Following a fairly lukewarm debut in Japan, the PS Vita has been well received in Europe. In spite of a fairly slow start in Japan, there is good news for Sony following the global release of the PS Vita. With the Vita now available in all major territories, it is now possible to compare the sales figures of both the latest portable consoles.

Due to a staggered launch in the US, the first week sales figures will include the first edition bundle that was released on February 15th, which sold around 70,000 units. Bearing this in mind, VG Chartz report that the Vita sold approximately 300,000 units in North America, which is around 25% less than the 3DS in the same timeframe. The system even sold fewer than the original PSP during its first week on sale in North America (410,000).

Europe, on the other hand, seems to have embraced the Vita, with a confirmed 125,000 systems sold in the UK alone. Although the European sales could not top the PSP’s impressive 2005 launch, the Vita sold an estimated 380,000 units during its first week in Europe. Importantly, the Vita enjoyed more sales that the 3DS (330,000) in the period of time.

Including sales from the Japanese launch at the end of 2011, the Vita has cleared a total of 1 million units in its first week. This puts its total sales at an estimated 1.4 million units.

Industry analysts believe that a strong set of launch titles has helped PS Vita’s positive start. As of February 25th, FIFA Football has sold an estimated 80,000 copies, while Uncharted: Golden Abyss has received 330,000 sales worldwide. These figures are great news for Sony, Naughty Dog, and the Uncharted Franchise, especially following the critical and commercial success of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception on the PS3.