That is exactly the kind of comparison I want. Finally someone who gets it. 

Yes I'd like to know 1st at what point vita becomes profitable to Sony (SW units), its 1st year comparisons with the GCN (both software and hardware wise).

So I guess I'm looking for each of their specific SW attach ratios during the 1st year and the amount of HW units sold.

i agree, i for one refused to agree to this but its just true. i guess us "core gamers" looked at the matter differently. we would chose a handheld over a tablet because it better caters more to our gamers needs. but a parents in the market to get there kids a gift wont look at it the same way, nor will a teen girl wanting something to waste some time with. handhelds will live on, but they will mostly sell to the core market who want handhelds, no more than that most probably

That would be nigh-on impossible, I'm afraid.

Until we get some exact numbers of how much it takes to make a Vita, compared to how much it sells for, we'd only be guessing.  Same with memory cards.

In addition, in terms of software attach rates, we could take a guess for Vita (using very rounded figures, VGChartz shows Vita on 4 million hardware and 10 million games sold, so about 2.5 games per system).  But that's not taking into account digital sales which could be anywhere really.  Every single game is available on day 1 digitally, plus there's all the digital only titles which have released.

I don't think there'd be any way to dig up software attach rates for Gamecube during it's first year either.  Or profits, for that matter, because Nintendo lumped all their profits together at that time (i.e. Gameboy Advance + Gamecube + DS for a few years).

If you get anywhere with it, let me know.  It'd be very interesting to see.  But I fear it might be an uphill struggle that you'll never fully resolve.

I saw tons of marketing in Toronto. They did a lot of marketing with the Toronto Raptors. I went to a game and they were shoving the PS Vita ads down our throat on the big monitors and signs on the side of the court lol. They also had a lot of ads with Landry Fields (a Toronto Raptors player) on different channels which I saw multiple times.

In the UK there were absolutely tons of adverts for Sony and the Vita, I was seeing one in nearly every commercial break of quite a few movies. Probably saw about 10-15 Sony Ad's over Xmas, and I hardly watch TV.

Sony are hoping the Vita will be like the PS3 - i.e it will pick up and sell a good amount as time goes by...(but without the losing money on release part). I purchased one on release and I've actually purchased more PSP and older games than I have Vita games, BUT thats still all money for Sony.

Japan is a weird market right now, but I agree with a previous poster, they need a Monster Hunter in Japan, and an exclusive GTA Vita game (one that is not the same as the main GTA) and even better bundled. A price cut would also help.

The Vita is a lovely bit of kit and it would be a shame to see it fail, hardware wise its fantastic. As for the ipad being a problem, yep agree, but I own an ipad and its great for sim/strategy games, but for games like GTA, controls are absolutely terrible. Proper handheld gaming requires sticks and buttons.

Your kidding right?

Well at least he's pointing out the obvious.

No idea :) guessing the PS3 did well, people were selling the 12GB for £138 i think at times.. (Tesco)... but i guess sales figures will prove if all that advertising was worth while... guessing the data's out for xmas isnt it.

I saw plenty of marketing here in the US. Both TV and Online.

You didn't do anything wrong, but he sure as hell was trying to do something wrong. He was trying to con your ass into buying a Vita. Desperate people say, and do desperate things. He probably thought you were gullible enough that his words alone could get you to go out and buy one. He was actually trying to defend his own investment. He needs you to buy one so that his doesn't become worthless. He just let his frustration get the better of him. On the whole Vita owners are paranoid, and overly aggressive. They are gun shy, because they are backing a failing platform with all their heart.

The truth about the platform is that it is well within the danger zone. A product that has been around for years can survive with sales like these, because there are enough established users to support third party game development. The Vita doesn't have enough users to justify third party development as it stands right now, and if sales don't dramatically improve right now. The portable won't be able to gather enough users up before third party developers begin to cancel their games, and abandon platform development completely.

Once that happens the game is over whether Sony likes it or not. They can't force retailers to carry the product, and they aren't going to convince consumers to pay the asking price if it isn't going to be getting new games, or just two or three a year. They could sell it a heavy discount at that point, but that is like killing your best cows to feed vultures. It would be like throwing good money away, because once a platform dies like this. It cannot be resurrected. The negative word of mouth alone kills off any potential sales. Anyway it is up to you whether you feel comfortable enough with the risk or not, but there is a real big risk with a purchase.

The fact of the matter is that the Vita is actually under performing the Dreamcast in both hardware and software, and we know how that story turned out for Sega. Sony probably can't even salvage the device like they did the PS3. Basically throwing billions of dollars at the problem until it somehow gets fixed. They just don't have the money to do that. Especially prior to the probable launch of a new home console.