Ben-DutkaPut aside the jabs of Sony "following" Nintendo for a moment. Let's be logical.
Sony says current sales for the PlayStation Vita are essentially "meeting expectations." Therefore, based on that statement, one would assume a price cut won't come in the foreseeable future. But there's no doubt that many analysts and other industry insiders see a mediocre performance when they look at Sony's new portable, especially if one considers the lackluster showing on Japanese sales charts once the launch craze died down.
Lest we forget, something similar happened to the Nintendo 3DS, which fell flat out of the gate. Nintendo reacted quickly and dropped the price, which spurred sales and with the help of more software, the unit has been doing fine ever since. Sony doesn't necessarily have to drop the price of the Vita immediately, but maybe sooner would be better than later. Can we really expect Resistance: Burning Skies , Gravity Rush , and some other highly anticipated software to overcome the relatively high price tag, which is a stumbling block for many consumers? Then there's the mobile gaming explosion and expansion, which makes things even tougher.
Then again, hardware sales are basically down across the board, so maybe Sony is just waiting for the industry – on the whole – to rebound. I wouldn't want to be making such decisions right now, that's for damn sure.
Well, it certainly couldn't hurt sales. But I think they need to work on expanding the available titles before they bother with a price cut. Every week, new stuff comes out on the PSN, but usually nothing for the Vita. Heck, all we got this update was that Tabletop Tanks game, and before that… well, it's been weeks since something new popped up there, so I don't recall.
Give us the software, Sony. No price cut will help you if gamers don't have things to play on it.
Burning Skies out next week, and Gravity Daze in June – it's coming, but it'll never match the release schedule of any piece of kit later in its life. It has a better range of games than most other consoles _and_ handhelds at this stage of its life, and that's (rightly) not counting PSP games and Minis.
They absolutely should issue a price cut effective immediately or at least by July. My daughter's birthday is coming soon and she wants a Vita.
Of course I'm getting her one regardless, but the cheaper on me, the better. I can't share anything I buy, with her, unless it's a physical copy. So that will help curb any digital copies, except for digital only availability.
Last edited by tes37 on 5/23/2012 10:27:27 PM
no need.this system is worth every penny after E3.
Honestly, the Vita needs gaming experiences that you simply cannot find on home consoles.
There is no point in paying good money for a port/rehash game on Vita that is already available on the PS3 and also plays better. And possibly costs less.
The reason Nintendo's 3DS has taken off is because you have games there that most people cannot play anywhere else. the new Kid Icarus game, the new Resident Evil Revelations, the new Kingdom Hearts, Fire Emblem, etc. Even the new Mario 3D Land & Mario Kart 7 play differently enough to the console versions. Enough to warrant a purchase.
The Vita needs games that are unique to the system. And maybe a new IP that would demand people to buy a Vita in order to play it.
But generally speaking, it just needs a constant flow of good games. This more than a price cut.
Like, say, Uncharted:Golden Abyss, Resistance Burning Skies and Gravity Daze? ;).
3 games does not a 300+ dollar device make!
ie it needs a hell of allot more to warrant its price tag!
this is exactly why i got rid of mine.
you pay a arm and a leg for the device, than another leg for the games, and a eye for the accessories.
and all you get is so few new experiences, and the rest things you have already played 100+ times before!
and the few "new" games are not exactly new either.
golden abyss is so like uncharted 3, burning skies is like the original resistance.
only original game available on the vita is gravity daze.
so let me rephrase my first line.
1 game does not a 300+ dollar device make!
I think we early adopters have already adopted. A price cut announcement at E3 would be a big help in boosting Vita sales.
That and, of course, some big title drops. Still waiting impatiently for Gravity Rush!
What they should do is sell it for $100 with a 2 year contact of $15/month to w/e. I mean MS haven't received any backlash for it.
Yes, they been coping nintendo for a while, a vita price cut will be the smartest decision copycat move sony can make.
Are you sure that Nintendo invented the price cut? Seems like a phenomenon I witnessed before, as far back as a child, but different products were involved..
I love my Vita and do not regret purchasing it.
With that said I think it does need a price cut. Not just on hardware, but software as well.
The Ubisoft prices are a joke and all PSN major titles should be cheaper.
Why would I pay 39.99 for a dl title that Gamestop has for less and with a b2g1 at almost every retailer?
