Vita Vs. 3DS sales, is it what it seems?

Recently the big talk on many forums and sites is the sales figures for Vita’s launch.  Launch weekends sales puts Vita at 320,000 units sold.  Most people are pointing out that 3DS came out with a 370,000 units on it’s launch weekend.

While many still figure these sales numbers are excellent and still should be labeled a success, you can’t resist comparing the two.  But the question that hit my mind today was maybe a bigger picture.  Could the sales difference be caused by a bigger problem.

On February 26th, 3DS launched.  Fans and newcomers flocked stores to snag it up.  Selling over 370,000 units on it’s first weekend.

Sales were good, and they kept up until a tragic day in March 11th.  Of course, this day was when they had a 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake, followed by Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdowns.   Aside from the tragic death toll and dangers, they also had economic troubles.  

This threw 3DS sales and PSP sales down.  3DS from 96,000 the prior week to 61,000 the following.  PSP from 44,000  to 26,000.

But an interesting thing happened in the following weeks.  PSP peaked at 50,000 and 3DS sold at another dip to 50,000.  Then later, PSP outsold 3DS.

3DS was hurting, and Nintendo was panicing.  It was only when they chose to drop the price a whopping 80 bucks that sales kicked off again.

So the question comes, are these not just indications of lack of titles or people’s like/dislikes or maybe signs of people holding onto money in a troubling economy?  That some people chose to get PSPs because they were so much cheaper.

So at a time like this when Japan is still hurting, the thought of buying a new console with a price tag of nearly $400 (compared price from Yen/USD) may be too much.

So while I’m not here to excuse Vita from any bad sales, it’s an interesting thing to think of in the midst of bad press.  So I guess the question I have is, if 3DS shipped at release price after the earthquake, would it have still sold 370,000 units.

Some have also speculated that Vita will drop their price now, but I doubt that.  They were pretty firm on their price when the press questioned if they would follow 3DS when it first dropped it’s price.  That and PS3 held it’s huge price tag for quite some time.  Sony has made it clear they arnt budging.

What do you all think?  Is it the economy?  Is it their lineup?

Image From: GadgeHit.com