Sony says "it's too early" for PS Vita price cut
Cost reductions will come, but Shuhei Yoshida says it will take time
Many feel that a price cut would potentially give a shot in the arm to the PS Vita and possibly give it a lift before the coming holiday season. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida, however, indicates that isn't likely to happen and that some of the recently announced bundles for the system will have to suffice.
"People like cheap or free," he said. "Of course, cost reduction is one area our engineering team is working on. But we just launched the platform earlier this year. It takes time to do so."
"At a certain point in the future we would like to address the pricing issue for some of the people who are waiting. But this year we are trying to add value by creating different types of bundles. We announced we will provide LittleBigPlanet PS Vita bundle pack. That's affordable for people who are looking for a good deal."
When asked flat out about a price cut, Yoshida said, "No, it's too early."
Nintendo cut the price of the 3DS from $249.99 to $169.99 in North America a half year after launch when early sales failed to meet company expectations. Sales of the system improved after the price cut and Nintendo recently launched the first 3DS variation in the 3DS XL.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by James Verity on 17th August 2012 7:18pm
Apple may get away with charging more for memory, and indeed, making memory no expandable on iOS, but then game file sizes are much lower on average.
(For what it's worth, my anecdotal evidence is that the price is not much of an issue at all amongst my friends and I who considered but didn't buy Vitas. Effectively locking the console to a single PSN account was the biggest problem for most of us, followed by a lack of software.)
Even without quantifiable facts and data, at the crucial point running up to Christmas, I personally have no doubt a price cut would be a massive boost to the sales of the platform. I'm of of many that would go out and buy it at a new, even more aggressive price point whilst I would continue to ignore the 3DS.
Also, memory prices are a joke and I don't know why Sony can't see what they're doing wrong. They need to slash the prices right down to compete with SDHC or at the very least MicroSDHC prices...
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Adam Campbell on 22nd August 2012 6:05pm