Japanese Sales Charts: Soul Sacrifice Pushes Vita Above 3DS

Unreal! Never thought I'd see the day.

Good news. All folks wanted was a price drop, and then PS4 will come help crush these stats mwahaha.

@get2sammyb The problem is keeping it there for more than a week which sadly it just won't do. And the 3DS has some strong games coming out soon, not least the game I'm most looking forward to this year: Luigi's Mansion 2. Another problem is that at E3 I can see tonnes of games being announced for the 3DS and around a handful for the Vita.

Just seen Animal Crossing - which has been out for a while - sold just under 30,000 less than Soul Sacrifice. What Sony would do for a game like that on Vita.

If the sales number stay strong, hopefully Capcom will start supporting Vita.

@rastamadeus, I disagree. Miyamoto JUST said in an interview that he thinks E3 is a poor place to make announcements and that it is best to just offer a chance to try out new games there. He said that Nintendo Direct is where they'll make most of their announcements. So enjoy the ND that just happened a couple weeks ago cuz there's all your announcements. Vita on the other hand is gonna get FLOODED with new game announcements as developer after developer jumps on board due to the price drop sales bump over there and soon to be here.

P.S. The 3DS has NO 3rd part support. You won't see any major 3rd party franchises like Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty or even another Resident Evil game coming to the 3DS while Vita will be gettin new installments annually. Why would a 3rd party waste time on 3DS when dumb kiddy copycat game like NSMB 2 sells 7 million copies and a once in a generation epic like RE Revelations can barely get to 600k despite not having any competition on the system in the genre it released??

Welcome to the next generation

Whether you're a Nintendo fan or not, you gotta admit this is some kinda underdog story. From being the WORST selling Eastern based console in the biggest Eastern market to becoming the absolute BEST Eastern based console in the biggest Eastern market, in terms of hardware AND software.

Technically speakin, the Vita has been the highest sellin system over there for 2 weeks, but last week only half counts since the 3DS & 3DS XL combined to sell more. The XTREMELY good news is that we don't even need Vita to outsell the 3DS. We just need it to come relatively close. Since 3rd party games sell WAY better on Vita than on 3DS (as evidenced by huge sale #s for CoD, AC, and Gravity Rush on Vita and failed expectations for major 3rd party tiles like RE and Metal Gear Solid on 3DS) Vita is gonna continue to get support from major 3rd party players like Ubisoft, Activision, and Sega, and hopefully bring in some other heavy hitters like Capcom and Epic. 3DS on the other hand has literally no major 3rd party games even just rumored to be on the horizon, except from the occasional very niche, Nintendo loyal developer like Treasure (who I love btw)

@shinobi88 I'd say your comments show much more fanboyism than @rastamadeus .
I understand liking the vita, but saying that the 3DS has no third party support compared to the vita is simply being blind.

This is good news, for sony and 3ds owners, more vita's out there means more games will get made for it, so nintendo will have to respond with more games for 3ds ..... its a good time to be a handheld gamer.

This isn't surprising, I always knew the Vita would end up pulling this off sooner or later. Third party developers are going to be tripping over each other, trying to get on the Vita train.

Price drop plus Soul Sacrifice did the Vita well. Sony just needs a steady flow of games for the Vita to stay consistent in Japan.

Dang, that's still really close though. Still, it's good news that this happened. On one hand, it shows that the Vita is a force to be reconed with. On the other hand, it barely beat it, and it just had a price drop and Soul Sacrifice come out, show it shows that Sony has got to remain crazy competitive for this to last.

I hope for that, by the way. More competition means that interest in the sector will remain high, which means more games for both 3DS and Vita.

@shinobi88
In Japan, the amount of 3rd party support for the 3DS is staggering. In the west, both 3DS and Vita are pretty close in that regard. You seem to be looking at western games, which, quite frankly, just don't do that well when it comes to handhelds. The market seems to favor consoles in the west, whereas the east heavily favors the portable scene.
And Gravity Rush is a 1st party Sony product.
And from what I can tell, Black Ops Declassified and Assassin's Creed III: Liberation didn't do as well as Resident Evil: Revelations sales-wise, since that broke 700,000. And those two Vita-exclusives were pack-ins.

