Global 2nd March Up

[Dodece]

Actually it is far more likely that the Vita is being over tracked in North America then it is being under tracked. The reasoning being fairly simple. This site probable treats market penetration as a constant. Rather then a variable, and that is fine for most everything. If a store sells game console and games. They undoubtedly carry Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo consoles on their shelves. Those things are just assumed to have maximum exposure to the market. That isn't the case with the Vita, and it hasn't been the case for quite some time.

The reality is that a lot of retailers don't sell the product line anymore, or are in the process of discontinuing the product line in the near future. Usually they are just waiting to sell their last couple units, and have no intention at all of replacing them. So as a matter of deductive logic. The longer things go on the fewer the sales should in fact be for the portable.

The majority of retail sales still take place at physical locations, and if it just isn't available in a lot of places those sales just cannot take place. I am not suggesting that the product cannot be acquired through a little extra driving time, or that people cannot order the device online. Just that there are now even more obstacles between them, and a purchase. First they have to put more effort into acquiring one, and second the unavailability itself reflects very poorly on the product.

I suspect the reason Sony isn't dropping the price of the product in North America. Is that they don't want to clearance their own product out of stores. It is kind of a vicious circle they have worked themselves into in this particular market. Where their primary contact with consumers is big box retailers. They need extraordinary software sales to justify the Vita to these retailers, but they cannot get those sales unless they sell more hardware. If they reduce the price of the Vita. These retailers will take the opportunity to bail on the platform.

I honestly don't see how Sony can extricate themselves from this predicament. A little voice in the back of my head is telling me maybe they have no intention of staying regardless. Maybe the reason they are maintaining the price point is that they know they can't survive, and want to eek out of every penny they can before they drop out. I have said it before, and I still think I am right about this. Sony sailed right past the point of no return at least in the American marketplace. They needed a price cut for the Vita in the fall of last year.