Depends on what you are talking about.

I'm going to assume you are talking about Japan only.

The 3DS has decent 3rd party support in Japan, but the Vita, like the PSP before it sees better sales on 3rd party software ( i believe this is because Sony isnt as strong as Nintendo as a first party).

Vita is presumably easy to develop for, and 3rd parties sell better (its multi-platofrm releases have matched PS3 sales with a much larger installed base).

So, i dont think its that weird to decide to bring your game to the Vita instead of the 3DS if you are a 3rd party. Only the strongest IP's seem to be able to sell on the 3DS. Even metal gear and tekken tanked quite badly.

Basara seems to have done alright but I believe it's down significantly on previous entries, though it is the 7th musou-type game we've had in 12months

DBZ I thought might do better given that it was the first console 3D-fighter of any sort to release since Battle of Gods, but in the end it's only ~10k higher than Ultimate Tenkaichi. I can't quite understand why they don't make a Budokai 4 or Budokai Tenkaichi 4 when they did so well (admittedly at a time when the anime was near the height of its popularity in the west). Even a Zenkai Battle Royale port would have been a wiser choice IMHO

Not much else of interest, that 575 game from Sega seems to have bombed royally, HW is in the usual January slump, with the possible exception of PSV seeing as it continues to do much better than its 2013 YTD. Unusual to see 3DS in such low territory (relatively) but in some respects it's inevitable given that it will enter its fourth year in the coming months, I think people just aren't used to seeing such low numbers even though they're reasonable

Japanese market is becoming rather depressing.  3DS has tailed off far quicker (and faster) than I expected it to; WiiU is shocking; PSP has finally died and PS3 is on its way out.  Vita is up YoY which is lovely but when you compare it to the basket case™ it was this time last year that's really not an achievement.  I'll admit I'm pleased it seems to have stabalized at 20k which is a vast improvement, but it's still poor in the grand scheme of things.

Software is slightly more exciting but still.  Poor from Basara but slightly better than I expected actually.  Needed another SKU (Vita or WiiU; I'd choose the former based on Tecmo Koei's games) but it was simply a game released at the wrong time.  Needed to release earlier on PS3 or later on PS4/WiiU if they find some traction.  Not now.

Kirby is doing great though; as are Puzzles & Dragons, Youkai Watch & Attack on Titan.  The rest... eh.  Dragon Ball did crap.  Wonder if those 22k Vita sales would've been PS3 sales had the SKU not existed, seems in-line with the previous DB game on PS3.  Uta Kumi did absolutely horribly - worse sales than many of the otaku games on the console, except this is a SEGA title.  Don't really know what they were going for with it.

And since they're still hanging around in the Famitsu chart - hard to believe Gran Turismo 6 is going to struggle to reach 400k; and that Taiko WiiU did so badly.  Not as badly as it could have done, but way down on what the series is used to and still hasn't sold out of its first shipment.  Another case of being a game released at the wrong time.  Put it on 3DS or wait until WiiU has gained more traction.  Releasing it when they did was silly.  Would probably have done better on Wii.

Not even Vita - they're all going to mobile.  Companies who used to make a decent-ish output of handheld games last generation (Square-Enix; Capcom; Level-5) are all pushing harder and harder on mobile and ignoring the handheld market.  Vita has some third parties clinging on because of the nature of their games (i.e. the otaku developers - Gust; Compile Heart; Acquire; Nippon Ichi; Falcom) but they've lost all the bigger support aside from SEGA and Bamco; so it seems like it's hit 3DS harder because they don't really have the otaku niche to fill in the gaps which Vita has.

Admittedly they do get some support from the bigger companies where Vita gets little/none, but still.

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=176628

We need a Japan Direct or two...

New Nintendo handheld coming in 2015, with probably another 3DS revision (outside of 2DS) later this year. I'd pretty much say it's all but a lock now.

Exactly what I would've said

What I hope will happen is that the developers and publishers will recognise that, though it may be smaller than before, there is still an audience for more substantial games on traditional handhelds, and the two will coexist. It won't be entirely mutually beneficial as one will still canabalize the other but I think it's possible, particularly as larger, non-F2P apps still haven't quite hit the crazy level of success that others have, a case in point being the DQVIII remake/port which I maintain would've sold more and been more profitable on 3DS or Vita than on mobile

Some people predict a mobile crash when the market becomes saturated, but I don't see it; it's based on too large a groundswell change in general gaming habits. I do however expect an adjustment eventually though as it is realized that by totally abandoning handhelds, the baby would be thrown out with the bath water and promising opportunities for success would be missed, thus causing the balance to swing the other way a little in favour of 3DS/PSV etc. This doesn't seem to be happening yet, which suggests to me that things will get worse before they get better, but I remain optimistic.

The question then of course is what will the new diminished market look like? I think most people would agree that Nintendo would almost never abandon handhelds, especially as right now they're their bread and butter, so perhaps Sony will pull out? Very plausable given the Vita's struggles, but they may still turn it around to quasi-respectable levels (~30m?).

I guess it just depends on how profitable it's been, if the margins are good both in terms of the actual HW and SW and the attach rate is high then there may be a case for a successor but I can't really see it unless Vita is turned around in a big way in the west and hits upwards of 50m, which is a long way away

First of all, can we stop making this thread a copy of the NeoGaf one, please?
1. Google Translate
2. 4gamer.net (Media Create)
3. famitsu.com
4. ????
5. Profit.

Now, WooooW! I really don't care about WiiU flopping, that thing is already gone. But what's wrong with 3DS! All that SW, and HW is just not selling.