Vita Knocks 3DS Down to Second in the Japanese Charts

The problem with analyzing sales charts at this point is that a lot of people who wanted a 3DS already have one. I kinda feel that sales charts before the console has ceased production are an unidealic way to analyze a system's success. Not to concerned at this point.

Good job Sony on having a price drop with releasing a high profile game but the 3ds is only about 2000 behind and one lonely new game in the charts and everyone and thier grandmother has one. Wii U as usual needs games badly.

inb4 NINTENDO IS DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED

Nintendo: finally some competition!

Cool. Hopefully it keeps doing well so it gets more developer support.

pokemon in october , nuff' said.

Price drop + Soul Sacrifice? Yeah it better beat the 3DS right now.

If it wasn't able to get more sales with that combo then there would be no hope. Now there is.

Everyone over in japan should already have a 3DS so its no surprise that the sales drop. Its normal that at some time, the sales of a system start to stagnate or even fall. You only need one system. What matters are the games.

Now this is interesting! Hopefully this means more Vita software and, as a result, hopefully more good 3DS releases from Nintendo too. And wow, the Wii U needs some help. D:

Welp! Sit and soak up money time is over: RELEASE THE AWESOME GAMES!

Very good news! The Vita needs some love and deserves more support from developers and Sony.

I think the problem was the vita dev cycle is like a console dev cycle way too much work for a handheld game. But it pays off when the games are good.

Vita has games?!

I'd buy the Vita once it gets a nice price drop. With games like Muramasa, Gravity Rush, and some PS3 games, it seems worth getting.

@ErnisDy Unless you live in Japan, don't.

Four words: Soul Sacrifice. Price drop.
That doesn't make the VITA a decent challenger, being completely honest. Pokémon is being released in October :l

Things just got interesting. But once Pokemon comes out in October, there won't be any contest.

Maybe Nintendo will be watching this closely. I know they'll never admit it now, but I'm almost certain they're thinking about a Wii U price drop to coincide with a Mario Kart release JUST before the PS4 launches. It could be a very, very smart move.

You mean to tell me that there's some distant, magical land where not only do people actually give a crap about the Vita, but it's actally outselling the 3DS? Yeah, sure pal.

@smashbrawler331

Nintendo Fan's Logic:

When Nintendo posts a good sales number, its praised as a great accomplishment and a sign of things to come.

When Sony posts a good sales number, its meaningless and is not useful information at all

I still want that Miku game, but I have no Vita

Vita sales is just a fluke and won't be maintained. What should be a worry to Nintendo is the dreadful sales figure for WiiU. Beaten by even the old PSP??

Wild Vita appeared! Vita used price drop. It's super effective!

I'm glad the Vita is doing well.
It's a great system.
I can't wait to import me some Tales of Hearts R, Project Diva f.
Now, just drop the price of memory cards in the west..

This is good news, for sony and 3ds owners, more vita's out there means more games will get made for it, so nintendo will have to respond with more games for 3ds ..... its a good time to be a handheld gamer.

I dunno. This is more of a quick short-term success. We'd have to see a consistent outselling if the Vita wants to put a dent in 3DS sales.

Hardly surprising, with 2 new games, a price cut, and Japan's apparent disinterest with Layton. I guess I'm happy for the console, but I think the only person in the entire world who thinks this will last is Michael Patcher.

@AbeVigoda
wait, what? I never said it was "meaningless," just that it's inaccurate. That's why I never even bothered paying attention to the 3DS sales as of late. The fact is, the most important times to analyze a console's amount "units shifted" (for lack of a better term) are in it's first week to see how successful it was initially, and after the console dies off, aka, the final number of consoles sold. I'm not even that much of a ninty fanboy anymore, (meaning I'm not biased) and I know that the vita has a ****load of potential. But let me guess, the only way I would NOT be considered a "fanboy" from your point of view would be if I said something along the lines of the following:
ahem
OH YEAH, THE VITA IS DOING AWESOME! TIME FOR THE 3DS TO MEET ITS MAKER!!!!
IASDH;FOUIHAo;jsfoUBHDFKL;NAU;IHN;FSAKLJDHFNLUIhlo;nL;adkjfvbliagy39jroiJ'OIHDGohnf;

what I'm saying is that your post is wrong and/or biased, in case you don't speak "fanboy."

man 3ds is doing great! vita gets a good game and a price drop and out sells 3ds for one week and it's major news everywhere!

