PS Vita Sales Continue To Plummet

Sony's PlayStation Vita portable gaming console debuted in Japan last December with a strong opening week, but sales quickly took a nose dive. Sales have now plummeted to 18,361 units in week five, a drastic 95 percent drop from the 324,859 units sold in the first week and a more than 50 percent drop from the previous week.

The sales tracking data, which came from Media Create, shows the progression of PS Vita sales over the past five weeks as listed below:

Week 1: 324,859

Week 2: 72,479

Week 3: 42,648

Week 4: 42,915

Week 5: 18,361

Other gaming consoles, such as the 3DS, PS3, and PSP also experienced a decline in sales following the holiday period, but none had dropped below 20,000 units. The fifth week rankings, which are from January 9 to January 15, shows the 3DS continuing to take the lead at 100,668 units, followed by the PS3 at 30,332, the PSP at 22,538 and then the PS Vita at 18,361.

Despite these poor numbers on the PS Vita's Japan launch, its US release could fare better. Sony has a staggered lineup of game releases with major franchise titles that should carry PS Vita sales in the months following the launch period.

[via Andriasang]