Bucking current trends, a Sony Computer Entertainment America representative this week confirmed a rumor that game software for its PS Vita handheld system's North American release will cost slightly less when purchased digitally than at a brick-and-mortar shop. The announcement comes at a time when Vita hardware sales in Japan have slumped, with few titles lighting up weekly sales charts.
The unnamed Sony rep was light on details, but told Shack News on Tuesday that "there will be a discount on the downloadable PS Vita titles from PSN" and to expect a full announcement soon.
Prior to the company's confirmation, a member of popular video game forum NeoGAF posted an image taken from Best Buy's website which listed both physical and digital versions of Vita software as available for pre-order. A full downloadable copy of launch title "Uncharted: Golden Abyss" was priced at $44.99 -- $5 cheaper than the disc-based version. Several other games were listed with similar price discrepancies.
Before digital downloading buffs jump for joy at the potential savings, remember that the Vita doesn't ship with any on-board memory or an SD card. Rather, Sony elected to (once again) fall back on a proprietary memory solution. Vita owners will indeed save $5 or so whenever they choose digital over physical, but that's only after spending $20 to $100 on a memory card. Considering how many Vita games break the 1GB size mark, buying a 4GB card for $20 would effectively make the lower price points moot.
The unexpected announcement comes just three weeks ahead of the Vita's scheduled February 22 launch in North America and Europe. The portable gaming system was released in Japan on December 17 and sold over 320,000 units in two days. Since then, sales for the device have fallen precipitously.
Recent data compiled by Media Create had the Vita moving just over 18,000 units for the week ending January 29, with only one title, "Tales of Innocence R," landing in the top 20 software chart. In contrast, Nintendo's glasses-less 3D handheld the 3DS sold north of 84,000 and secured seven top-selling software spots.
It wasn't long ago that the 3DS was in a similar position, forcing Nintendo to drastically cut its $249 price tag to a more wallet-friendly $169 less than six months after release. The move, plus a few high-profile game releases last fall, reinvigorated that system's sales. Whether the Vita will follow suit is pure speculation. But if it does, it could be the least of Sony's problems.
On Thursday, the company posted a $2.1 billion loss for the final quarter of 2011, leading one Japanese asset manager to proclaim the hardware giant was "dipped in poison."
