Sony puts a happy spin on Vita sales decline

Speaking to GameSpot, Sony director of hardware marketing John Koller said the PS Vita “satisfaction rate is really high,” and implied that poor sales are partially due to how many Vitas they’ve been able to get to market.

by Paul Miller

Via PCWorld | Source GameSpot

Jan 14, 2012, 2:39 PM UTC

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Well, what else are they going to do? Vita is currently in fourth place in Japan console sales, behind the dominant 3DS, and Sony's own PS3 and PSP. The downward trend is a little disconcerting for a brand new console (and the whole Japanese games market decline is disconcerting for everybody), but Sony apparently doesn't see it this way. Speaking to GameSpot, director of hardware marketing John Koller said the "satisfaction rate is really high," and implied that poor sales are partially due to how many Vitas they've been able to get to market. Additionally, John said the current numbers matched Sony's own forecasts.

Funnily enough, the line about word-of-mouth is the same thing we’ve been hearing from Microsoft all week about Windows Phone market share. With the 3DS heating up after a sharp price cut (due to its own lackluster start), the Vita has an uphill battle as it enters the US market at $249.99. Luckily for Sony, the Vita’s impressive graphics could give it some serious staying power once the machine comes down a bit in price, but we’d imagine Sony wouldn’t mind selling a few more of these up front. A bird in the hand and all that.

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