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[Pearson]

Outragous prices - But they won't lower the prices if they're the only ones making them. shame

 

[flatearthpandas]

Let's not change history, the Vita had one of the best launch line up ever.

I was talking about the 3DS' launch, sorry for the confusion. Not that I personally cared for the Vita's launchline-up either.

 

[QuickSilverD]

Honestly has no one but themselves to blame for Vita's failure

 

[entremet]

The product was terribly thought out. So not surprised.

 

[dankir]

I've had an 8 GB mem card that was pack in since launch day in NA, should have been SD!

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Awesome system, terribly priced storage.

The system is easily worth 150 buy the media should be a fraction of that.

Like 39.99 for a 32 and no more than 59.99 for a 64.

 

[P44]

Here's what I think it is;

they can't be arsed to do anything with the Vita. It's dead, changing sd card prices does nothing for them, why bother, they've already made the mistakes.

 

[m@cross]

I'd be more upset if it wasn't for the fact that part of the price is to attempt to prevent piracy with the DRM included on them. PSP proved what will happen if you allow SD cards, blame the software hackers as well as Sony if you want to be mad about the price and lack of SD support.

Likely this is not the entire reason obviously, but it is certainly a component.

 

[keltickennedy]

Refuse? They might of just forgot they people still play the vita. lol.

 

[petethepanda]

Actually going to jump in with a quick question related to this. I have been thinking about biting the bullet and getting a 64gb card, but I'm worried about transferring stuff from my current 32gb. I have a number of unavailable PS1 and PSP games downloaded from that weekend when they were all mistakenly unlocked on the store. Is there a way to transfer those to another card?

 

[Shinriji]

Yes, but weren't memory stick duos compatible with other products as well? Vita cards are exclusive to the system.

Yeah, but it could open another can of worms. The next (and cheap) Memory Stick Duo that I bought was a fake. So many "Magic Gate failure" messages and it was tough to buy a real Duo in a sea of fake cards, even from trusted retailers.

 

[sörine]

The GBA sold 30M more then the 3DS as of now.

Launch aligned only about 13m more, but then I expect 3DS probably only has another 10-15m left in the tank before it's done too. It's definitely going to undersell GBA lifetime.

Interestingly though 3DS is slightly ahead (around 2m) in software aligned, and that's without counting eShop exclusives like indies or Virtual Console. So weirdly we're probably going to end up with 3DS being Nintendo's weakest handheld platform by hardware but not software.

 

[akidnamededdy]

At this point lower card prices are unlikely to move more Vitas, and it would just get Sony and retailers less money from the few people who would buy them anyway.

 

[LewieP]

That's the thing though, the people that complain about the price of the memory cards aren't all that interested.

This is nonsense. There are so many people who would have bought a Vita by now if there wasn't a massive tax on meaningfully engaging with the digital ecosystem.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

This is nonsense. There are so many people who would have bought a Vita by now if there wasn't a massive tax on meaningfully engaging with the digital ecosystem.

It's true, if they really wanted a Vita they could've made some compromise, buying a used memory card, buying a 8GB or a 16GB instead of the biggest one if the price is to prohibitive.

 

[hodayathink]

This is nonsense. There are so many people who would have bought a Vita by now if there wasn't a massive tax on meaningfully engaging with the digital ecosystem.

I'd argue that that number is somewhere in the thousands tops, and moving an extra couple thousand units really doesn't mean anything. Hell, like someone said earlier, even if they had doubled sales of the Vita up to this point the thing would still be a complete failure.

Edit: And another thing, I think people here really overestimate the amount of people that actually feel the need to carry every single game they own with them. So most people don't actually need that 32/64GB card.

 

[sörine]

I'd argue that that number is somewhere in the thousands tops, and moving an extra couple thousand units really doesn't mean anything. Hell, like someone said earlier, even if they had doubled sales of the Vita up to this point the thing would still be a complete failure.

Edit: And another thing, I think people here really overestimate the amount of people that actually feel the need to carry every single game they own with them. So most people don't actually need that 32/64GB card.

I think you overestimate the number of people who are cool with fridge management. Especially with an extra layer of ROM tied saves complicating it.

The memory card issue (both high price and low capacity) isn't just something that keeps people from buying a Vita, it negatively impacts people who bought the platform anyway and likely inhibits digital game sales and PSN subs. It works against the very concept of the platform.