The vast, vast majority of games on both 3DS and Vita are 3rd party. Just look at the average store-shelf. It it's not published by Nintendo or Sony, it's 3rd party.

@shinobi88 @rastamadeus @moomoo 700.000 for about 20 million owners is pretty bad. AC liberation 600.000 on a install base of 4 million so if vita becomes as big as 3ds ( Installbase 20 million) ac liberation in comparison would sell 3 million copies

For rastamadeus: It always sounds if you dislike the vita. I am always scratching my head why you are here on a playstation only site and constantly comparing playstation products with Nintendo products. And saying sony should follow the path of Nintendo... Ugh , thats all

For shinobi88 : Overreacting! I mean the 3ds has a lot of support in the east:) I would pay a lot more dollars ( maybe $100 dollars) for games like shin megami tensei ( that are coming to 3ds.. you know the guys of persona...) currently playing persona 4 and i would not want to stop with this game ( when the credits roll)... I am now in love with yukiko and grinded a lot to have a superstrong persona:D ( Couple of persona's) i would do everything for a persona 5

@Sanquine On here as I love video games. Simple as that. Also on Nintendolife for that very same reason. I'm not a Nintendo fanboy, I just really enjoy their games. I actually only own a PS3 and Vita at the moment. People like Shonibi88 - who has obviously had a bad day - are much more fanboyish than me and are the sort of gamers I really despise. Just makes you look like a thirteen year old trying to have a pissing contest.

@shinobi88 The Vita is struggling, accept it rather than trying to spin things like a politician. Like it or not Sony need to take a good long hard look at Nintendo and their handheld history. Every handheld has struggled (heavily) against Nintendo's and Sony didn't learn their lesson from the PSP (a damn fine machine which although still doing well was annihilated by the DS). That's simple fact and if you can't see that you need to take your fanboy glasses off.

PS: that "Miyamoto JUST said" comment made you seem like you scour the web looking for Nintendo-related material to argue about. But will give you some credit back for being a Treasure fan. Did your comment there mean they have a 3DS game on the way? That I didn't know.
But you have to admit their "underdog" story isn't true. It's one week. When it does it month after month then the story is true. I hope it does. I love my Vita and want more games on it.

@rastamadeus I really don't want to get involved in this, but in my opinion, Nintendo's handhelds sell well because it has Pokemon. It also has Mario, but I don't know many people who talk about him more than Pokemon.

So it's not really that Sony needs to learn from Nintendo, they just need something that can move as many handhelds as Pokemon. Which I doubt is possible since it's such a huge part of most of our childhoods. The only franchise that can compete with Pokemon would be Digimon, but the last few Digimon games have been terrible.

But like I said, it's my opinion.

You heard it here 1st folks, the current highest selling system in Japan is struggling. Wow. I never coulda guessed. 3DS has NO 3rd party support. And yes, I'm talkin about the West, which is where 99.9% of the peeps who frequent this board are from. You get NO major 3rd party franchises from the consoles. The only reason that RE Mercenaries, RE Revelations, and MGS 3D came to 3DS is that they were conceived before the system launched and it was perceived that the 3DS would appeal to hardcore gamers, which hasn't been the case. Since those games released, there has been no major 3rd party support aside from jokes that shouldn't even be considered games like the 3DS version of Disney Infinity which is a mini-game collection instead of the open world version, cruddy Sonic-Rush style games repeated ad nauseum, or the jillionth LEGO title no one cares about.

And the Vita had a big holiday season in the West so the only one who would describe it as struggling over here is lacking brain cells. Is it killin sales over here? Not yet, no. But with the inevitable price drop, the heavily rumored redesign, the 1st ever high-quality fully featured FPS on a handheld (krone mercs), and the ability to fully connect and stream games with the 1st next NEXT gen system (PS4), Vita is guaranteed to become a consistent sales juggernaut worldwide.

And like I said, Vita doesn't even need to beat 3DS, it just has to come close. 3rd party and original IP Vita games (like um, Soul Sacrifice sellin 114k in a week, maybe) sell at a much higher rate per console owner than 3DS games. And 3rd party devs are gonna go where they can make money.

