PS Vita struggles in Japan

Despite anticipation and strong reviews, the PS Vita’s version of LittleBigPlanet has failed to own the Japanese market.

Although the Japanese market tends to differ in some respects, the handheld market is fairly strong there – unfortunately, the sales for LBP on the Vita don’t reflect that.

According to Media Create, during LittleBigPlanet’s launch week, ending September 23, the game sold less than 6,000 copies in Japan; the handheld games that kept selling well were ported PSP games and 3DS titles, including Final Fantasy II for the PSP at number one.

Speaking about PS Vita sales, Sony UK boss Fergal Gara told Eurogamer that strong software development will get the console by.

“What’s important is we’ve got great software now as we face into peak," he says.

"We’ve seen it time and time again on Sony platforms and others’ platforms: when you’ve got great software you can give it a great push.”

Gara says that although there is currently no set plans to drop the price of the PS Vita, they are attempting to encourage retailers to boost their sales.

“We won’t have an across the board price down this Christmas," he says.

"But what you will see us doing is work very hard with our retail partners to add value to the product to make it more compelling."

But judging from the Japan sales, the Vita might not be compelling enough – what do you think? Is there a place for the Vita in the handheld market? Let us know below.