Sony: Vita to Have 10 Year Lifespan, Despite Low Sales

Talking to Famitsu, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan president Hiroshi Kawano admitted that the Vita was still not where they wanted it to be, in terms of sales.

"Certainly, at the present time, maybe we're a little behind the numbers we originally pictured," Kawano said. "I feel we have a ways to go in terms of getting across the good traits of the PS Vita, along with everything the software has to offer."

The company has, in the past, simply maintained a positive outlook on the Vita, even pointing to the PlayStation 3's slow initial sales as proof that no one has to worry. But regardless of whether or not the Vita ever takes off, it will have a ten-year lifecycle says Kawano. And he says Sony must "do everything we can" to nourish the Vita.

Sony is already trying to get the portable into the hands of more gamers, like cutting the price in Japan of the 3G and Wi-Fi versions to 19,980 yen at the end of this month. Not many people in the world even own the Vita, and that is particularly the case in Japan, where the 3DS has had more success.

"The biggest reason [for the price drop] is that we simply want to have more people playing the PS Vita," Kawano said. "Based on our research, there are two broad reasons why people who may want to try the Vita aren't purchasing it. One, they want to wait until there's a game they want to play on it. Two, the price is a little out of reach for them. What we also learned in this research is that people who do own a Vita have tremendous satisfaction with it; it's the kind of platform where you get a feel for how good it is once you touch it. But we found that the price was too big an initial hurdle for this, and this sparked a long internal debate within SCE."

Whether it's true or not, we can honestly hope that Sony has learned much about having an initial high price on their gaming platforms, as the PS3 did not really begin to take off until price cuts were made either. The PlayStation 4 is expected to be revealed tonight, and expected to cost as much as 30% less than the PlayStation 3 did at launch, which makes one wonder what they have in store as far as keeping the Vita's price as high as it is.

Source: Famitsu via Gamespot