And P.S. since I actually pay attention to the gaming world and y'all are just casual observers, Capcom was recently quoted as sayin they were disappointed RE Revelations only sold 600k and that other awesome lookin Lost Planet spin-off on 3DS didn't sell squat. Plus, that one didn't even come stateside, which brings up a whole other Vita advantage, aka no region lock. So I am 199% sure that Capcom, the ONLY major 3rd party dev givin 3DS hardcore game love, won't EVER bother makin another AAA hardcore title for the system. Which means they're either gonna quit makin games (doubtful) or give Vita some tender hearted lovin

@Rastamadeus : Oke, respect for that! I am now looking to visit Nintendo life more ( Just bought a 3ds and wii U , a week ago i got my paycheck walked past the store and thought what the heck just buy them:D) . Yes, the vita is struggelin but i think if sony keeps the software up it should be capable of becoming second place on the chart ( After the 3ds).

This is what the Vita needs, not "1337 grahpics" but good old fashioned games.

But the Vita still has a long road ahead, one mention of the word "Pokemon X/Y" or "Smash Bros. 3D" could take it right behind again.

@shinobi88

Aw man... I know right? the 3DS has no third party support! Man, looks at all them Vita exclusives out/coming out like Etrian Oddessy IV, Project X Zone, Ace Attorney 5, Bravely Default,Castlevania, Lords of Shadow, Adventure Time, Code of Princess, Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's wonderland, Fantasy life, Guild 01/02, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Inizuma Eleven, Sonic Generations (different enough to be a new game rather than a port) Rhythm Theif, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Theatrethythm and Unchained Blades!
...
.
OH WAIT.

Seriously, there are other countries in the world than America, you know.

@get2sammyb This right here.

@shinobi88 Wow just wow... Level 5 has developed/published about 2 dozen games for 3DS. Also Atlus has supported 3DS with, 4 SMT games, 1 etrain odyssey game, code of princess etc. Natsume has supported 3DS with 2 harvest moon games, and several other games. Sqaure enix has given 2 dragon quest games, 1 final fantasy spinoff, at least 2 new IPs, gyrozetter, kingdom hearts and is working on a sequel for one of those new IPs(bravely default flying fairy). Plenty of indie game support as well.

I could go on. Oh and you are misinformed on Capcom.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/02/fan_feedback_prompted_capcoms_resident_evil_revelations_hd_development

"Capcom has had little to say about the sales performance of Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS, but Takenaka refuted claims the publisher was attempting to make up for any perceived disappointment."

"We find that the reception from fans and critics was very positive and we were very happy with the sales given the 3DS market at the time of its release. It isn't anything to do with us trying to salvage any kind of lost opportunity; quite the contrary."

Happy for Vita though.

@rastamadeus : You were more restrained in reply than I probably would have been. Well done.

@shinobi88 Being the "casual observer" that I am, I can't really understand any of your points. I just want to know, how much time do you spend actually PLAYING games?

@magalor(maniac), seriously dude, not a single game you mentioned is a hardcore action title, or even an action title for that matter. Those are all Eastern-centric strategy, or adventure, or side scroller or whatever else genre you wanna call it that isnt hardcore

A hardcore action title, in the American sense, is a 1st or 3rd person game where you take a humanoid character and run around and blow the crud outta stuff. Im talkin your Halos, Call of Dutys, A. Creed, Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider, Gears of War. This is a factual statement: 3DS doesnt have a single game that fits that description in development or even rumored to be in development. Even if we include 1st Nintendo party games the only game that registers as slightly hardcore is the unnanounced Zelda title. Oh, Renegade Kid has an FPS in development but it only an eShop game so it has no multiplayer an will probly take 15 min to beat. Pokemon and Harvest Moon might appeal to me if I was 9 or a female. Vita on the other hand has already gotten a healthy dose of 3rd party hardcore support and with at the very least Ubisoft and Konami fully on board. I know man can not live on hardcore games alone. Id love to play a Luigis Mansion or DK Country. But if I own a system that has , by no exxageration, ZERO hardcore support, well then I wouldnt be no man. Remember, ALWAYS attack aggressively

@shinobi88 You can't just write off any game that isn't an FPS as not being a proper, 'hardcore' game, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

