PlayStation Vita Hardware/Software Sales Improving

Are things looking up for Sony's handheld in Japan?

February 1, 2012

Japanese sales figures for both hardware and software are now in for the week ranging from January 23rd to January 29th. And while things aren't looking great for Sony in terms of PlayStation Vita sales (or even good, for that matter), sales have improved. Not only did PlayStation Vita sell more during this week than the previous week, but a new Vita release is also near the top of the software charts.

Sales figures translated by Andriasang show the PlayStation Vita having sold 18,942 units during the week in question, an improvement of over 3,700 Vitas from the week before. While still being outsold by Nintendo's 3DS by a ratio of over 4:1, any sign of improvement is a good sign for Sony.

Namco Bandai's Tales of Innocence R, an improved port of the Nintendo DS Tales of Innocence, sold extraordinarily well during this week as well, placing third overall on the software charts. 54,853 games were sold at retail, and that number doesn't take into account digital downloads via the PlayStation Network. No other PlayStation Vita games charted in the top 20 software sales chart.

During the same week, 3DS sold 84,789 units, while Sony's older handheld, PSP, sold 16,008 units. PlayStation 3 pushed 22,924 units during the week, outselling Microsoft's Xbox 360 by a ratio of over 18:1. Nintendo's Wii also continues to do respectably, selling just over 10,000 units.

Armored Core V topped the sales charted, releasing on PlayStation 3 and pushing 163,906 units at retail. The Nintendo 3DS game Resident Evil Revelations came in second with 146,559 units sold. Mario Kart 7 and Monster Hunter 3G, both for Nintendo 3DS, rounded out the top five, with 29,230 units and 27,032 units sold respectively.