Not to mention I can resale physical copies if I dislike them or get bored.
No chance with a dl game.
If the prices were better I'd download everything!
I'm hoping E3 has so many Vita announcements and that this holiday we have a ton of must have games…but Sony has been disappointing me lately (Nintendo failed me and MS is a joke, so disappointment is still better)
Regarding Sony saying current sales is meeting expectations: They can't really say anything else. They can't say something that in reality means "surprisingly few seemed to want this thing so please all, don't buy the Vita right now cause surely we need to cut the price soon". They just can't. So this is only marketing speech. If anything it meets the adjusted expectations after the lukewarm initial reception.
What's more interesting though, is how to change this for the better. Price cut will lead to more sales, that's almost a law of nature. But is it the ticket to success? I seriously doubt it.
Last edited by Beamboom on 5/24/2012 1:25:02 AM
Nintendo did just that. They admitted that the 3DS post-launch sales were below their expectations. And price cut surely helped them. I didn't see that many good games coming out for the 3DS at that time, yet it was selling very well after the price cut. Looks like price cut did it for them.
Well then kudos to Nintendo for that. I don't remember Sony ever doing anything like that? All I ever hear from that direction is carefully calculated marketing speeches.
Nintendo could do it because they weren't going to sale it at a net loss. So my question is can sony do it without losing money?
Except Nintendo did take a loss with the 3DS and lost money with every one sold at $170 and apparently still is. The 3DS price cut along with the Wii basically being dead brought Nintendo its first yearly loss in the company's 30+ years in the industry. The difference is that Nintendo will likely recover as the 3DS continues to pick up sales but Sony has been hemorrhaging money for years now. Then again, if the WiiU flops Nintendo is potentially in deep doodoo.
As for doing it without losing money, well it depends on what they're losing per unit and how much those costs are offset by the memory cards.
As I just said below I think we're much more likely to see a bunch of bundles before we see price drops. I don't think a $50 drop is going to suddenly boost Vita sales into the six figures without giving people a few more reasons to buy one.
IMO the Vita's problems right now can mostly be attributed to Nintendo's handling of the 3DS. People saw Nintendo's desperate move with that huge price drop after only four months (don't care what anyone says, Nintendo dropped it so far because of the Vita price announcement) and seeing the Vita at the same price the 3DS was expect the same thing to happen. The other part is Sony being so damn secretive about pricing of the memory cards and all that. They waited until damn close to the last minute and probably only let them out when they did because of Gamestop's jacked up prices, which could have been a ploy to see the reaction people would have.
That said, Sony could end up cutting the Vita's price at E3 but I still think they'll hold off as they're already almost certain to announce a PS3 price drop. They'll probably work with stores to have some big sales over the holidays and do the Vita's price drop next year as they clear out stock for the Vita's first hardware revision in fall 2013. Then again, they could drop the PS3 and Vita to $200 for a nifty marketing angle.
Official bundles incoming!
I think the most important bundle I'd wanna see would be a 32gig card with the vita for $250, I think that is what is keeping a lot of people away from this device atm, that and there is a serious lack of games. Ofcourse, having no BC for UMD is also a pretty big negative aswell,sure wish I lived in Japan, would get digital copies for my umd for free……
Yes, but not yet they need to wait for a killer game like Call of Duty or something. Drop the price on the same day they could sell a lot of units.
I think the price is fine. The hardware is amazing. It just needs games. I for one feel their are enough games right now. Especially with RBS and GR coming out soon. However, I would really like to see the Vita included in PS+ sales. There has been no love for Vita in PS+. Also, it would fly of the shelves if they allowed PS1 and the rest of the PSP library. They also need to get the remote play going. Vita will be fine they just need all the above to happen soon. E3 is going to be huge for Vita.
Yes. Are you kidding me? 40 bucks is just way too much for any handheld game.I bought every RPG for the Vita that was under 19 bucks. They were worth it. 9 bucks for FFT war of the lions. I could go on and on.
Sony is dropping the ball HARD with the Vita. It is too bad.
The best game on the Vita right now is Hotshots Golf and I am having a BLAST playing online tournaments with my friends.
I can't wait for Madden. I'm still up in the air about a FOS being on the system. I want to play BF and COD on a big screen.
OK. I want to say this. 40 bucks for MMORPG or any 100 hour plus RPG is ok. You get your moneys worth. For me, 40 bucks for any Uncharted game for the Vita is a no no and I, and many others, just will not pay it. But there are some who would because they like the game.
