Leaked reports from the NPD Group (a market research company covering, among other industries, the video games market) indicate that the Vita has sold about 33’000 units last month in the US, as reported by ArsTechnica.
By comparison, the 3DS reportedly sold about 7 times this amount.
More importantly, ArsTechnica mentions that the Vita has sold about 1 million units in the US since its launch a bit more than 1 year ago. And to give you a sense of perspective, its older sister the original PSP sold 1.12 million units in the US in the month of December 2005 alone. Yup, back then, the PSP sold more in one good month than the Vita did in one year. Ouch?
Similarly, the sales of the Wii U in the US are disappointing for Nintendo, the Wii U selling only half as much as the N64 and the Wii did in their respective 5 first months. Arstechnica notes however that the Wii U is selling roughly a well as the XBox360 and the PS3 did back in their first five months on the market.
Sony hasn’t officially announced any price cut for the Vita in the US yet, but it might be one of the only remaining strategies moving forward… unless their plan is to rely on PS4 sales at the end of the year to boost PS Vita sales.
Will the Vita be Sony’s last portable console? In 2018, when troll gamers tell you piracy killed the Vita, kindly point them to this article, written at a time when the Vita has not been cracked yet.
Source 2ch via ArsTechnica and Neogaf