It's actually good to have some competition. I'm a great Nintendofan but a monopoly wouldn't do anyone any good. Now that Persona 4 is here I will also buy a Vita. I have played lots of good games on the PSP and PS2 and PS3 as well. War of the lions anyone?

When does MH4 releases in Japan? Im really glad for the vita, as I really know there's no way to stop the 3DS in Japan already.

If this means that both consoles get to exist, then this is great. If this is a "Two Enter, One Leaves" scenario, then count me out.

2 good selling new games on the Vita + Price drop vs 1 not good selling new game for the 3DS = do the math, it was bound to happen, i didnt really think it was going to happen so late (the difference its already more the 25m units between the 3DS and the Vita), even thought Sony won 1 week, they already dropped the ball... HARD

I always wonder how are games supposed to keep selling in a region as small as Japan (compared to the other 2 main regions). Do people like, buy repeats or something?

Congrats to Sony, I hope they cherish this moment....since it won't last long. I'm sure Colin Moriarty had to clean up his monitor and had a sore wrist after he heard the news. lol

good. competition is always good and we all know nintendo is a company that needs to be pushed forward all the time.

lol, so many mad Ninty fanboys that can't even realise this is good news. :3

Just wondering, did the people who bought the Vita at original price get some sort of hook up on free games, like NiN's Ambassador program?

@DaemonSword Nope, but if you sign up for PS+ then you get a free Vita game pretty much every week, which is always awesome!

That's great news. I love my 3DS and PSP so I'm glad the Vita is catching up.
Soul Sacrifice looks amazing so if there's a price drop here, and a few more games I might get me one.

If you combine the two 3DS version sales, they're neck and neck. I hope this continues, because competition is a very nice thing.

Also, way to go Far Cry 3! I never thought a western game at this time of year would permeate the top 10 in Japan.

Ironically there was a snow storm in Hell Michigan last night.

Pokemon, pokemon, pokemon...what about smash bros? when that comes that should also bring in big money.

"Hell hath indeed frozen over" Kind of insulting to the vita, but still way to go Vita, you outsold an amazing console.

I've thought about it, mainly to play all the Persona and Disgaea games, since it's a more attractive option than hunting them down for the PS2 and then having to drag that out of the cupboard, but I'll probably wait til near the end of it's life and then just pick up the gems for it.

This comes the same month as the price drop, which was almost as substantial as the 3DS's price drop from $250 to $170, so it's pretty expected. The real question is will these sales continue after the initial surge?

@Morphtroid It has a population of over 127 million,I wouldn't call that small!It also has a far higher proportion of gamers compared to other regions hence why they get many big titles that are never seen in the west.

Well played Sony

Just bought a 3G Vita as they were discounted to 150 euro here. It's a great system, but lacks enough good games.

"gods's" "g" is capitalised in the first paragraph...

@smashbrawler331

Your overly emotional response to a simple observation tells me all I need to know.

That's wonderful! I'm absolutely in love with my Vita right now, mainly for Persona, though. Not for any new releases.

@C-Olimar I'm surprised Micheal Pachter actually thinks there will be two WII-SELLING consoles, that both will most likely cost more than the cheaper one. I believe that many of us have gotten to used to having multiple consoles. Many of us will only be able to afford one console unless you don't have a life, if you're rich, and/or if you don't pick up much games.The industry is at a low, the economy sucks, and many intelligent gaming philosophers predict that a new Video game crash has already happened. I think he's an idiot if he think's next-gen is going to be so successful.

Good to hear. I knew Sony was in for a good couple of weeks with the Vita. I did not expect this good.