LOL=). Sony still needs to kill PSP. But there are still solid games on the horizon. 7-th Dragon 2020 -2, Summon Night 5, God Eater 2 and setera =). If you think about that, you can come to conclusion that Sony isn't really aggresive in promoting Vita. And that such slow change of generations was made intentionally =)))

Anyway, SHINOBI is right. I have a friend, who is really hardcore. He plays games most of you don't even know about =))). And he always tells that 3DS has nothing to give him. He has both 3DS and Vita, though =). But plays only Vita and buys games only for Vita. Look for example at Senran Kagura. On 3DS this game was made only with one purpose to show big boobs in 3D. But on Vita, it has become one of the best musou games ever created =). It still has big boobs and other stuff. But it is so much better in terms of gameplay....

hmm...expect ss to sell more with so much advertising...

Ninty didnt just lose the battle with Vita this week. Theyre down a cool $30 mill in court bc they stole the tech for 3DS. Guess Phoenix Wright was on vacation this month. Anyway, this is all pretty ironic seein how thats a very hardcore thing to do for a company that has NO hardcore games coming to its system.

@shinobi88 What? That is a stupid thing to say, Hardcore is nothing but a pathetic label so that Kids could play videogames and still feel like a big boy. I think the words that your'e looking for is "AAA"

And to be honest, you are sounding like a kid by saying things like "ZERO hardcore support, well then I wouldnt be no man". In terms of "These games aren't for gamers" Then does that mean that only kids and old grans play games like Etrian Oddessy and Monster Hunter IV? (The Monster hunter series, along with Kid Icarus Uprising, seem to fit your bill of "Hardcore") Seriously, not to be harsh, but you have a very flawed outlook on gaming, and you are brushing off a massive multitude of amazing games.

I got a 3DS first.
"YOUR A NINTENBOT!!!!"
I got a Vita, and I play it more.
"OMG SONY FANBOY!!!!"
What the FUCK, can't I just prefer something without being called a fanboy??!

Glad to see it ain't just me Shinobi88 is ranting against. Look mate, the Vita has done well in Japan this week. This week. Will it do the same next week? Hopefully, yeah. But when the Soul Sacrifice craze dies down the Vita sales will drop again. Sad but true. Overseas it's doing better but still nowhere near the 3DS which itself is struggling out of Japan.

For example I work in Liverpool but have to go round the country. I'd take my 3DS (before it broke) and Vita with me everywhere. My 3DS had over 2000 people on it in the Mii Plaza and I was getting SpotPassed regularly. It broke in October and i haven't replaced it yet. My Vita has picked up eleven Game Goods and sixty four people on Near. That's it. Now I don't know what it's like in America, where clearly you all like "hardcore" games, but that isn't good in any way.

If you come back at me, please don't shout the "hardcore" crap at me. It's simply not true. Or about 3rd patty support, the 3DS has more than the Vita. Everyone knows that and is why it's struggling, as people just aren't willing to make games for it. If the sales continue on an upward spiral they will but not after one solitary week.

@get2sammyb Is there any concrete news about a EU release. This looks tastier than Monster Hunter to me. Anything about Phantasy Star either?

@shinobi88 You are one sad little man. Stealing is "hardcore" to you? And you seem to need to be "hardcore" to consider yourself a man...Sooooo how is the peg leg treating you?

And that case seems very fishy anyways.

@rastamadeus May 1, 2013.

@Gemuarto Sweet. Will look forward to May even more then (birthday a few days after it's out).

Yeah, might as well say that Soul Sacrifice is looking pretty sweet.

If/when I get a vita, that will be a game that I buy

@LDXD @ Pikachupwnage Actually it's true what shinobi88 is saying , Nintendo lost a case to the man who originated the idea of the 3D tech, if you don't believe it here's the link http://spong.com/article/29158/Bad-News-for-Nintendo-Loses-USD30-Million-3DS-Tech-Court-Case

The best part was the guy was a former Sony employee, so now it's pretty much official that Nintendo doesn't always innovate as some of you point out..... As some of you don't know, the stereo chip that was built inside the SNES was made by Sony, no wonder the sound effects & music sounded so awesome for a lot of SNES games, especially the Capcom games. Not everything Nintendo does is innovation!