Friday Opinion: Why Sony shouldn't cut the price of the PS Vita now

Almost every chart or sales-based post on the Vita ends with calls for a price cut. Similarly, forums are full of poster's demands for a slash in costs before they'll buy. Trouble is, there isn't much point in Sony doing that now. And for one simple reason.

If someone buys a cheap PS Vita right now, there are only 20-30 games for them to choose from. Say people get their two or three favourite titles (FIFA and Uncharted judging by chart history) from that lot and what next? All of a sudden a lot of PS Vitas are collecting dust in drawers (as happened in the early years of the PSP) while gamers wait for the new releases to pile up.

Sure, the Vita is better equipped with a great range of old PSP games, PSN minis and its own near range of budget titles. But it takes an effort of discovery to find and learn about them, and buyers expecting pick-up-and-play thrills are perhaps not the sort to go digging for them. (Do you see any advert saying "PS Vita available with hundreds of games, now"?)

So, Sony could cut the price this very day, by say $100 (£60) and suddenly start hemorrhaging more money which it can't recoup because the games aren't there. Give it another few months and Sony will have a heap of games available, including all the summer releases plus a bunch of third party titles.

At that point, Sony can trim the price, and when PS Vita games are rampaging through the charts around the world, it will recoup the lost revenue in hardware through games sales, memory cards from all those digital downloads, accessories and so on.

UPDATE: Typically after writing something like this, a few more thoughts creep out. When Sony does announce a price cut, it won't be that news alone. Expect new bundles, tied in with big game announcements (MHP4 anyone?) and updates to the OS in a smartphone style (PS One games). All of that takes time and business commitment, so give it a few months yet.