What is less good to see is the Nintendo fans go from gloating over the sales charts to saying words of te effect 'sales charts are pointless'

@smashbrawler331

that's some twisted knickers you got there, lad.

abe and bankai are merely stating it like it is: ninty fans like sales charts that show good things for ninty, but when they show good things for sony those charts are 'pointless'.

HMM:) I like it that people are muture here:) Maybe time for me to visit this site more often. PS give me advice for my wii U and 3DS: Which games should i get ( For wii U nsmb and for 3ds kingdom hearts i already own) >>>Normally a sony gamer but Nintendo always makes such awesome exclusives i could just not resist (when passing a store:P)

Also, as a side note, if 'everyone who wants a 3DS has one' just a couple of years into the 3DS' life span, then Nintendo is in deep, deep trouble. Nintendo needs to keep finding new fans for this console for a solid three years yet. And there is no reason that it can't continue to dominate the charts. Look at the PSP - still going strong after like eight years.

Breaking news, Nintendo fans state this is temporary!

Why? Because it's freaking Nintendo, that's why!

I mean, a cat can't beat a dog when it comes to barking. Anyone should know that.

[EDIT: Also, what @AgentAPE said. As well as the other user who reminded us of Smash Bros. In fact, just give us a Melee port already!]

I imagine the release of Pokemon will see quite a few people adopting the 3DS. Many people I've known only buy Nintendo handhelds when a new major Pokemon game comes out.

Nice to hear about the price drop + new games strategy working for Sony's Vita. Same thing happened with 3DS in late 2011/early 2012 following a price drop combined with exciting new games. Of course, 3DS has succeeded because it has continued to put out quality software. Let's hope Sony doesn't squander this momentum by neglecting the Vita's software library.

I'm not happy about the price drop not being extended to the West, however. I probably won't buy a new Vita system until the price has dropped to at least $200 for the Wi-fi only version. Although I'd settle for reduced memory card prices instead, but I don't see that happening. Actually, if they don't drop the price by Q4 2013, I'll probably end up getting a PSP instead. Pro-duo cards for that system are quite reasonably priced, and any of my PSN downloads should be playable on the Vita when I eventually get one. Plus, certain PSP games still aren't available on PSN

Moral of the story for me is, "... The portable console war continues to rage on... now, in other news...". I'm glad I've never been one to care about sales figures too much.

I own a vita and there well worth every penny to buy one. Now those memory cards, they need to go down in price

This isn't a shock to me, I love my vita, it just needs more games to come to.

This might benefit Nintendo more than people might anticipate.

@R-L-A-George: And how, exactly? We don't have the same foresight as you, see. And the whole "Step 3:???, Step 4: Profit" seen in South Park just isn't our thing.

Sony finally accepts that the PS Vita was grossly overpriced. What took them so long? I feel bad for the fans they're still taking advantage of in the rest of the world. Now they need to cut their prices in the West by half. At the very least, price match the 3DS.

@Gamesake They dropped the price of the Vita in Japan because they were paying more per console than the rest of the world. The Vita is definitely overpriced (as are the memory cards), but I wouldn't anticipate a world wide price drop until closer to the PS4 launch. Especially after the Sony Worldwide Studios President straight up said "No it will not [be receiving a price drop in the West]"

This is good for the Vita (and the 3DS in terms of competition), hopefully it will be able to sustain high numbers. A two week spike is just a blip in the grand scheme of things, but it could very well be the start of higher numbers overall. Weegee's Mansion releases this month, so I'm sure the 3DS will climb again and now that Nintendo has announced FlipNote for the summer along with MH4......things will get interesting.

Anyone know what other games the Vita has coming up, Japan specifically? Not trying to troll or anything, I genuinely don't know and it will be a big factor in how well these numbers are sustained.

The fact that the Vita is selling as well as 3DS and XL combined says a lot, now hopefully Sony can get things moving everywhere else.

I've been wanting to replace my worn-out PSP and have been on the fence deciding between another PSP or Vita for a while now. The only things stopping me with the Vita are I'm waiting for things to pickup and more eastern style games.

Also, like @Five-seveN said, the Vita is too much of an investment, it costs just as much as the current consoles by the time you buy everything.

