Last night, a number of PlayStation Vita launch titles were priced for Japan, bringing with it the good news that digital versions will be cheaper than physical versions -- something that the PSPgo utterly failed to do. A number of games will also have special cheap sale prices for a limited time.
First up, Uncharted will cost ¥5,980 in packaged form and ¥4,900 in digital form. Hot Shots Golf 6 has been priced at ¥4,980 packaged and ¥3,980 digital.
Ridge Racer will have a limited-time sale price of ¥2,980 when downloaded between launch and March 31, 2012. After that time, it costs ¥3,980 at retail and ¥3,580 as a download. Namco's other title, Katamari Damacy Novita, costs ¥4,980 at retail and ¥4,480 as a download. It too will carry a limited discount price of ¥3,980.
I like the idea of cheap digital versions, as that seems to indicate Sony's finally starting to get it. However, with memory cards said to be stupidly expensive, one wonders how good a deal that actually is.
[News via andriasang]
Contest:
9:20 AM on 10.11.2011 | 
Ah, the plot thickens!
Yeah, like Rampart said, the only 2 reasons digital games have traditionally cost the same as retail was to 1) keep brick-and-mortar stores from sabotaging the hardware, and 2) because they could get away with it.
You don't suppose that the proprietary memory solution has anything to do with number one, do you?
The whole appeal of digital distribution for me is the ability to purchase a game without having to put pants on. So the only way I'd accept what you're suggesting is if GameStop didn't require pants.
Way to ruin my boner... :(
Chances are, this will happen in the Americas and Europe, too.
Why? Proprietary Memory Cards, which you require to download digital versions of Vita games, which you can only buy in brick-and-mortar stores.
And now you know why the Vita uses proprietary Memory Cards instead of SD Cards or Memory Sticks.
That doesn't sound so unreasonable to me. Assuming I buy a fairly steady supply of games, which I plan to do, it sounds to me like that Proprietary Memory Card is going to pay for itself when compared to the price of physical media.
So... yeah. Alright, cool. I'm ok with this.
digital sales are nearly pure fucking profit in regards to the money used to create them minus server fee's.
I would prefer to be able one of the many SD Cards or Memory Stick Duos I already own.
I'm also not sure about it paying for itself; I guess that really depends on the US price and whether you would rather delete/re-download your game library or buy more than one card. That 32GB card will take a while to get covered at 6 bucks a game.
It's not a deal-breaker, though, and I get why they are doing it.
There is no excuse for a game without physical materials to cost the same.
As for the memory card,I have a bunch of PSP,and PS1 downloads I'll want to play on my Vita,so I'm already sucked into buying one.
I guess I can't really complain too much.
If so I might store all my Vita downloads on my PC,buy a smaller memory card,and just swap them back and forth.
They are still expensive.
Even if you don't use direct conversion, you're looking to pay about $50-60 for Uncharted.
As for the Memory Cards, it will probably be around $20 for 4GB, $30 for 8GB, $50 for 16GB, and $90 32GB. For comparison's sake, you can get a 4GB SD Card for as low as 5 bucks, and a 32GB for $45. A 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo is around $7.
There's no other way to slice it, these are expensive, even for Sony standards.
It's annoying that big retailers fuck with customer's wallets/convenience like this, can't a deal be made between manufacturers/devs in order to not be handcuffed like this by brick and mortars? It's not like there isn't profit for them in selling games digitally at discounted prices.
Does anyone know if the Vita supports 2 cards in one unit? I may need to go that route, ~$300 later.
30 1GB games, not counting game saves, or any music, videos or apps you might download as well.
And Vita Games are probably bigger than that, and will only get bigger in time.
@LifeCarrier
Basically, B&M stores don like digital distribution because they make their profit off of game sales (including used games), but not hardware sales. They sell hardware at zero profit on the prospect of creating more clients for software sales. It's the Razor and Razorblades scheme.
And since these stores still account for most of the hardware sales AND they have a bigger influence in market trends since word of mouth is still the #1 most effective marketing tool, they can hold platform owners by the balls.
They are $39.99. Amazon,and Gamestop both have them for pre-order.
2) I'm sure someone will make a MircoSD -> VitaMC adapter. It's only a matter of time.
Those prices are estimates by Amazon/Gamestop. Sony hadn't announced any game prices until now.
If Sony's prices stick, Amazon got screwed.
From Amazon? Pre-Order Price Guarantee, baby!
i hope digital prices should be more cheaper than this but this will do enough :P
Still buying retail games.
If that's the case, that's where all the saved money is going to go.
Those might be true but more importanly, the psvita sdk is said to much more easily allow devs to "wrap" their game projects for Digital distribution. Pretty much.
I could see retailers getting mad at Deus Ex and pulling those games because onlive neutralizes both platform and game sales. This just is a nice choice. Big games like UCGA are about 4GB and will still be bought. Heck, some More devices could be bought and retailers get a bulk of money from those sales.
I hate discussion marketting btw. It can get so pretentious.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/psvita-pricings
But in the end, the prices seem to stabilize eternally on the Playstation Store. If they went Steam's route and had mad discounts, like the midweek madness or weekend deals, I could see going digital a lot. But: it's Sony so the likelihood of that seems shot. That just means Amazon or the b&m stores will get my dollars, for a reduced price physical copy, instead of a near-full price digital.
But in the end, the prices seem to stabilize eternally on the Playstation Store. If they went Steam's route and had mad discounts, like the midweek madness or weekend deals, I could see going digital a lot. But: it's Sony so the likelihood of that seems shot. That just means Amazon or the b&m stores will get my dollars, for a reduced price physical copy, instead of a near-full price digital.
I also think it's great that they're offering the digital versions at a discounted price, and it make perfect sense. For once, Sony is using LOGIC in their decision making process. It's refreshing! In fact, everything I've heard about the Vita thus far is spot on.