 

[autoduelist]

Actually going to jump in with a quick question related to this. I have been thinking about biting the bullet and getting a 64gb card, but I'm worried about transferring stuff from my current 32gb. I have a number of unavailable PS1 and PSP games downloaded from that weekend when they were all mistakenly unlocked on the store. Is there a way to transfer those to another card?

64 is worth it, expensive of not, if you're invested in the Vita ecosystem. I loved getting mine. The ps+ games alone justified it, though I have over 200gigs of games at this point.

I am fairly certain you can move any game on your vita, including from that weekend, to your pc via cma and back.. but I will do some research and confirm in a minute.


EDIT
I think you can, at least according to this thread:
http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/176560/can-i-copy-not-on-psn-games-from-pc-back-to-my-vita

post your question in the vita/psn thread in community and you might find more confirmation.

I think you overestimate the number of people who are cool with fridge management. Especially with an extra layer of ROM tied saves complicating it.

The memory card issue (both high price and low capacity) isn't just something that keeps people from buying a Vita, it negatively impacts people who bought the platform anyway and likely inhibits digital game sales and PSN subs. It works against the very concept of the platform.

I think most everyone here is overestimating how many people even know about the price of mem cards. I don't think people are going into stores to buy a Vita, putting it in their cart, and then going 'oh wait, I need a memory card... hmm... the 8 gig isn't too much but that 32g is expensive! nevermind!"

Rather, I think the vast majority of people are saying 'A vita? Whats that?". The memory card price isn't even on the radar.

Most of the bundles include a 4g or 8g card, right? I think most people [non hardcore, not on this site] assume they don't need to buy a new card anytime soon [and you don't]. It's not like the casual buyer is going to suddenly buy 50 digital games.

So I just don't think it's an issue. By the time you need a 32 or 64g card you're generally invested enough in the system enough to be able to justify the cost. [That is, I own enough digitally that it's worth some amount of money to have as many games as I want on a card -- the price of some standard card for other devices is completely irrelevant to me, since I don't need one of those].

 

[Gaspard]

It's a bit late to expect new adopters in the Vita ecosystem, so Sony recognizes that they can sell the memory cards at its current price to the Vita hardcore.

Sucks for the consumer, but it is what it is.

 

[sörine]

Vita isn't even on the radar of anyone who's not a hardcore gamer so their buying habits are irrelevant really. I'm saying the memory card issues are a continuing problem for hardcore gamers, both those that have and haven't taken the plunge already, and are conceptually at odds with the platform.

No one should argue dropping card prices, introducing higher capacities, or bringing a 3000 to market which adopts internal/industry standard storage solutions are going to totally turn the platform around with the massmarket. That ship sailed, probably before Vita launched. But these sorts of things could go a long way to expanding Vita's current base with it's current target market (core gamers) as well as helping to spur software sales and subscriptions with the already established base. Unfortunately Sony seems against actually expanding Vita in any capacity at this point and would probably prefer to quietly brush it under the rug.

 

[LewieP]

In my line of work I speak to people looking to buy games and games hardware on a daily basis. Since launch, the proprietary memory cards and the outrageous pricing on them is by far the single most common reason for not buying a Vita I have ever heard.

Whenever I have told people about a good deal on the Vita, the first question is always about availability of a good price on a memory card, and when I break down the pricing, the most common response is "Never mind then".

The Vita is a fantastic bit of kit, but the use of proprietary memory cards is the single biggest flaw in the hardware design.

Yes the damage is largely done at this point, there's not much financial incentive for Sony to drop the prices. My point is that it was a big mistake from the start.

 

[sublimit]

I'd be more upset if it wasn't for the fact that part of the price is to attempt to prevent piracy with the DRM included on them. PSP proved what will happen if you allow SD cards, blame the software hackers as well as Sony if you want to be mad about the price and lack of SD support.

Likely this is not the entire reason obviously, but it is certainly a component.

Like others have said 3DS uses common SD cards yet it has almost zero piracy. This is nothing more than a cheap excuse by Sony to justify their greed (and mistake).

 

[ArtHands]

In my line of work I speak to people looking to buy games and games hardware on a daily basis. Since launch, the proprietary memory cards and the outrageous pricing on them is by far the single most common reason for not buying a Vita I have ever heard.

Whenever I have told people about a good deal on the Vita, the first question is always about availability of a good price on a memory card, and when I break down the pricing, the most common response is "Never mind then".