Coming along news like this really upset me. Though, Ps3 has been out longer than Wii U and 3DS; In addition, Wii U hasn't come out with much games and only Mario bros Wii U was a big game on it. Though, I don't expect Sony to stay in the top of the charts for long.

@JSuede there's about a dozen JRPGs and Monster Hunter clones. Tecmo Koei is supporting the console in full and that should go down well with Japanese gamers too.

@Gamesake Wow. If the Vita is 'grossly overpriced' whilst being sold at a loss, what does that make the 3DS?

@DaemonSword No, but I think that's because Sony waited longer (too long) to drop the price. People felt burned by Nintendo because they dropped the price just 6 months after launch, and to a more severe degree. Which is why the ambassador program was awesome!

It's April fools already?

So many 3DSes sold already. More will be sold, but right now it seems no new notable releases at this time. Once MH4 and SMT4, among other games, come out though.....
And the price drop and Soul Sacrifice are have REALLY boosted the Vita sales. Heck, I'd buy a Vita just for Soul Sacrifice, though of course I may mainly get a Vita for PSO2 and will also get God Eater 2 and Hatsune Miku Project Mirai f. Beyond that, I don't know, Vita doesn't quite have as many "I need to buy this game" type of games as 3DS. Not even sure if any of those games will peel me off of Fire Emblem Awakening for too long either.

@Blaze
I don't even think the Vita was ever being sold at a loss. More like barely profitable for Sony.

If the supporters are really confident in Nintendo, they shouldn't be afraid of the PS VITA selling more units than it did before. Nintendo will do what they can to ensure that the 3DS will consistently sell well, regardless of how well the VITA sells

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

@Koto Well, ya know. D:

I'm quite interested to see the next chart...

3DS keep selling well, and even if sales will drop that would be just natural since, after months of great results, almost all the potential Nintendo's buyers in Japan probably own a 3DS XD

But for the Vita the situation is fully different, with the actual low sales it need to keep the momentum and can't afford at all to get a drop in sales.

Really really curious to see if we are going to witness a big handheld battle!!! (in which case I will be ready to cheer for Nintendo and the 3DS of course ^O^).

So from what I can see here is that the Vita managed to "just" beat out the 3DS sales with both a price cut and high profile releases versus the 3DS's lack of high profile games.

I think we're going to have to observe for a couple more weeks before we can really make anything out of it. I also doubt Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon will make more than a modest increase in portables sold. It just doesn't really seem like a high profile release, especially considering the niche market for its predecessor.

Competition is good. As much as I love the 3DS (and XL), I would still want to see it kicked in the butt, only to get up with a vengeance. :> Or I pretty much just want to see more great games and updates.

I'm pretty sure Nintendo isn't worried about the 3DS sales, however, about the Wii U sales...

What to do now? Pray that a price cut doesn't arrive outside Japan. (Which I highly doubt; it's bound to happen someday)
I love both 3DS and Vita and I am happily cheering on, but am feeling bad for 3DS.

Snap! Competition at last- sort of. I wouldn't take it to heart. Although I'm very happy for the Vita, at least for it to get a little footing. Nintendo doesn't need a struggling competitor. As many should know, its competition that makes things better. I'm sure the 3DS will get back on top soon enough.

Have the Vita PSP and PS3 and own between all 3 of them 17 games. 360 I have 40+ and I'm not even a big fan of that system. 3ds/ds I'm up over 100, and lots of Wii/U games. Basically it comes down to games, and I guess as a non COD/Battlefield type player, I need real games and lots of them. Sony stuff just doesn't cut it these last 5-6 years, and although I admit I actually dislike Sony for personal reasons (customer service my a**), I still have 50+ PS2 games. If Sony want's to get back to where they were, they need lots of good games. Yes I'm a Nintendo fan, but that's because they've constintaly made good games, and consoles that don't fail on me. I'm on my 7th 360, 4th PS3, and1st of every Nintendo system I've ever owned, and I'm a day 1 buyer.

