PS Vita Spotted for $199 in America

Is Sony paving the way for a broader Playstation Vita price cut in the west? There isn’t any indication of the price dropping online,but Joystiq

English: Representative CEO and EDP of Sony Corporation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

is reporting that it’s seen a 3G Vita bundle with a memory card selling for $199.97 – a cut relatively analogous to the one that the Vita already received in Japan.  Considering that price cut was able to spur sales almost six times, it’s not surprising that the company would be pursuing a similar strategy globally.

The Playstation Vita has struggled almost since it hit stores at around this time last year, and the price point is no small part of that. The base system is about as expensive as a full-fledged console, and the proprietary memory can mount up quickly. On top of that, the games are only slightly less expensive than their console counterparts, but many of them (with exceptions) come short on content. You need only look at the Vita versions of Resistance and Call of Duty to see where major developers aren’t spending their time and money.

A price cut won’t solve some of the Vita’s basic questions, like its game library and place in a mobile gaming landscape dominated by phones or tablets. But a larger install base could attract enough more attention to start piquing developers’ interests. And as I’ve said before, it gives Sony the ancillary benefit of seeding the ground for a wave of future PS4 owners. Considering the extensive streaming system that Sony has promised for the Vita and the PS4, anybody with a Vita is more likely to pick up a PS4.

Joystiq put together a list of all the Sony stores in the country offering the less expensive Vita bundle. I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts showing up in more places.