14 DAY TRIAL // At its Gamescom 2011 press conference, video game hardware developer Sony has announced that it was cutting the price of the PlayStation 3 home gaming console to 249.99 dollars, making it more accessible to the public in the run up to the Christmas shopping season.
[ADMARk=1]The problem for Sony could be that the price of the PlayStation 3, a full-blown home console, is now the same as that planned for the launch of the PlayStation Vita handheld, which will be out before the end of the year in Japan and in early 2012 in North America and in Europe.
But two prominent video game analysts are saying that the new handheld will not be affected in any significant way.
Speaking to IndustryGamers, analyst Jesse Divnich, who is working with EEDAR, has said, “I don’t believe the PlayStation 3 price drop will impact the perceived value of the $249 Vita. With the growth of the tablet and smartphone market, I believe consumers are more likely to compare the $249 Vita to a $499 iPad tablet than a PlayStation 3. Bottom line, I don’t believe the announcement of the PS3 price drop will impact potential sales of the Vita.”
Michael Pachter, who is watching the video game industry for Wedbush Morgan, has added, “I’m not sure that they are trying to sell both to the same person as alternatives to one another. People who want both will buy both. People with neither are more likely to buy a PS3, people with a console already might be more likely to buy Vita.”
A similar situation happened when the original Nintendo DS was introduced for the price of 149 dollars while the GameCube home console was priced lower, at 99 dollars.
The Vita will offer an OLED display, touch screen capabilities as well as analog controls.