E3 2012: Sony not planning PS Vita price cut, goal is to sell 10 million by March 2013

[garyopa]

'Absolutely too soon for a Vita price cut' says Yoshida



According to Sony, is 'absolutely too soon for a Vita price cut'. Also they expect to sell 10 million Vitas by March 2013!

According to Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida, the company is not planning a PlayStation Vita price cut.

He says it's "absolutely too soon" and that platform holder's "laser focus is to increase content" on the handheld.

“Oh, absolutely,” said Yoshida to Eurogamer when asked if 2012 was too soon for a PlayStation Vita price cut.

“From the value for money standpoint, we think we have a good price for what the system is. And our priority is to achieve the potential through more games and services.

“Of course people who are looking to buy are also talking about the price of PS Vita, especially when they have to buy a memory card as well. That’s something we have to spend time to cost reduce and address in the future. But now, our laser focus is to increase the content and to realise the potential of the system.”

Additionally, according to SCE president and group CEO Andrew House, Sony’s goal is to sell 10 million Vitas by March 2013...

“The end-of-year holiday season is extremely important for handheld game consoles,” House said in explaining how Sony hopes to reach its goal. “To that end, we’ve got showcase titles such as Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed coming out as well as our own first-party software. We also want to strengthen the Vita’s online services, so we’ll be adding YouTube and Hulu apps. We want to build up those two pillars: games and online.”

To date, the Vita has sold less than 2 million units since launching last December.

Without a price cut, do you think they'll manage reach that goal?

NEWS SOURCE #1: Sony not planning Playstation Vita price-cut (via) Gematsu
NEWS SOURCE #2: Sony's goal is to sell 10 million Vitas by March 201/ (via) VG247

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!

[JonathanD]

I kind agree with Sony on this one, too soon for a price cut. Also even if they did cut the price, its not the price of the machine thats holding back sales, it needs more games.

[billysastard]

Without a price cut, do you think they'll manage reach that goal?

with a price cut, some decent games and required accessories getting a massive price cut too as well as adding full remoteplay and a way for psp owners to carry over their games they would still struggle.

its alright going on about no price cuts but if it continues to bump along the bottom sales wise it wont take long for developers and publishers to simply stop supporting the platform altogether, lets say by some amazing feat sony do manage to hit 10 million by march 2013 will it even matter by then, as with another xmas under its belt the 3ds will be fully in its stride, possibly even about to get an update and so far ahead in sales that no publisher is even going to consider spending lots of money on developing for it when they can have lower development costs and 10 times the available market meaning the psv would end up as little more than something to port 2d versions of 3ds games onto.

[iLLNESS]

wtf crack is sony smoking?

vita is selling worse then 360, wii, ps3 and 3ds and i dont think even they will pull off 8 million units in the next 9 months.

[billysastard]

wtf crack is sony smoking?

vita is selling worse then 360, wii, ps3 and 3ds and i dont think even they will pull off 8 million units in the next 9 months.

well they havent done 2 million in the first 6 months and in japan the 3ds sold this week alone around 3 full months worth of vita sales.

[DEDDOA]

Well it just goes to show that they learnt nothing form the PSP, they likley blamed all it's failings on piracy instead looking at the root cause. Simple fact is that if you want to compete with the current Gameboy you need to sell at the same price to make it a real option. They reallly do think they know better than nintendo who have been making a real success of the handheld market since the 80's, maybe they will learn that if you can't make it cheap enough then you need to cut back on the power a it's not use having a more powerfull machine if next to no bugger will fork out for it when they can get more for less with a nintendo console, with games designed for handhelds.

[tech3475]

Ways I would improve the Vita:
1. Promise to never remove an official feature (that isn't service based)- OOS's removal destroyed my trust in Sony and guaranties I probably wont get one until years from now when prices are allot lower.
2. Include an official non-app store homebrew mode- obviously with agreements so that it can't be abused and high enough so flaws can be patched.
3. Get more games.
4. Include a basic small memory card- enough for saves at least for gifts.
5. An upgrade program or a UMD device- BC helps new device adoption without the rip off DD prices.
6. Lower the price or better value- Look at the PS3, the only people I know who bought that on launch wanted BD or were Sony fans, everyone else got a 360.

[Xenogears V]

Ways I would improve the Vita:
1. Promise to never remove an official feature (that isn't service based)- OOS's removal destroyed my trust in Sony and guaranties I probably wont get one until years from now when prices are allot lower.
2. Include an official non-app store homebrew mode- obviously with agreements so that it can't be abused and high enough so flaws can be patched.
3. Get more games.
4. Include a basic small memory card- enough for saves at least for gifts.
5. An upgrade program or a UMD device- BC helps new device adoption without the rip off DD prices.
6. Lower the price or better value- Look at the PS3, the only people I know who bought that on launch wanted BD or were Sony fans, everyone else got a 360.

Totally agree with you, but a cut price is needed in crisis time.