Vita Titles Will Cost Less When Downloaded Via the Online Store

The notion of Sony and participating publishers charging a bit less for digital purchases of PlayStation Vita titles than they would normally cost at retail has been kicked around for a while, especially given that such discounting was available right at launch when the Vita debuted in Japan. Still, Sony's American division had yet to confirm any digital discounts for the region...until today.

Shacknews' Andrew Yoon managed to get Sony to confirm once and for all that digital copies of Vita games will sport a 10% discount over their retail prices. Uncharted: Golden Abyss, for instance, will reportedly cost you $44.99 through the digital store, as opposed to $49.99 in physical form.

The discount theoretically should apply to all Vita games, since all Vita titles will be available in the online store--though some titles, like Escape Plan and Super Stardust Delta, will be download only, and thus there won't be anything to discount from.

Though Sony didn't confirm a uniform 10% discount for all titles, an intrepid NeoGAF user discovered that Best Buy will also be distributing purchasable codes for downloadable copies of Vita games, which are set at the discounted price.

While a 10% discount might not necessarily be a make-or-break for many players--especially given the not terribly inexpensive pricing of memory cards, which you'll need to store digital copies of games--it does lend some credence to the notion that hardware makers (or, specifically in this case, Sony) as well as third party publishers are very much planning on getting on board with this whole "digital revolution" we keep hearing about yet typically see no real progress on from anyone besides Valve and kinda sorta EA.

In other news, hey guys? The Vita is coming out soon. Like, really soon.

Here's that official list of launch titles, just in case you forgot.

Really?

I am really curious how the Vita sales pan out. Sony isn´t in good shape at the moment.

Neat, I guess. It'll still be cheaper to buy the physical copies once the prices drop (which happens with all games). Willing to bet the PSN prices won't drop anywhere near as fast.

So has someone calculated how many games you need to buy to make up for the price of the memory card?

While a price break for cheaper distribution is nice it only matters if the codes drop in price and go on sale like discs do.

About time someone passed the savings on to the customer. Though I wonder how long this will last - remember how Microsoft published titles were supposed to be $50 on 360 as opposed to everyone else's $60 price tag? That lasted about 3 games.

Not a big difference.

I can hear Alex speak everything he writes in my mind. Its...weird.

I find it interesting that 10% is about the same discount you tend to get for buying a game early on Steam. Just an observation.

I'll take 10% off as most of my purchases will end up being Digital. The only Cart in the Vita will be Lumines: ES! Just like the only UMD in my PSP is Lumines 2.

Yeah... wonder how long it'll take to make up the costs after buying a memory card...‏

Been playing with my vita at work and I have been pretty happy with it. Want to try out uncharted or something but until the sony store is up and running on the us units ... I will live with what I have.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Week 1:  Amazon $50, PSN $45
Week 5:  Amazon $40, PSN $45, eBay Used $30
Week 16:  Amazon $30, PSN $45, eBay Used $20
Week 52:  Amazon $20, PSN $45, eBay Used $10

10% isn't enough for me to make that switch. It's like the difference between new and used at Gamestop where if you bought it used, you could then sell it back again for credit. Vita's going to have to do better than 10% if they want to pull in consumers. 25% off sounds about right to me.

@MasturbatingestBear said:

So has someone calculated how many games you need to buy to make up for the price of the memory card?

I don't think you ever make up the difference.

8 GB card is $30. That's enough space for 4 games. You save $20 from buying those 4 games online. In the end, online games and memory card cost $210 vs $200 for the physical games (based on a person buying $50 games). This cycle repeats itself when you buy another memory card to download 4 more games.

I guess this means it costs the same to buy twelve $45 downloadable games and three 8GB memory cards as it does to buy twelve $50 retail games and an 8 GB memory card. Buying physical copies of the game becomes cheaper than downloadable copies when you buy your 13th game.

For people who want all there games immediately available, buying the physical copies is probably cheaper in the long run.

@Floppypants said:

Uncharted: Golden Abyss Week 1: Amazon $50, PSN $45 Week 5: Amazon $40, PSN $45, eBay Used $30 Week 16: Amazon $30, PSN $45, eBay Used $20Week 52: Amazon $20, PSN $45, eBay Used $10

This sums up what I was going to post.

It'll be interesting to see how BestBuy &co. react when retail prices for old games drop as they sell both, boxed copy and download code. Will we see a boxed copy for less then the download code? I cant imagine that. Perhaps they simply remove the download codes from shelf when prices drop, because they do not loose money by throwing them away - unlike with boxed copies.

@Strathmore said:

Yeah... wonder how long it'll take to make up the costs after buying a memory card...‏

You'd have to buy 20 games digitally and save $5 on each to make up the $100 for the 32GB memory card.

@Sil3n7 said:

I can hear Alex speak everything he writes in my mind. Its...weird.

@Sil3n7 said:

I can hear Alex speak everything he writes in my mind. Its...weird.

