Sony has pushed back the launch of their Playstation Vita handheld system in North America and Europe from later this year to an undisclosed time in 2012.
The Playstation Vita will still come out near the end of this year in Japan, returning the company’s policy from that of a simultaneous worldwide release back to their original policy of releasing first in Japan.
Sony executive vice president Kazuo Hirai made the announcement to the Associated Press, though he did not provide any explanation why Sony is unable or unwilling to release the Playstation Vita this year.
Hirai also fielded questions regarding rampant speculation that Sony may cut the price point of the Playstation Vita at launch in response to the recent announcement from Nintendo that they are cutting the price of their 3DS handheld system.
“We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable,” responded Hirai. “There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price.”
The Playstation Vita is slated to launch with two different models priced at $249.99 and $299.99 MSRP, with the more expensive model including 3G service exclusively through AT&T in North America.
While Hirai provided a clear indication that Sony does not plan to drop the price of Playstation Vita, pressure that began mounting for a price cut in the wake of Nintendo’s announcement remains.
The speculation and outright suggestions come from financial analysts who view the price cut by Nintendo as a serious threat to the fortunes of the Playstation Vita launch.
“Gamers are increasingly anticipating Sony to lower prices, especially after the 3DS cut,” stated Hideki Yasuda of Ace Securities Company to Bloomberg. “Sony is under major pressure to cut the price of the Vita or risk a major failure.”
Nintendo’s decision to cut the price of the 3DS has placed pressure on Sony to do the same with the Playstation Vita, Nintendo’s motivation for doing so may provide some indication why Sony would push the launch back of the Playstation Vita.
Nintendo cut the price of the 3DS to ensure that the quality titles released in the holiday window will have a large consumer base to sell to and Sony may be attempting something similar by ensuring the Playstation Vita launches with quality titles already available.
Sony’s previous handheld system—the Playstation Portable—was heavily criticized for a lack of quality software, especially at the launch of the system.
While the Playstation Vita was praised for an impressive lineup of titles that were planned for release, many were not guaranteed to be finished by the end of 2011 and would have theoretically missed the launch window of the system.
Given that the new release date for the Playstation Vita wasn’t provided in the announcement beyond the mention of sometime in 2012, it is unknown what games would now fall into the launch window of the system in North America and Europe.
