Vita game downloads day-and-date with retail

Sony's Chris Norden has confirmed that all PlayStation Vita retail games will be available on launch day through the PlayStation Network.

Speaking at GDC Online, reported by Gamasutra, Norden claimed the strategy was partially motivated by the desire to make the Vita a "completely self-contained device."

Later in the session, Norden responded to a question from the audience about free-to-play support on the device.

"You are free to explore whatever business model you want. You'll have to talk to your account manager, and say, 'Here's my idea, and here's what I wanna do,' but yes, you're allowed to do that," he said.

Norden also confirmed that there will be a 20 megabyte download restriction on the 3G model - the same as an iOS device - at the behest of AT&T. However, there will be no download restriction over Wi-Fi.

Earlier this week, the official Japanese prices for Uncharted: Golden Abyss suggested that Vita games will be cheaper to download than to buy in-store by around 20 per cent - excluding any discount applied by retailers.

Uncharted's official retail price is roughly equivalent to a PlayStation 3 game, and has been widely critcised as too high for software on a handheld device.