The Vita is a fantastic bit of kit, but the use of proprietary memory cards is the single biggest flaw in the hardware design.

Yes the damage is largely done at this point, there's not much financial incentive for Sony to drop the prices. My point is that it was a big mistake from the start.

Yah basically. it is a mistake releasing the vita. They should have known better and give up after the psp.

 

[Chill Penguin]

Main reason I'll never touch a Vita. Outrageous pricing on the memory cards. Thankfully they won't be wasting any resources or shelf space on a Vita 2. Just concentrate on PS4 Sony.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Lowering the memory card prices is like a price drop for the system itself that you can't market effectively. It doesn't make much sense at this point.

 

[Hydrargyrus]

Legacy price

 

[Xion_Stellar]

i can't wait longer for sony to release this

i will sell my kidney

I would seriously buy this if they ever make/release it even if I have to pay the premium price for it.

 

[Sitrus]

Like others have said 3DS uses common SD cards yet it has almost zero piracy. This is nothing more than a cheap excuse by Sony to justify their greed (and mistake).

Almost zero is a terrible overstatement. Piracy on 3DS is although smaller than the DS, still quite big: Gateway, Sky3DS, their clones, the various CFW for the 3DS etc.

 

[KalBalboa]

Yah basically. it is a mistake releasing the vita. They should have known better and give up after the psp.

Didn't the PSP sell 70-80 million units?

 

[Ogawa-san]

Almost zero is a terrible overstatement. Piracy on 3DS is although smaller than the DS, still quite big: Gateway, Sky3DS, their clones, the various CFW for the 3DS etc.

And all but Sky3DS rely on files being on the SD card. If it had proprietary storage, I'd wager it'd be like the Vita right now where you can't even find a rom torrent around.

 

[EvB]

Can nobody remember the £40 PS2 memory cards?

 

[ShockingAlberto]

That's the thing though, the people that complain about the price of the memory cards aren't all that interested.

Lie or rationalization? I own a Vita and refuse to upgrade my 8GB card by paying Sony's extortionate prices.

And yes, because of that, I have passed on buying some games. I am pretty glad I borrowed Ultra Despair Girls instead of buying it because it's not a portable game. Major story scenes don't have subtitles and the only way to fix it is a large download that forces me to backup my saves to my computer because, for some insane reason, I can't uninstall a game without losing the save, and clean my fridge out just to get fucking subtitles so I can play with the volume down.

The pricing is garbage and the stealth "No true fan cares!" shit is defense force nonsense.

 

[psynergylover]

Might as well beat some money out of that dead horse...

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Lie or rationalization? I own a Vita and refuse to upgrade my 8GB card by paying Sony's extortionate prices.

And yes, because of that, I have passed on buying some games. I am pretty glad I borrowed Ultra Despair Girls instead of buying it because it's not a portable game. Major story scenes don't have subtitles and the only way to fix it is a large download that forces me to backup my saves to my computer because, for some insane reason, I can't uninstall a game without losing the save, and clean my fridge out just to get fucking subtitles so I can play with the volume down.

The pricing is garbage and the stealth "No true fan cares!" shit is defense force nonsense.

It's true, if they really wanted a Vita they could've made some compromise, buying a used memory card, buying a 8GB or a 16GB instead of the biggest one if the price is to prohibitive.

How about you read the thread before accusing people of being fanboy.

 

[sörine]

Almost zero is a terrible overstatement. Piracy on 3DS is although smaller than the DS, still quite big: Gateway, Sky3DS, their clones, the various CFW for the 3DS etc.

Quite big is an overstatement too. Kernel exploits have been locked down now for awhile in firmware and the window's closed on new units. We're probably talking under a million people actively pirating games, while on DS or PSP it was tens of millions by this point in both their life cycles.

3DS emulation will end up being far bigger than piracy on actual units was.

 

[sublimit]

Lie or rationalization? I own a Vita and refuse to upgrade my 8GB card by paying Sony's extortionate prices.

And yes, because of that, I have passed on buying some games. I am pretty glad I borrowed Ultra Despair Girls instead of buying it because it's not a portable game. Major story scenes don't have subtitles and the only way to fix it is a large download that forces me to backup my saves to my computer because, for some insane reason, I can't uninstall a game without losing the save, and clean my fridge out just to get fucking subtitles so I can play with the volume down.

