Sony vende 321 mil unidades do Playstation Vita em apenas 48 horas

O PlayStation Vita chegou ao Japão neste fim de semana e, apenas nos dois primeiros dias, vendeu 321.400 unidades, conforme dados da firma de pesquisa de mercado Enterbrain. Em comparação, o Nintendo 3DS vendeu 50 mil unidades a mais no seu lançamento, mas logo as vendas estagnaram e a companhia precisou cortar o preço do portátil.

Embora os números iniciais sejam promissores, a Sony sabe que isso é apenas o começo de um duro trabalho para manter o interesse no seu mais novo portátil, assegurando que as vendas continuem firmes e fortes com o decorrer do tempo. O rival da Nintendo só conseguiu se restabelecer após a diminuição do preço, de US$250 para US$170, e agora caminha para ultrapassar seu antecessor na quantidade de unidades comercializadas no primeiro ano de vida.

O Vita, por sua vez, tem um preço mais salgado: US$250 para a versão somente Wi-Fi e US$300 para o modelo com 3G. No entanto, no cenário atual, a competição entre Sony e Nintendo no ramo dos portáteis não é tão importante como a concorrência com os dispositivos móveis, conforme o Digital Trends. De 2009 para 2010, por exemplo, o iOS e o Android cresceram tanto como plataformas de games que chegaram a “engolir” uma fatia do DS e do PSP. 

O PSP, aliás, perdeu feio para o DS, abocanhando apenas 9% do mercado contra 57%, segundo dados da Flurry Analytics. Uma situação que deve melhorar com o Vita, já que suas vendas no dia do lançamento foram praticamente o dobro do seu antecessor: conforme a Reuters, o PSP vendeu apenas 166 mil unidades no seu primeiro dia, em 2004. 

English

Sony sells 321,000 PlayStation Vita units in two days

Sony shifted more than 320,000 PlayStation Vitas in Japan in its first two days of sales over the weekend. The company will be hoping it can maintain the strong sales figures in the face of growing competition from iOS and Android devices.

With Sony’s new PlayStation Vita portable gaming device going on sale in Japan last Saturday, executives at the company will have been waiting nervously for news of sales figures for its opening weekend.

The chewing of finger nails may now cease, as research firm Enterbrain has come up with some data: it says the electronics giant sold 321,400 units in its first two days. As a comparison, that’s 50,000 units fewer than what Nintendo achieved with its 3DS on its opening two days back in February, but it still sounds pretty good.

However, Sony knows that while these initial sales figures may look promising, the hard work is only just beginning as it must seek to ensure its new mobile device continues to sell in healthy numbers.

The company will recall only too well how sales of the Nintendo 3DS crashed soon after launch, forcing the Kyoto-based company to slash the cost of its device from $250 to $170. It turned out to be a good move, however, as first-year sales of the 3DS are now on course to beat first-year sales of its DS predecessor, which hit the market six years ago.

But what Sony and Nintendo currently fear most is not competition from each other, but instead competition from smartphones and tablets. The ubiquity of such mobile devices, with their enormous number of cheap – and in many cases free – game apps is making it harder for the likes of Sony and Nintendo to survive. Indeed, a recent analysis by Flurry Analytics will have made uncomfortable reading for executives at the two companies, with it being predicted that Sony and Nintendo will by the end of this year have taken 42 percent of the software revenue in the portable gaming market – down from 81 percent just two years ago.