After some dicey speculation, and some less-than-thrilling early sales figures, PlayStation’s new handheld seems to be doing just fine.
Sony has announced that the PlayStation Vita has officially sold 1.2 million units worldwide while breaching 2 million sales for system software (accounting for both retail and digital). The news comes after a somewhat questionable beginning in Japan and a three-peat fiscal loss for parent company Sony. Still, as of February 19th, approximately 579,000 units had sold in Japan, allowing simple subtraction to predict a 621,000-unit launch in the United States.
“PS Vita was designed to deliver the ultimate portable entertainment experience, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the reaction we’re seeing from consumers and the pace at which PS Vita is selling,” said Andrew House, President of Sony Computer Entertainment. “The market has responded and there is clear demand for a mobile device capable of providing a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context.”
Regardless of initial hardware sales, a continuing stable of high-quality games will be crucial to maintaining the Vita’s current pace. “To sustain momentum,” House continued, “we’re working closely with third-party developers and publishers to ensure the best games and franchises possible will be available on PS Vita, and our software line up for the remainder of 2012 will have something for everyone across the globe.”
It will be interesting to see just where the Vita goes once we get a bit father out from the net of early adopters and Sony’s massive launch advertising campaign. While these early figures can’t guarantee long-term success, they certainly won’t hurt.
Source: Eurogamer
