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.
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.