Sony Reveals that PS Vita Has Sold 2.2 Million Worldwide

The world's reception to the PS Vita can only be described as lukewarm at best. Since its launch in Japan last year, the handheld's been breaking record lows, sinking below the sales of the Wii, and even its predecessor, the PSP.

While North American and European Vita sales haven't been quite as dismal, they certainly were never strong. Sony's been reluctant to release any form of sales figures for the handheld. It was at Gamescom that German PlayStation chief Uwe Bassendowski revealed that the handheld's sold 2.2 million units worldwide. Considering that the Vita's been out for over half a year in all parts of the world, things aren't looking too good for the handheld's life cycle.

A NeoGAF user compiled the data of past console sales and compared them to the Vita's. Even the 3DS, overcoming a slow launch, managed to pull in 6.68 million units at the third quarter mark. In fact, the Vita pales in comparison to every handheld on the chart. Even the PSP outsold the Vita by its second quarter mark at 2.97 million.

Recently, Sony announced Crossbuy for Vita, an initiative where buying a game on PS3 meant also buying it for Vita. While the Crossbuy seems to be good incentive for PS3 gamers to buy a Vita, due to the handheld's ability to Crossplay with the PS3, there are only going to be a handful of games available since, according to PlayStation Europe Chief Executive Jim Ryan: "PS Vita is a more PC-based environment whereas the PS3 is a more bespoke development environment. So the cross-over between both platforms is rather limited."

Though the Vita is a solid piece of hardware as a handheld, Sony has a ways to go to make it successful. When Sony talked about the Vita back in E3 2011, they had brought up many times that the company would be selling the handheld at a loss, hoping that the overwhelming sales volume would make up for it. Clearly, this hasn't happened. However, with a slew of big name titles coming in time for Holiday 2012 and a strategic price drop, the Vita may see some successes yet.

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  • master_chen
    LIES. DIRTY LIES.
    Reply
  • master_chen
    I mean - it's obviously even lower than that.
    Reply
  • idroid
    Sony Reveals that PS Vita Has Sold 2.2 Million UnitsWorldwide
    Reply
  • master_chen
    I mean - it's obviously even lower than that. Sony tries to play good face during bad game.

    I think that real numbers would be somewhere around 500000~ (880000 at the most), but NOT two+ millions, there's not that much absolutely stupid people (devoted Sony fanboys) on the planet, even in Japan.
    Reply
  • Kami3k
    So you think a company would actually lie to investors/stockholders?

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
    Reply
  • master_chen
    Kami3kSo you think a company would actually lie to investors/stockholders?HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
    It's a Sony. *Saying with "that famous ad"-voice*
    Reply
  • maurath55
    does anyone know if the vita is jail breakable? not for pirated vita games but like emulators and things of that nature
    Reply
  • slabbo
    Is that figure the actual number sold to consumers or are those the shipped numbers? I know Sony likes to use Shipped figures as sales.
    Reply
  • Burodsx
    I was going to buy one of these, but then I saw the PS3 was cheaper...
    Reply
  • geeksinhere23
    I own the psp-vita the first day it came out. sadly it does not have any good title to support it yet. but is a good handheld machine I would love to keep it. I think it would be fun to play homebrew games with it. snes. gba. neogeo, sega and psx games I miss so much and I dont have time to play it now. I love all old games made. I do have an iphone(refurbished and cheap). just that I rather to take a nap in the subway instant of playing a 99 cent iphone games.
    99 cent iphone games(make you even more tire and feeling empty) vs traditional handheld games(fun and exciting) = masturbate vs having sex with a real woman.
    Reply