Hirai: Vita Sales Are "On The Low End Of What We Expected"

I love the operating system on it.... It has a lot of potential, im hoping it picks up. I was reading killzone mercenary is being developed with the killzone 3 engine. Only time will tell

I think it won't see success until a price drop. I understand that it costs less than the average smartphone without a contract, but it is still viewed as only a gaming device by the masses limiting it's interested audience. At $250 it is a hard sell regardless of tech specs as demonstrated in their sales figures. I think Alex has a point with regard to samrtphone gaming and it prevalence. Back in the day hand held competition was limited to the gameboy, game gear, and a couple others but now the options for gaming on the go are so vast why pay $400 for the new I-phone, $250 for a console, and then $250 for a handheld? The handheld becomes duplicative of many of the function of the I-phone. Yes I realize the graphics are obviously better but not as good as my console and not to the extent that many would like to carry both a smartphone and a handheld gaming device plus it's accessories. Back in the day handhelds were the only thing kids were carrying but even kids have smartphones today and I am not certain who the vita is being marketed too, i.e. 25-35 demographic who grew up with handhelds and can afford it or for kids whose parents already shelled out "x" amount of dollars for their smart phone and could care less about the technical prowess of the Vita.

Back before the Vita or the Xperia Play were clearly defined, I was under the impression that what they were developing was a hand held device with with all the capabilities of a smartphone, but with the gaming power of what is now the Vita. Something that maybe had a slightly larger form factor than the average Smartphone, but made up for that by being a full fledged PSP2.

I was really disappointed this was not the case, and maintain that this would have been better than either the Play or the Vita. I own a Vita, it's nice, it has some games I wanted to have, but I don't want to carry around yet another device. Really, for all the things it can do, what the Vita should have been able to do as well, was act like a cell phone.

Oh man...the Xperia Play. What a complete failure by Sony. I completely forgot about that.

I want the Vita to do well because I'd like to eventually buy one. But there needs to be a much larger library of quality titles to convince me to shell out the money for it. I'm not about to spend $250 on yet another handheld to play PS1 games on.

I love both my hand helps equally

when i saw the vita i was interested even though i never touched a psp before at that time i was hooked on the 3DS playing resident evil revelations and lost sight of the ps vita. didn't help that alot of people gave the truth and said it is just not worth it

the one positive it has is true fps games, if anyone wants a handheld for first person shooters then this is def for you. not to mention the rpg's that are planned for this thing, yes i own one and yes i crave more titles. in that respect i'm also patient, sony has a history of being slow on important issues i.e. the uptake on the ps3/titles, as well as the hacking debacle. in other words i'm still hopeful for a multitude of titles to come

The things not selling well in Japan. That's the worst part.

Probably cause everyone is creaming over the 3DS still

It gives me hope that he is saying, "long term is what's important". The PSP was considered a failure at it's launch too, I think Sony did well with it though.

I've said this who knows how many times by now, but I still stand by my belief that Sony simply hasn't learned that handheld devices and consoles can't quite be built and marketed the same way.

The PSP was by no means a failure, but it was never able to surpass or even equal the DS. It looks like history is repeating itself with the Vita and 3DS. Sony focuses so much on everything ELSE the system can do, that they forget that its primary function is what ultimately determines sales.

Sony focused on the music and media portions of PSP more than its game playing ability, and tried to tout UMD as a new superior movie platform. The Vita seems to focus more on everything BUT games, but then tries to sell under the Playstation brand, that has come to be synonymous with video games.

And what do you get when you sell a device with no games, under a brand that means games? Definitely not sales, that's for sure.

It sounds like everyone wants the Vita to succeed and it should. It's a handheld device that is powerful and is finally done right, but there are just a few good games for it. I still have mine (bought it 2 days after launch) and am going to wait patiently for the games to come out. I thought 2012 would bring some amazing games, but just a few came out. I just have a feeling that the system won't last the 7+ year cycle at this rate.