Sony Vita Launch A Yawner

By Andria Rib, February 22, 2012

The Sony PlayStation Vita launched today in the US and Europe.

We’ve been looking for some excitement related to the launch: early morning lines, fights at stores over inventory, sell outs…

It was like that in Japan when the Sony Vita launched there. Well, ok, no fighting, Japanese culture is (mostly) too polite for that. But there were reports of thousands lined up at stores in Japan the morning of its launch. Of course, there was that embarrassing thing when Sony had to apologize the very next day for the bugs in the system. But still, it was reported that 325,000 sold in the first few days. Sounds good, but then sales fell 78% its second week on the market.

We’d love to be reporting tonight that the Sony Vita had an exciting launch here in the US. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen. There are a few reports that there were some early morning shoppers. But we have found no reports of lines. No reports of sellouts. No fusses over inventory.

Part of the lack of excitement may be that the Sony Vita has been available in the US for about a week, as a prelaunch premium bundle. Sony may have missed out on some positive publicity by having that package available before the official launch.

Jack Tretton, CEO and President of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview with IGN that his initial read on US sales is “very, very positive.” However, that interview was conducted late last week. He was referring to sales of the prelaunch bundle, peripherals such as memory, and games. Not what happened today.

No sales numbers from today’s launch are available yet, but we will update you here at NFS when then come out.

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Andria Rib
Andria loves to shop and loves to save money when she's shopping! An avid couponer and bargain hunter, Andria regularly cuts her grocery bill in half through purposeful coupon management. She shares her love of shopping, fun, and entertainment, here at News For Shoppers.