So Sony will ALWAYS put the prices high at first, then come down after all the kids who GOT TO HAVE THE GAME NOW get it.
Uncharted Golden Abyss is actually retailing for $50, which I thought was ridiculous. I did give $40 for it. I think $30 should be the average price of new Vita games.
Um, guys, Inflation…remember it? There's no freaking way that vita games are going to cost less than PSP games, so just drop this whole $30 per game nonsense. Inflation means it's already more expensive to make the games, and the $40 price for a game is already in real terms less than we paid for PSP games. So let's just stop being cheap, OK?
I pay full price for 90% of my games and never buy used. I'm far from being cheap. You might say my perception is a little skewed, but cheap is not a good descriptor of me.
Not to mention that flash memory costs more to produce than a UMD. Despite the perceived higher prices games today are pretty much as cheap as they've always been or cheaper.
There should be more active use of the sliding scale really, prices are already set at $30-$50 for Vita games but of course a lot of publishers price their games at $40 just because they can. Straight ports of console games probably should sell for $30 though, especially if they offer cross play.
Eh, of the four physical Vita games I own (Rayman, Uncharted, HSG and Wipeout) I paid on average something like $8 each for them and next to nothing for my 32GB memory card thanks to Amazon promo credit and other credits along with my 3G Vita.
But I have no problem paying $40 for a good game that deserves the price. If I feel it doesn't then I don't buy it right away. I've had Gravity Rush pre-ordered since October of last year. I'll finally have retail game number five (and the damn game I wanted a Vita early for when it was supposed to be a launch window game >_<) in 19 days, whoo!
I have Gravity Rush pre-ordered also. Making it game number six for me.
For me, it'll probably take a price cut and some time. For the PSP, it took the release of Crisis Core for me to move to a purchase.
In other words, there can be lots of AAA titles, and it still might not be enough. For me, there pretty much has to be something that I consider to be a MUST have. I'm currently perfectly happy with my PSP still.
Yes! If you have been watching the Japanese weekly sales you will notice how surprisingly low the sales have been. It's getting outsold by the 3DS 8:1 which is surprising because there were times when the oriiginal PSP was able to beat Nintendo's handhelds in the Japanese market. I thought the Vita would be a lot more competitive than it has been. I also saw a an article on CVG that highlighted the Vita's struggles in Europe vs the 3DS. The 3DS sold 1 million plus during the same it took the Vita to reach 100,000 sold. So it's getting outsold 10:1 in Europe if that article was acurate.
The Japanese market has to be the main concern for Sony. They have been very supportive of Sony handhelds in the past but for whatever reasons they just aren't taking a liking to the Vita. Without the Japanese market the PSP most likely would have been considered a failure. Sony should not forget that. Some have said the Vita's launch line up was more tailered for the West and that's why the Vita has struggled in Japan. There might be some truth to that.
I know several gamers who have a PSP but they have told me they aren't getting a Vita. The first thing they mention are the outageous price for memory cards. So, maybe Sony should include a memory card with every Vita.
It's a major games issue, the 3DS had some big releases right before the Vita game out, games that the Vita titles could not compete with. Plus IIRC it took Monster Hunter coming to the PSP for that handheld to really take off over there. Sony screwed the pooch once again by not doing anything to secure big third party IPs.
It could use a few killer apps…
Call of Duty (not a port of Black Ops 2)
GTA Vice City Nights (new engine, new graphics, new story, same setting)
Final Fantasy Tactics Touch (great way to push the Vita's capabilities)
2D platformers (handhelds were made for them!!)
It'll almost definitely be a port of Blops 2. But if it had cross-platform online play between the two systems that'll be a key marketing point…at least over Xbox anyway
it needs exactly what the 3DS needed!
more games, more experiences exclusive to it, and a price drop!
and not only a price drop on the unit itself but a price drop on the games and accessories!
cant believe how expensive vita games are!
i just picked up future soldier for 60 bucks!
thats 20 bucks more than burning skies is going for!
how the &^%$ is a crappy vita game worth 20 bucks more than one of the best ps3 games ever released!?
i never thought id see the day where handheld games are worth 20 bucks less than console games!
let alone 20 bucks more!