The pricing is garbage and the stealth "No true fan cares!" shit is defense force nonsense.

This.
I love my Vita but i still refuse to upgrade from my 4GB card. I just buy almost all of my games physical and i pass on a lot of digital ones.

The "no true fan cares" bullshit is ridiculous.

 

[FriedConsole]

I wish I could believe the memory prices is why Vita isn't a hot item. I want Sony to sell the cards super cheap but then everybody will say "too late".

Let's just accept people want to play mobile games on their phone.

 

[louiedog]

Because they don't care and people who want them will buy them anyway.

I've been interested in buying a Vita a few times earlier on but one of the reasons I never did was the high price to get necessary storage. Now the handheld is at a point where the number of games that I'd play on it hasn't really changed in the last couple of years and I've lost all interest.

I would have purchased one if it used microSD cards or if the memory cards were half the price in 2013 or so for sure.

 

[CamHostage]

The memory card issue (both high price and low capacity) isn't just something that keeps people from buying a Vita, it negatively impacts people who bought the platform anyway and likely inhibits digital game sales and PSN subs. It works against the very concept of the platform.

It keeps informed GAF people from buying a Vita, and that is the woeful minority of game purchasers. There's little evidence besides forum posts that Vita would have made a dent at all if Memory Card pricing were out of the picture. Much as I find the current cards annoying and would love SD to have been adopted so this whole mess could have been avoided, I do not believe the majority of gamers had any intention of buying a Vita, and as time went on it continued to do little to wiggle its way into the hearts of any but us portable game appreciators.

 

[Xeteh]

This.
I love my Vita but i still refuse to upgrade from my 4GB card. I just buy almost all of my games physical and i pass on a lot of digital ones.

The "no true fan cares" bullshit is ridiculous.

Yeah, the 4GB life is a hard one but I just can't bring myself to buy a bigger card. The prices are just way too crazy.

 

[sörine]

It keeps informed GAF people from buying a Vita, and that is the woeful minority of game purchasers. There's little evidence besides forum posts that Vita would have made a dent at all if Memory Card pricing were out of the picture. Much as I find the current cards annoying and would love SD to have been adopted so this whole mess could have been avoided, I do not believe the majority of gamers had any intention of buying a Vita, and as time went on it continued to do little to wiggle its way into the hearts of any but us portable game appreciators.

Again, I'm not talking about the massmarket here. Keep reading the thread.

 

[LewieP]

Yah basically. it is a mistake releasing the vita. They should have known better and give up after the psp.

I didn't say that.

I just think that the Vita would have done far far better if it used SD/Micro SD cards. Even if they had to increase the price of the console slightly to compensate for the lost memory card revenue (since Sony price them like a high margin accessory).

 

[Bluekaveli]

I'm surprised no one has made an adapter for microsd to psvita

 

[sörine]

I'm surprised no one has made an adapter for microsd to psvita

Size is probably an issue. micro SD and Vita memory cards are almost the same physical dimensions.

 

[Tempy]

They haven't officially distributed anything above 16GB in the Benelux in years either. Not sure about the rest of Europe.

 

[TC McQueen]

The worst part is that Sony had the chance to solve this with the PS TV, and all they had to do was enable external USB storage support with really strong encryption. That would've solved the memory card problem cheaply and efficiently, and given people something to be excited about when talking about the PS TV, even if Sony kept up it's stupidly restrictive white list.

 

[speedlolita]

I can't believe people are still whining about his. Did none of you own a PSP?

Meanwhile my 64GB card is sat in my Vita with 50GB free. Whatever.

 

[sörine]

I can't believe people are still whining about his. Did none of you own a PSP?

Meanwhile my 64GB card is sat in my Vita with 50GB free. Whatever.

Meanwhile my n3DS is about 90GB full on it's 128GB card. Not that I'm worry free there either, I'm probably going to hit my arbitrary 300 app limit soon.

 

[Poltergust]

I have to wonder why these things are priced so high in the first place. Even if it is proprietary hardware, there are lots of other products in this industry that are proprietary but reasonably priced.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Meanwhile my n3DS is about 90GB full on it's 128GB card. Not that I'm worry free there either, I'm probably going to hit my arbitrary 300 app limit soon.

Is it because you have every demo downloaded?

I mean Vita use to have a 100 bubble limit before switching to 500 last year in an update.