Sony: 'It's too early' for Vita price cut

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida says its engineers are working on manufacturing cost reductions that will eventually lead to a price cut, but this year is "too early."

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Sony's engineers are working on manufacturing cost reductions for the Vita so that it can eventually drop the price of the handheld, but it may be some time before we see results. In the meantime, Sony says it is working to attract new users with game bundles as a value-add.

"Of course, cost reduction is one area our engineering team is working on," Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said. "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," Yoshida told Eurogamer. For example, the company most recently announced a Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified bundle.

As for a price cut this year, Yoshida flatly denied the idea. "It's too early," he said.

He does say the company "would like to see more uptake" in sales, and the feedback from consumers suggests they want more games. "From our perspective, we were very pleased to launch with many titles. Many people said we had the strongest launch line-up for a PlayStation platform. But it's amazing how much more people want and how much content they consume." He says "the best way to realize the potential of the PS Vita platform is to provide the content."

Analysts have been calling for a price cut amid stagnant sales, but Sony has rejected the idea before. If you're waiting on a price cut to pick up the Vita, you'll be waiting until next year.

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  • reply
    August 16, 2012 11:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Sony: 'It's too early' for Vita price cut.

    Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida says its engineers are working on manufacturing cost reductions that will eventually lead to a price cut, but this year is "too early."

    • reply
      August 16, 2012 11:38 AM

      they don't need a price cut at this point, they need to include a small memory card and maybe a game that someone cares about. stores have been doing that on their own in recent months but i think we'll see the official AC:L bundle do it officially around xmas. sounds like that's what they're trying to do anyway

    • reply
      August 16, 2012 11:39 AM

      In other words, it's too early for me to get one. A Vita (WiFi) + stupid proprietary memory card + Uncharted = $350. Yikes.

      I want a Vita, but I'm leaning towards getting a 3DS XL.

    • reply
      August 16, 2012 11:51 AM

      Its too early for any games on the Vita.

    • reply
      August 16, 2012 12:17 PM

      Give me 3rd party titles I care about, a cheaper price with memory included, and PSX game support and I'm sold.

    • reply
      August 16, 2012 12:52 PM

      Give me the PS1 Doom and I might buy it. Also Duke3D.exe

    • reply
      August 16, 2012 2:27 PM

      its not just the console that is overpriced. its the games they are overpriced.... and not many are good

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        August 16, 2012 2:50 PM

        Apparently, they still haven't learned anything from their PSP experience. I get the feeling Sony tries to tell people what they should want rather than trying to figure out what people would actually pay for. And it's not just with consoles.

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      August 16, 2012 3:08 PM

      The hardware is worth $250 the system is not. All these exclusive titles are crap they need to just port over some down tuned games from the ps3. I don't have time to play console games due to work which is why I got a vita but they keep giving me exclusive derivative crap like Resistence and Uncharted that are done by 3rd party developers on an iOS budget. The new Vita exclusive Call of Duty game looks like shit. Why not just port the last one to the system? All that said the Mortal Kombat port is awesome and I got it for $10 at Gamestop.

    • reply
      August 16, 2012 5:31 PM

      it has been too late since vita launched, sweet handheld, but behind the times with today's smartphones.

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