1. Vita will get a price drop, probably around the time of the TGS.
2. Vita has many more games coming, some will help particularly in Japan, some will help particularly in the West.
People will apparently demand a price cut for just about any reason these days. It seems that the days of getting what you paid for are lost in the mists of time. Honestly if we truly get what we pay for, then some of you would get very little for what you are apparently willing to pay.
NO FU**ING way
wtf seriosuly at LEAST not till next year fine bundle a game this season but they better not drop it yet… if they do they better give me 50$ psn credit…
we buy the thing for 300+ bucks n 3 months later they drop the price? no way….that sucks EITHER WAY i gurantee you online right now you can buy a 3g bundle now for 250 (im glad i paid a total of 275 with tax for mine on launch day but for the others that wernt lucky that kinda sucks)
im hoping if they do decide to have a price cut and follow the 3ds they better follow nintendo's ambassador program… BUT NOT with a crappy issuance of games ..IMO whatever price they drop it issue that much credit to the psn wallet for current owners of vitas…
but anyway thers one of two prices they will go with though once they do it ..it will either be
229 for wifi and 279 for 3g
or
199 for wifi and 249 for 3g
im looking forward for a credit of either 20 or 50 bucks not sum lame games to be put out tho or given like fu**ing mini's WE shud have the option of what to download from the store… you better be listening sony or else you pissed off a loyal 15yr customer… in which case the vita will be the last sony product i buy…
15 yr customer and you are willing to never buy a Sony product again over $50? Your loss…
Yeah, people were getting the 3G model from Lockerz for less than $250… It's possible to get it cheaper but most people are too lazy to do their research.
If Sony were to give anything it would probably be a year subscription to PS+ and TBH that can end up being "worth" more than $50 with all the freebies (as long as PS+ is active, heh) you get.
Last edited by PHOENIXZERO on 5/24/2012 2:22:11 PM
DjStiv3, are you related to our own Anonymous Cowherd aka Mr Underline? You sure sound a lot like him.
For whatever reason, I don't think having more games and a pricecut would do much help. The problem with Sony has always been marketing, in my opinion. Even if they do have all the games, not very many people would know about it anyway. A small example is how my friends know about the Kinect and its games, but have no idea what the PS Move is.
Don't get me wrong though, more software equals more success, BUT only to the hardcore gaming community. Plus, Sony's games just can't match the popularity of Nintendo's franchise and appeal. If they want to be as successful as Nintendo, they're gonna have to reach out to people outside of the hardcore group. I can't stress enough that the Vita needs to be marketed for more than just a video game machine.
Nintendo may get its advantage in games, but Sony has the advantage in hardware. Show that to the people Sony!! Show what the device is capable of (multimedia, apps, touch panels, NEAR, graphics, processor etc.) other than games! It's the only real advantage you have! Look at Apple's advertising on their phones. It has nothing to do with calling, but people talking to it like it's a human being. Even Nintendo showed off it's internet browser and camera capabilities with their 3DS. People need to be ensured this is the tech to own for the future. You can't do that just by showing ads of people playing games on the go. That's nothing new.
Last edited by daus26 on 5/24/2012 3:26:25 PM
Short answer…. No.
Long Answer….
http://gamingjudgement.com/an-e3-price-cut-for-the-vita-dont-get-your-hopes-up/
An article I wrote on the subject…
I bought a Vita, 8gb card and Uncharted a couple of months ago. $410 australian. Expensive yes, worth it? You bet!
Since then I've got Lumines, Virtual Tennis, Unit 13, Rayman as physical media. Downloaded God of War ghost of sparta, velocity, pure chess, dragons lair (yes I can remember the original), angry birds (for the kids honest), Super Stardust, Escape Plan (beautiful), and Motorstorm RC.
There are more games available than I have money or time to play them. The Vita is a brilliant piece of kit and well worth the money.
If you want one buy it or save up and buy it. If you don't fancy one go back to your console. The constant whining over the price. For the love of god stop!!! This entitlement generation. I would love a new car but its too expensive. I'm not going to phone up Ford and ask them to drop the price!
