Sony has announced that its handheld PlayStation Vita console will be receiving substantial price cuts with deductions of up to a third of the current asking price, but only in the tech company’s home country of Japan.
This brings the price of owning both PS Vita models down to ¥19,980 – or roughly £140. That would equate to around a £90 discount on the full fat Wi-Fi and 3G model if we translated the difference (based on pricing by a known high street and online retailer).
This is a pretty staggering drop for a gadget that was released in Japan 14 months ago and hit shelves in the UK and Europe a year ago this week, but the sales figures in Japan have dramatically dwindled below Sony’s expectations and it was reported in November of 2012 that below 5000 units were being shifted each week.
In addition to the price cuts, new PS Vita buyers enticed by the deal will also be offered a free week’s worth of PlayStation Plus access to try out the digital library of games and enjoy other promotions on the PlayStation Store.
As of yet there has been no mention of these price cuts or bonuses being offered to other parts of the world but with Sony hitting the west for its PlayStation meeting in New York this Wednesday we can hope for similar news, along with the big deal of the event – the official announcement of the PlayStation 4.