Sony Finally Cuts the Price of PS Vita

I have been saying for almost a year that if Sony really wants the PS Vita to be successful it would need to cut the price by a considerable margin. The hand-held has been struggling to make any headway in sales due to it being priced the same as a new PlayStation 3, which doesn't set well with many consumers. Well, today Sony has finally decided that it is time for the PS Vita to be priced a bit more reasonably: at its Gamescom press conference today Sony Computer Entertainment announced that - beginning today - the PS Vita will retail for $199 in the United States and €199 in Europe. This is down considerably from its previous price-point of $250 in the U.S., and €300 in Europe.

SCEE CEO Jim Ryan also said during the press event today that the company is also pushing for significant price reductions on PS Vita memory cards in several regions as well.

In the fiscal year from April 2012 to March 2013 Sony sold a combined 7 million PS Vita and PSP units. For the fiscal year ending in March 2014 Sony predicted a smaller number of five million units sold.

If the company can prove the system's worth on its own and as a companion device to the PS4 then those numbers will be a lot bigger, but this price cut will certainly make consumers give the hand-held a second look...

Update: Sony has announced price cuts in effect for PS Vita memory cars at retail as of today. A 4GB card is now $15, an 8GB cards is $20, a 16GB card now retails for $40 and 32GB cards are $80.