@Zodiak13
PS3 had very slow growth in terms of its software library for awhile, which is one reason I opted for the 360 over it, but it has now amassed an incredible number of exclusive titles. Compare this to Microsoft, which doesn't seem terribly concerned about its exclusives beyond the Halo/GOW type stuff. How many exclusives has Microsoft failed to hold onto? Deadly Premonition...Bioshock...Mass Effect... At least Alan Wake still has console exclusivity. I'm still pretty teed about Deadly Premonition getting a vastly updated port to the PS3, considering it was 360 owners that made it successful in the first place.

In other words, unless you're really into dudebro shooters, there's no reason to have a 360 if you have a decent PC, but many, many reasons to own a PS3.

BTW, I bought a first-gen XBOX 360 and that thing has never died on me once. I really consider myself incredibly lucky.

Screw Vita. Enjoy your little lead while it lasts, Sony... The best for the 3DS is yet to come.

@Five-seveN i mean New... that doraemon game didnt do that well, Animal Crossing and DQ still strong but almost everyone that wanted those games already got them

Good on you, Sony. Good to see the Vita picking up some steam.

Good to hear it's doing better. For a console that looks to have so much promise (I've only played a demo unit briefly) it was a shame to see it struggling along for so long. Hopefully this leads to elevated sales on a regular basis.

The purchases of the 3ds are split now due to the two different versions. If you add them together, the 3ds/3dsLL outsold the Vita by over 14,000 units. I don't know what their talking about, still feels pretty warm out there to me.

Yeah it's good that the Vita finally got a win for once but not enough to make developers stand up and start pushing games towards it... 3DS only needs Pokemon and Smash Bro to dominate the handheld market for the rest of its life

So I want to buy a Wii U at some stage, the negative stuff doesn't bother me, but I want to know from someone who owns it, what's it really like ...

@Paperluigi Yeah it's dope mate... If the MadAussie likes it then you are gonna love it

If the Vita is selling and the 3DS is lagging behind that only means one thing,Nintendo are DOING pretty well.

@KnightRider666 Just what is wrong with you, exactly?

This is misleading. You are only comparing the Vita to one of the 3DS models. You have to add both 3DS models and then compare that the Vita sales.... The mental gymnastics people are performing to save the vita is breathtaking.

@SkywardLink98 It's not really as insulting as it is accurate. Nobody really expected for the Vita to recover this well, or hell, at all.

Regardless, this is only good news now that competition is finally picking up and hopefully here to stay. Things are getting real interesting, especially with the first core Pokemon titles for the 3DS due this fall, among other upcoming releases.

@element187 What is misleading? Even with both models combined, the 3DS is still shy ~ a couple thousand; The Vita would still have the top spot.

Why do people have to always hate on another system? I love my Vita, I can play tons of games on it that I can't play on my 3DS & vice versa. That's the joy of owning both. Why get your panties in a twist because someone else likes playing games on Vita?

You go Vita! Let's hope this boost in sales isn't temporary.
My younger brother and I almost bought a Vita, but the lack of a UMD drive and games we were interested in discouraged us from putting down money for it. It was plenty expensive to, what with the 3G+WiFi model going for close to 40% of the 3DS's prices here (before the price cut! And the 3DS's were all imported!). That combined with the whole memory card ripoff they have going, the 3DS with it's exclusives seemed like a far better choice.
It's not that Vita is a bad system, it's just that how Sony has handled things that it isn't selling as well as it should. :/
Also, the 3DS isn't done yet. Pokemon is a system seller and come October, several would be upgrading from their DS's. Not to mention, before that there are several good franchises like Luigi's Mansion and Animal Crossing that will be released, which will bring in more users.

vita is best handheld bye a mile but i still love my gba sp which gets more play time reason pokeman firered.

@3Dash GG, Ninty.

@element187 @TimboBaggins If you add the 3DS model sales together, they fall JUST short of the vita (you add the number to the left, the parenthesis number is last weeks sales). It's not really a matter of the 3DS selling poorly, It is still consistently selling over 60,000 units weekly in Japan(which is unheard of), the fact that the vita can match those numbers(even momentarily) is the news. If it means more support for the vita, then it's good news.

