Maybe memory cards will get cheaper as some models of memory get discontinued all together

I can predict that it wont be a good deal anytime soon. 16GB should be 8 bucks by now. You know like every other flash drive CF/SD whatever thing.

I was amongst many who decided not to buy the system at lauch once the card prices were announced. it definitely was damaging in the early days before the vita was deemed to be a failure.

That makes no sense because at launch they were giving the 8gbs away for free.

I love my Vita but the memory cards are a ripoff. I only pray they incorporate microSD into their next version of the Vita. If Nintendo can make a handheld that supports playing off an SD without worrying about piracy then Sony can too. No more of this expensive proprietary crap.

Who wants an 8GB memory card? when 1 AAA game takes up to 3-4gb, anyone who intends to go mostly digital knows that 8GB is worthless. 

I'm just asking how memory price could be prohibitive if it's free. That space requirement would only be a problem if you downloaded AAA games. On my vita right now, I have on the memory card, megaman x remake, corpse party, wipeout, get grind radio, final fantasy tactics wotl, tactics ogre, and virtue's last reward. That doesn't even take up the whole 8gb. Everything else I have on cartridge.

I mean, I can see that it's problematic if your goal is to download AAA games, but if you already have so many games you can't fit them on your memory card, then I doubt that cost is really a huge factor. More likely, we're talking about ps+ users who can't fit all their complimentary games on an 8gb.

My point is...the memory card prices are hardly an issue of low vita sales. It is far more likely that the problem is the cost of the system in general. In USA, it's more than 70$ more expensive than 3ds, and the 8gb card is 20$. That's just a huge amount. It's really as simple as that. When you can buy every single console on the market at a cheaper or equal price to the vita, is there really any question what the problem is?

Even if the memory cards were free. It's the second most expensive console on the market.

For me the thought of having cadridges on my handheld was redundant, and one of things that drew me to the Vita over the 3DS was its emphasis on digital downloads which I considered really important for a handheld in 2012. There was a point in the 3DS early days where it was not the king and the Vita was a serious contender. Knowing that the system I wanted would cost £320 (vita+32GB memory card), I decided to wait it out and see a price cut or inclusional of internal flash memory. In those internvening periods the Vita's sales dropped to very low despite having a decent software line up for launch window. A small thing like a weak launch snowballs into cancled projects, both exclusive and multiplatform (3DS+VITA). Would capcom and square may have been more supportive of the system if it sold well in its 2nd month. My suspicion is that memory cards scared many early adopters away. 

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.