IGN

Sony's new handheld isn't living up to sales expectations. But why?

"Here I was, holding an electronic device that virtually no one in the United States has yet, and folks around me were more interested in their iPads."

"Yet, the perfect storm that's brewing around Sony's new handheld goes far beyond consumer recognition of a yet-to-be-released piece of hardware. Much of the reason Vita is starting to sink already has to do with a factor I certainly shoved aside in my own pre-release analysis of Vita: Nintendo. With 3DS floundering for most of its short life, Nintendo seemed to be the least of Sony's concern moving forward. But Nintendo pulled off a rather ingenious coup on the Japanese portable market mere weeks before Vita was released. It released two Mario games on 3DS as well as a Monster Hunter title, and sat back and watched as 3DS, like the DS before it, printed money.

Torn between the fairly consistent awesomeness of Nintendo's first party offerings and something more unpredictable, unknown and expensive, it seems that Japanese consumers went to Nintendo in droves. And that trend is happening worldwide, boding ill for Vita's prospects in Europe and North America. Yet, PlayStation Vita has games, too. Indeed, Vita's future lineup looks much more promising than 3DS', so if Nintendo is indeed a factor in the perfect storm -- and I think that it is -- its effect should only be ephemeral. Unless, of course, Nintendo has more first party goodness up its sleeves to coincide with key dates in Sony's launch plans for Vita, something that is entirely possible (and contributes to the old adage: never underestimate Nintendo)."

http://ie.vita.ign.com/articles/121/1215654p1.html

Well yeah, I think we need to wait for European and American launches before we can decide how well the Vita is doing

Yes we have to wait to decide for sure but do you honestly believe it will be successful? I think the writings are on the wall.

so...even before the ship sails, we're saying it's sinking? Doomsayers annoy the hell out of me. They don't even bother to wait for something to release first before saying it's a failure. People need to relax and wait.

noway in hell sony won't let it remember the ps3

I think there is a possibility, but with the 3DS having so many big games at the moment it was always bound to struggle

Errr, not really.

First week sales were good, just because it drops the second week doesn't mean it's dead. It hasn't launched in the West yet and it is competing with the 3DS which is doing very well at the moment. Wait until the Western launch and give it a few months before you start with the "DOOOOMED!!!" threads, things will pick up.

You think this is bad, just wait until a month or two after the full release for real doom talk. Everyone will go crazy and overboard during that time. Sony fans and Sony need to be prepared for the perfect storm of hatred headed towards it.

Oh man, I'm a big supporter of the Vita so I guess I'm going to have a tough time then. Maybe I'll just 'quit the internet' for a few months.