Well said! 🙂
A price cut is very unlikely. Before the 3ds price cut, nintendo was actually making a profit on each unit sold. After the price cut, nintendo is taking a loss on each unit sold. Sony is already taking a loss on each unit sold at it's current price, so dropping the price anymore would mean a pretty harsh loss on every unit sold. As far as software goes, as of right now it looks like the 3ds will be getting much more. Why? Because while using more top end technology to develop is nice, it's much better to develop for a larger audience. There are far more 3ds units out there then vita's, and so far it's audience is buying games in a pretty good number. I feel pretty confident that we will be hearing about 3ds connectivity with the Wii U pretty soon. Why is that significant? With the circle pad pro, the 3ds is awfully similar to that new wii u controller. If you can use it as an additional controller, I'm sure we will be seeing another sales boost for the 3ds. Price drops are nice, but things like this are the best way to boost sales. Increase sales by showing the consumer that they are not only buying something fun today, but something great in the future. The vita has some decent games available, but not many that feel like anything more then a pseudo console experience.
u really can't compare the two systems as Nintendo was overpriced (trust me i was dumb paid full price) for what you didn't get out of it, i still kick myself for not waiting,anywase the vita from what iv'e seen and tried is worth spec wise every penny it's just the advertising for it is no where to be found (KB where are you) and stores aren't really pushing it with cool promotions ect.. so it's dying fast not cause lack of specs for the system but lack of advertisment and push from Sony. If they do price cut it, it would help but htey need the games, Nintendo dropped theres and it still was boring cause it didn't have games to back it up, it just actually started getting the games but still lacks interesting games and nintendo still sticks with Mario which not to knock mario but he's getting boring.
The thing is, Sony is a BIG company – I mean a BIIIIIIG company, and they have proven – like with the PS3 – that they will deal with less-than-stellar sales for a long time before lowering the cost.
Nintendo makes money on every piece of hardware they sell. Sony and Microsoft both sell their hardware at a loss, knowing they'll make up the difference and more with the sell of software, which after a certain point, is essentially free. Especially 3rd party software that they take absolutely no risk in, and still get paid for every copy sold.
That said, I imagine at this point, it cost Sony more than $249 to make. THat price will drop as the components get cheaper, and eventually they will lower the price. But I don't expect that to happen in the next 4 months. Maybe right before the holidays, but even then I don't expect to to be $199.
To me, the reason I won't buy a Vita any time soon is I bought a fully functional Android Tablet for $249 – and spent another $49 on a BlueTooth controller, and now I have console-level games via OnLive – AND – a FULL Tablet (Netflix, complete Web browsing with Flash, word processing, Angry Birds, hundreds of thousands of Apps). It is a TON more capable than a Vita, and has more games. With OnLive, it has more console-level games even. And that's not counting the metric tonne of Angry Bird level games through Google Play.
The controls are great on a Vita. The Back Touchpad is a genius idea, But those 2 things alone, and a handfull of exclusive epic games, are not enough to sell me on a $300 device that is so very limited in every other way.
When I first heard about the Vita, I thought it was going to be an actual Android tablet. With Sony making announcements around the same time about the Xperia Play and the Sony S Tablet – and the "Playstation Certified" stuff, I thought for sure that's what the Vita was going to be. Obviously, I was wrong. If that what it was, I would have bought one on day one. And I don't think I would have been alone.
If they are truly "meeting expectations" and it's not just a statement being made to save face for worse than expected sales, do not expect them to lower the price any time soon. As long as they are meeting their targets financially, it's a win for them and they're not trying to explain away shortfalls to budget to their board or investors.
lol nintendo reacted quickly? it came out like march and they dropped the price by september or sumthing thats not quick… and they gave shitty stupid games that ppl have played a thousand times and it wasnt even the good ones like how about mario 2 or 3? or world on gba no it was shit games with low replay value and they think they were worth 80 fu**ing dollars …we truly got ripped off by nintendo they can lick my balls*ck if they think ill buy sumthing from them again i shud have stopped with my first nintendo console the snes…
when i can start playing my psp games that i already own on the vita without having to rebuy the title, i will buy one. as it is i wouldnt get one even if it was free..i have a nintendo DS and i can still play my tetris game that came with my gameboy when it first came out on it. backwards compatibility is a big issue for me. Sony only reason to stop backwards compatibility to PS2 games on the PS3 is so they can resell the games on the PS network, not because of "hardware issues"
Last edited by clue on 5/28/2012 11:58:44 AM
Yes they should, Vita is bombing in sales, and you can't let that happen in Japan. Vita is lacking the jrpgs etc games that Japan wants. It's also lacking games I want. lol