theprof00 said:
How much more of an effect do you think it was that nintendo reduced 3ds price to 170 only a couple weeks before vita release? Or howabout how Nintendo bought exclusivity (timed at least) for psp's biggest franchise? Or what about how at release it was the most expensive console on the market? Or howabout how the main competitor 3ds already had a big library? Yet you even consider the 32gb version? Tell me, what's the upgrade cost between the iphone 16gb and 32gb? 100$? You don't say. What's gaining marketshare in the phone industry? Cheaper androids that perform very similar functions. It's not memory costs that keep sales down, but overall value. It's pretty simple. A console that performs similarly but is much cheaper will hinder the more expensive one. You're right to say that memory card prices scared many early adopters away, but in terms of many, we probably aren't talking that much. I guess, if I were to say "well then, let's look at how many vitas get sold now", I bet you'd say "it's too late, it won't work now, it was more important in the ebginning of the life cycle when there was still a lot of potential, before project cancelations and such". I have a simple solution. memory prices are not that game breaking. We'll see who's right when they drop the price of the system itself. Remember, the mainstream doesn't purchase based on memory cards or digital. They buy what looks cool to them. Most of them have likely no idea that there is a secondary cost in mem cards. |
Its not a case of who's right or wrong, memory cards are just one of many issues which has plagued the system. For me the Vita was always a slightly niche device, but it failed pretty hard in appealing to its targeted demographic, the hardcore gamer. The same informed gamer who doesn't just blindly buy a device, ignoring the fact that a decent sized memory card cost $100 at launch.
