Vita hangs on in Japan, 3DS almost to a million this year

Hangs on for dear life? That comment would have fit the PSPgo that was always at the 900 units per week mark. It doesn`t fit a new console release in it`s first couple of months. The days of huge numbers in the first 6-12 months are over. Many core gamers don`t buy anymore on new systems on the idea of "at someone point this announced game of my favourite series will come out on the system so I need to buy one right now". People changed to buying the systems for when the games they want are released in the hope to also get it cheaper then instead of when the games are announced.

I think many people learned a hard lesson from the 3DS and the current home consoles regarding of when a game is announced and when you can expect to buy it so instead they wait with buying the system. I remember the PS2 launch when it was difficult to find one for pre order because it was sold out everywhere, but those days are over. Since then you just need to walk into the shop on launch day and you will have no problem to get your console unless there would be a real killer game on it on launch.