I know, right?

This is pretty much a given, if they want to succeed in shifting the software to the downloadable market.

If I delete a game off the memory card after I have paid for it can I just download it again at any time? If not then this isn't worth it.

10% off is not much, How bout a 10$ cut straight up for diigital copies.

@CaLe said:

If I delete a game off the memory card after I have paid for it can I just download it again at any time? If not then this isn't worth it.

Of course. It's the same PSN system just like with PS3/PSP/mini game files giving you unlimited re-downloads. You're just limited to two activated devices at a time.

This...makes no difference. Those games are still too pricey. And those memory cards are absolutely absurd.

It's a start, they're finally realizing that digital does not contain the same value as a retail product. They need to be more aggressive like steam though and keep those prices fluctuating, even if they have to actually hire a guy to handle that specifically.

They should start doing that right away with regular PSP titles though, some of those are still too expensive.

Makes sense. All digital games should be cheaper than their retail counterparts. No disc production, no printing of manuals, no hard cases, no case slips, no shipping, no storage, no retail space arrangements. Obviously there are server and digital delivery costs but I'd bet they're a sight cheaper than the road to retail.

Just take a look at the prices of some PS3 games on PSN. It's insane. Most are at least $20-30 more than you'd pay in a store, and more if you buy online. EA and Ubisoft are the worst offenders. AU$100 for Rayman Origins on PSN when I can buy it AU$40 cheaper online.

@Sil3n7 said:

I can hear Alex speak everything he writes in my mind. Its...weird.

Same here. I think it's because he writes the types of things he would say out loud and a good number of people know how snarky he can be. His articles usually gives me a good chuckle or two.

This is a good thing that Sony is doing. However, I'm still going to wait a few years to buy the Vita. I just want to make sure that the games aren't overpriced during the time.

Well it's something, right?

Oh that sounds good, Ive always wondered why they never did this in the first place

I'll wait till I have enough money but I will get it for Persona 4 Golden.

I'd prefer to pay the extra 10% for a physical copy. Crazy, right?

Well, someday it'll seem crazy, y'know, when I move again. Uggggh.

PS Vita memory cards are undoubtedly overpriced (though this will change when third parties get in on the action) but people happily pay $100 more to get an extra 16GB of non-replaceable, completely proprietary memory in their iOS devices and seem happy to do it. From what I understand, if you do want to buy retail games as well (which as others have said, you can get for cheaper than digital if you're willing to wait a bit), the internal memory of the PS Vita will give enough space for saves and the like. I do think it's a dumb move for them to be charging so much for memory cards but yeah, it's not like people aren't paying that price and way more already.

@Floppypants: Even more accurately: Week 1: Amazon: $50 plus between $10 and $20 in credit. Credit you can actually use.

Or Newegg $40-$45 pre-order sale.

Not as cheap as originally touted, but cheaper is cheaper

I don't wanna look at a gift horse in the mouth... but 10%? Really? Man, I sure as hell hope that stacks up with the PS+ discount or something...

Just give me Monster Hunter on my Vita and I will pay whatever you want...

10% is not a worthwhile difference.

I'd rather spend the $5 and have physical ownership. My consumer rights are worth more.

This would be cool, if I weren't worried about the price of their memory cards. But I am. So meh.

The real question is how fast will games devalue? Because games at retail typically lose value in a matter of weeks. By two months later, they're a third of the price they once were (for example, Rage on PS3 is now a mere $20 on Amazon). From what I've seen, games on PSN stay higher priced longer than they do at retail, thus negating the "savings".

Very cool .

Great news.

@vinsanityv22: Any game that is available at retail will eventually lower in price. This would mostly be for those who would want to buy a game upon its release.

@MasturbatingestBear: ...You might save a little bit? The lowest denomination is the 4gb priced at $20. The problem is, some games are pretty big, and I can't imagine games like Uncharted being small. Basically, if you buy at launch, the games would have to be under 1gb for you to realize any savings. The problem is, even some PSP games border 2gb, so unless they compress the data really well or unless you just buy small games, you won't actually save that much money.

Edit: Assuming retail price of $50, like Uncharted. But assuming its 10% across the board, shouldn't change the savings any? ...Someone correct me if I'm wrong. lol.

They do realize that people can buy most mobile games on smartphones from around $0.00 to $5? Noone wants to pay 50 bucks for these things.

lol, who's gonna buy that?

@vaportra1l said:

They do realize that people can buy most mobile games on smartphones from around $0.00 to $5? Noone wants to pay 50 bucks for these things.

Those ios games are not in the same leage as the types of games on a vita or 3DS, graphics, gameplay, actual buttons. They each hold a different audience.

That 10% percent just cost them shelf space at retail outlets. They are not going to push the PSV that hard if Sony is going to undersell them on their software.

I won't get a vita in till I see it get support from Somy because Sony abandons there stuff. The Move and PSP for example.