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HappySqurriel on 12 August 2012
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curl-6 said:
Alby_da_Wolf said:
About possible price cut and profitability: PSV's estimated BOM was $159 for the 3G version in January 2012 http://www.destructoid.com/ps-vita-3g-teardown-puts-sony-s-cost-at-159-220036.phtml , in September it should be a little bit lower, and in January 2013, when on top of more time passed, Xmas will have boosted production, it should be considerably lower. So a $50 cut this Autumn won't be too painful (it will surely be, but not too much), and if they resist until next January, or even later, after clearance sales end in most countries, it will be totally painless.
This means that with very good reasons a cut could happen soon, otherwise a cut in Q1 2013 will be very likely.
In any case, it must happen after the initial boost and buzz of 3DS XL and NSMB2 settle, not before September, because they are currently monopolizing the spotlight for the portable market, and they'll do it for the rest of August, thanks to the staggered releases, and synergy with games releases and other circumstances favourable to Sony must be carefully planned: Sony's marketing cannot afford wasting it with clumsy behaviours, it must extract every possible benefit from it.

Once you add the profit they must be making on the memory cards as well, there should be more than enough room for a $50 cut anytime from here on in.

The main complaint I hear about the Vita is its cost, just like it was for the 3DS at first, so once they remove this barrier its sales should surge.

Realistically, for Sony to mount a "come-back" for the Vita and get it on track to sell like the PSP they need a $50 price cut and to bundle the memory card with the system. Being that the upper management is under extreme pressure to return Sony to profitability, it is extremely unlikely that Sony will be willing to lose between $500 million and $1 billion at this point in time for a price reduction like this to take place.

To make matters worse, if Sony plans of releasing a next generation console in 2013 (which is likely), Sony will likely see a massive increase in costs within their gaming division in the next year. If Sony cuts the price of the PS-Vita the gaming division will (likely) already be seeing substantial losses before these costs 'appear', and when they begin to ramp of for the launch of the PS4 the gaming division will be in a deep hole; and become a massive target in a company where executives are desperate to reduce losses to return the company to a profit.