Maaaan, if Soul Sacrifice gets dumbed down to a Monster-Hunter-like game, Inafune's going to be mad he especially designed it to be different to anything else on the market iirc, which is why it's a vita release in the first place.

And I say good on the Sony and the Vita. Plus, I figure everyone in Japan who ever wanted a 3DS probably already has one

@neumaus: Excuse me? The vita is a joke. I'm entitled to my opinion like anybody else.

Yeah but... on the list.. 3DS Games are more than the vita games......

@KnightRider666 AGREED! I think the release of Phantasy Star Online 2 also may have something to do with it. It's a game that is wildly popular in japan. I sure wish it was coming to 3DS. Phantasy Star Online is a system seller. Or maybe people are mad about the way Capcom setup Monster Hunter for 3DS. Having to own a Wii-U to play a game online is a joke I hope they don't do it again. Who knows what the reason is.

Luigis mansion will be system seller lets see what happens the week that comes out. Really who cares most Hardcore gamers (not me) own both systems so this news really is great news for everyone. It just means both systems are doing well. It's especially good for those who own both

@Windy: I tried the Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate demo and was bored out of my mind with it. I just don't see the hype this game brings. I'm looking forward to Luigi's Mansion, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins, LEGO Legends of Chima, Rune Factory 4, Pokemon X & Y, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Project X Zone, & Mario Golf: World Tour. There are so many good titles for the 3DS coming out this year so far, what's not to look forward to? The Vita failed to win me over. I'll admit that Uncharted looked amazing, but not amazing enough to dump $350 to play it. I have a PSP 3000 along with 100+ games that just sits and collects dust. IMO Sony owns the home console wars with the PS3, and Nintendo owns the handheld wars with the 3DS. What do you think?

I am not so sure about this whole "the vita doing better helps the 3DS" thing. The Vita doing better hurts the 3DS, period. Why? well if a developer has to choose a system to make a game for they will choose the one with more sales potential. If the Vita gains more sales potential developers will leave the 3DS in favor of the Vita. This in turn means more third party games for the Vita and LESS for the 3DS, so no it is not a good thing for the 3DS. That is just a case of Nintendo fanboys trying to make lemonaid out of lemons and soften the blow of the bad news, or Vita fans gloating.

@KnightRider666 My thoughts exactly, sony dominates right now with the ps3 but nintendo has no competition in the handheld market with the 3ds; and yeah I also downloaded the monster hunter demo but didn't like it, it was pretty boring, I don't know why it has so many hype, it's not zelda nor fire emblem, so I don't get it either.

This is temporary, I agree with many people here commenting, they're not counting the millions and millions of japanese that already own a standard 3ds or an xl, and besides, nintendo will totally rape the vita with this combo: luigi's mansion next week + dkcr 3d in may + animal crossing new leaf in june (here in america) + mario and luigi dream team in june or july + pokemon x and y in october + smash bros demo in e3 for both 3ds and wii u. The vita will need a miracle to surpass the 3ds once those events start triggering.

@DaveC It's just not lemonade we are making, it's logic. I know just 1 person where I work that owns a vita (a sony fanboy) but even he is willing to sell his because he rarely uses it; and on the other hand I know like 25 3ds owners that use it regularly. Sony is focusing right now on both the ps3 and the upcoming ps4 that the vita is in the wii u position right now, it needs software. Even Dave Cox admitted they scrapped the castlevania project they had with the vita in favor of launching mirror of fate for the 3ds, so yeah, there goes your third party support theory.

@FOURSIDE_BOY: I'm glad to see somebody shares my opinions, lol. You seem to be very knowledgeable. What's your 3DS friend code? You can get mine in my profile.

@Bankai What is even less good to see your continuing double standard against Nintendo fans, when you very well Sony fans troll over sales over bit as much as Nintendo fans do. Remember, all the 3DS is doomed talk when the 3DS was down in these first few months? Oh right you forgot because it wouldn't support your position.