Sony Encouraged by Strong Holiday 3DS Sales
Or was it Bieber Fever that helped sell the 3DS?
This headline calls for a double take. Why in the world would Sony be happy that a competitor is selling well?
The 3DS is dead! The PlayStation Vita is dead! Who needs a dedicated gaming handheld when iPhones, iPads and Androids do gaming just fine?!?!
Remember that?
Holiday sales of Nintendo’s 3DS certainly prove that theory to be far from the truth. This makes Sony happy, because it means that this market isn’t as extinct as analysts, pundits, and regular Joe’s alike like to make it out to be.
Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe president and CEO Jim Ryan said, while speaking to MCV:
One of the encouraging things about 3DS’ sales performance at Christmas is that it is confounding the naysayers who say that there is no room in the market for a dedicated handheld gaming device. And to that extent we were encouraged by how 3DS did over the last month.
Sure, Sony would rather the PlayStation Vita be the only system raking in the dough, but the 3DS does prove that the future might not be as bleak for the PlayStation Vita – or the 3DS for that matter – as mainstream media was so quick to point out, again and again.
iPhones, iPads and other smartphones do play games, but they don’t do it anywhere near as well as the PlayStation Vita. And until they do, there will always be a market for dedicated gaming systems like the PlayStation Vita and 3DS.
What say you?
12 Responses to “Sony Encouraged by Strong Holiday 3DS Sales”
I have an Android myself, so I know what they mean when they say that you can play games on it. Problem is that I have yet to find a game for my phone that can keep me as engaged and into the “story” (which 95% of the games don’t even have) so it will never truly replace an actual handheld gaming device for me. The Android games are just to keep me busy and from falling asleep for a few mins to maybe an hour at most (if I switch games every 10-15 mins) before I get bored of that too. Compared to beating Infamous 2, God of War 3, AC2 and Brotherhood on the day I got them in one sitting.
play Shadowgun.
Shadowgun is good for a phone game but really it lacks anything fun, I would say the same thing even if you would have said Dead Space. Even if these games were comparable to anything the Vita or PSP has to offer, the touch controls would kill anything positive. Hell I would rather say Modern Combat 2 than shadowgun but than again I didn’t finish that game either. They all have the same fate, UNINSTALL
If only we had Christmas in February. Maybe they are counting on good post Valentines Day sales.
It was nothing to do with the big price cut the 3DS got SONY, it was just Bieber Fever that made the 3DS sell loads LoL
+ i am getting a Smartphone this year but not for its games. I can’t play the brilliant up & coming PSVita games unless i own a er PSVita;)
Real gamers will still be buying handhelds over phones and tablets for portable gaming. You don’t buy a cell phone for the calculator, you just use it because it is convenient sometimes. So far, from what I can tell, Infinity Blade 1 and 2 are the only games out for those devices that make them worthwhile for gaming. 2 games isn’t enough to make it a dedicated handheld like system.
I would rather play a game on a original GameBoy than to waste any time (and precious battery life) on any cell phone based game.
Wait a minute did PSLS try to convince us that good 3DS sales were due to Justin Bieber? If anything he’d be a reason to steal every 3DS and burn them in a giant pit.
Though I doubt Justin Bieber had a huge part in the sales, the 3DS sold really well over the holidays. A lot of people thought the Vita was doomed to fail because there was no market for dedicated handhelds, but the 3DS proved that it’s not only cheap SmartPhone shovelware that can sell. Unfortunately, this doesn’t guarantee the Vita will win over people. Hopefully people will adopt the Vita in time so that it will get support from third parties and get some great first-party titles!
I dunno, Bieber fans are some of the most gullible sheep I’ve ever seen, so it probably helped sales, unfortunately. Anyway, I think Sony will be pleasantly surprised with sales of the Vita in North America and Europe. I feel it has a solid lineup for Western audiences – surprisingly, it didn’t launch with many Japanese-appealing titles IMO.
Yeah but with the attitude some if not most Japanese gamers have a bad-Japanese appealing line up basically means, every title wasn’t a JRPG. We only need to look at the charts in Japan to see there’s literally no western games up there plus their negative attitude of the 360 resoting to burning them because how dare us westerners try and get involved in making games consoles.
So yeah not to get Xenophobic and lash out at a nation of gamers because I’m sure not every Japanese gamer is like that but I’m betting the PS Vita will enjoy a better response from North America and Europe.
ummmm…so most people who get Xmas presents in Japan aren’t people, they’re children. the only adult who gets a present on or around Xmas is usually a gift from a lover. as Vita is aimed more to adults, you’d have to have a rich girlfriend to expect a Vita for Xmas (or people to be buying Vita on account of Xmas)
to expect a Xmas present as an adult in Japan, is like to expect an easter basket as an adult in the US.