyond the software mix at play in Japan and we are less than a month away from seeing how it does here.

[swlovinist]

I said it before and will say it again...Sony should have launched the Vita this holiday here in the US. The system looks wonderful, but the pricing is all wrong. I think if they will have to offer a price drop here in the US for the system to have a chance. Sony really has just lost it way when it comes to marketing their systems. I eventually want to get the system....but I will wait for probably a year for the library to grow and system to drop in price. I dont think it will do well initially, but predict that it will hopefully be like the PSP and stick around awhile once Sony realizes that their portable system is too expensive.

[WCP]

I said it before and will say it again...Sony should have launched the Vita this holiday here in the US. The system looks wonderful, but the pricing is all wrong. I think if they will have to offer a price drop here in the US for the system to have a chance. Sony really has just lost it way when it comes to marketing their systems. I eventually want to get the system....but I will wait for probably a year for the library to grow and system to drop in price. I dont think it will do well initially, but predict that it will hopefully be like the PSP and stick around awhile once Sony realizes that their portable system is too expensive.

I'm tempted to buy a Vita, because some of the games I have seen look truly amazing. I was watching a video of a guy playing Fifa on the Vita, and it looked like he was playing a portable PS3. Somebody said they aren't looking for a portable PS3, but I know that I would love such a thing. Problem is, the price is just way too high for me at this point. Really, it's more a situation of the price of the games. What use is the system going to be for me with the price of the individual games so freaking high? That's my biggest problem with both the 3DS and the Vita. $39.99 and $49.99 for games is just too damn spensive if you ask me. Of course, I'm the cheap ass gamer type. I try to get away with paying as little cache as possible.


We did get our kid a 3DS for Xmas, but it was his Grandma that bought Mario 3D land for full price. I got him Pilotwings, Steel Diver and Nintendogs for $5 each via that Best Buy clearance deal. He wants Mario Kart, but no way in hell I"m paying $39.99 for that. I'll have to wait for some special deal, or maybe he will get it as an Easter gift or something. We had a Blockbuster rental plan, but recently cancelled it. I would have kept it if they rented 3DS games, but the one near us doesn't have any 3DS games at all.

Now that I've switched over to playing my games on the PC, I pretty much get all my games for like $5 or $8 or maybe even $10. This is for some really prime time type games too. Yeah, they might be older, but we are talking top of the line. But with these handheld systems, unless the download versions of the games are half price, I just can't see myself buying games for $39.99 for a portable. I mean, if I did get the system, sure, I'd buy one or two games, just so I had something to play on the thing, but no way would it be a regular occurance, unless I found some games on a huge sale or something, which just doesn't seem very likely.

[Edmond Dantes]

Is the Vita backwards-comptable with PSP games, and can it play UMD movies? To me, that would be a huge plus.