SCE Europe CEO Andrew House has told us the £229 and £279 PlayStation Vita price points indicated by retailers are "pretty much where I would have predicted" them to be.
Speaking to CVG's ground team at E3, the Sony exec said he feels the price point needs to be "aggressive" in order to build momentum for the impressive portable, which has been confirmed for release in some territories this year.
"I think it's aggressive. We deliberately set it to be aggressive, the reason being I think you need to build momentum with a portable device very, very quickly and move very quickly from an early adopter audience and technology enthusiasts to a mass market proposition. Price is one of the tools that allow you to do that."
Sony No.2 Kaz Hirai told press this week that the company hopes to make a profit on Vita hardware within three years, in sharp contrast to the PlayStation 3 which was initially sold at a hefty loss and took years to enter the black.
House called the PlayStation Vita model "significantly better".
"Clearly I can't talk too specifically about profitability," he said. "The way I would frame it is we are certainly not in the same territory we were in in the first couple of years of PlayStation 3. It's a significantly better business model for us on Vita."
Comments
20 comments so far...
Data Ghost on 10 Jun '11 said:
As much as I like the look of it, for me handhelds have died a death. The price is okay but I still cant bring myself to pick one up (or a 3DS for that matter).
almanac2015 on 10 Jun '11 said:
Decent price but still don't want to pay that much for it. Don't want to pay that much for any handheld really - I don't really use them enough. PSP was great when I played it and some titles I played loads, but too few. Same for DS. A lot of Pokemon, a bit of Viva Pinata etc.
Reality Check on 10 Jun '11 said:
Good price. But i bet the shops(in the UK)will make you have to spent over £300 for it i.e they will bundle a game with it & you can only buy it with a game etc etc for the 1st few months :-/
JakeyBaby on 10 Jun '11 said:
It's going to be lonely this christmas, without you to hold...
(being in the UK and knowing it won't come out until 2012 for us)
shiwayb on 10 Jun '11 said:
L-o-L.
Mark240473 on 10 Jun '11 said:
If Sony confirm that we'll be able to play our PS3 games using Vita, then I'm going to buy one day 1. And even if they don't, I'd still be tempted at that price because the launch games look fantastic. There's no way I want to miss anything related to Uncharted.
And the fact that the Vita games have their own trophy support, adds that layer of depth to the games that the 3DS lacks, in my opinion.
rivariad on 10 Jun '11 said:
you always got your dick
plodalong28 on 10 Jun '11 said:
I will probably buy one tbh, it's the same price range the 3DS launched at, so i expect the supermarkets to go to around £210 for the first week. Can't wait.
KK-Headcharge78 on 10 Jun '11 said:
I'm with you there, I don't question the quality, i just have no interest nowadays for playing games on a small screen unless its for 59p on an iphone while waiting for a train....
goggy on 10 Jun '11 said:
Same here, not bothered.
Tbh, at the moment nothing else matters, I just can't get ZeldaHD out of my head atm.
deepbluerd on 10 Jun '11 said:
Cant wait to get this. I refuse to play s**t games on my iphone, angry birds and paper toss are a waste of time and money.
PSV will be amazing.
wwinterj on 10 Jun '11 said:
I'll wait for a price drop just as I did with the PSP. Like many others I hardly play hand held games. There is little reason to with my Xbox 360 and PS3 sat there.
lordirongut on 10 Jun '11 said:
I play my handhelds a lot so I'll be buying the PSV quickly. To be honest, the price is much less than I expected. Frankly the PSV is a steal. Hope to god they release it in 2011!
gobbybobby on 10 Jun '11 said:
I quite like the name. A fair few people where slagging it off (CVG included) I think its a good name.
pop_is_dead on 10 Jun '11 said:
I have had a Play.com credit card for 10 months earning points specifically to get a Vita and I already have enough to get the wi-fi only one. Can't complain about the price when it's free...
Barca Azul on 10 Jun '11 said:
What's in it for me Sony?
I was a PSP early adopter and you shafted me. Back then, smart phones were not around and now we have tablets too.
One nice looking game isn't enough. What else will it have? How can I optinise the PS3?
For the same price I can pick up a PS3 slim for traveling. So what's I'm it for me over a tablet?
AJDarkstar on 12 Jun '11 said:
I have a 3DS, but still not sure about Vita. I mean, my PSP gets played so infrequently that it needs charging every time I take it out of the cupboard! And I don't spend all that much time playing games these days. Since I always have, and always will be, a Nintendo fan through and through, I think the only next-gen consoles I realistically have time for are Wii U and 3DS. Of course, if Bioshock Vita looks good enough, I may have to make an exception, but I have to wonder how long it will be before PSV games are converted to PS3, as many PSP "exclusives" very quickly jumped to PS2 due to poor sales. Hmm.
Very_Silver_Ownz on 12 Jun '11 said:
'' but I have to wonder how long it will be before PSV games are converted to PS3, as many PSP "exclusives" very quickly jumped to PS2 due to poor sales.''
Yeah alot got ported to PS2 like GTA Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories.
I wanted a PSP back when Liberty City Stories came out but the PSP was like £300 back then so when Rockstar ported Liberty City Stories to PS2 they saved me £300
jaycee900 on 12 Jun '11 said:
Erm the PSP launched in the UK at £189! not quite £300!
Anyway who cares if PSV games get ported to PS3 or vice versa...as long as it has games for 7 years like the PSP (xmas 2004-xmas 2011) then its fine!
krazykunal85 on 16 Jun '11 said:
I getting mine from Asia.... (thanks Sony for not geo-blocking)... it will work out to be roughly £187 for the top model.