Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita UK sales slower than predecessors'
Vita managed less than a third of PSP sales in first 10 weeks.
The Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita have suffered slower sales than their predecessors in the UK.
The 3DS has sold nearly 950,000 after 61 weeks on sale in the UK, according to Gfk Chart-Track data reported by PocketGamer.biz. It expects the console to pass through the one million sales mark next month.
If it does, it will have taken around three months longer than the DS did to reach one million in the UK. The DS hit one million after 51 weeks on sale. Chart-Track chief Dorian Bloch said the difference in price between the two consoles was one of the reasons behind the 3DS' slower sales.
Globally, the 3DS is Nintendo's fastest-selling console ever, and as of the end of March had sold 17.13 million units. Nintendo expects to shift 18.5 million units this financial year, off the back of high profile first party releases.
As for the PlayStation Vita, Sony's handheld has just passed 100,000 units sold in the UK, PocketGamer.biz reports. That figure was achieved 10 weeks after going on sale on these shores.
It's also less than a third of the sales the PlayStation Portable managed 10 weeks after it went on sale in the UK.
Worldwide PlayStation Vita sales were 1.8 million at the end of March 2012. Sony boss Kaz Hirai described the tally as "a good start".
Sony expects there to be 16 million combined PSP and Vita sales this financial year. Hirai reasoned that PSP would contribute roughly six million sales towards this. . "A game platform, like Vita - the software is the key to success, how good the software is," Hirai said. "We have to reinforce the software area in order to improve the business, that is the basic line.
"And vis a vis Vita, at this moment, there is no decline or lack of motivation as a portable platform. And also, in order to connect with the Network, this is a very important product indeed for us, and therefore we still have a very high motivation to develop this further. There is no change. And services and software must be strengthened.
"In other words, the collaborative approach is very important, so is third-party. And from first party studios, the titles will be presented one after the other, so please look at them and give your evaluation based on them."