Sony has finally revealed the prices for full PS Vita games on the PlayStation Store ahead of the handheld's launch tomorrow.
Of Sony's firstparty titles, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is the most expensive, at £39.99, just £5 less than its retail RRP. WipeOut 2048, Modnation Racers: Road Trip and Everybody's Golf will cost £29.99, while Little Deviants and Reality Fighters are priced at £19.99 apiece.
Thirdparty titles including Rayman Origins, Lumines: Electronic Symphony and Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus are priced at £29.99, while the likes of Touch My Katamari and Michael Jackson The Experience HD are available for a relatively modest £24.99.
Prospective Vita owners expecting digital prices to be significantly cheaper than retail are likely to be disappointed. EA and Codemasters are the biggest culprits, asking £44.99 for FIFA 12 and F1 2011 respectively, but Capcom deserve a mention too. Not only does the publisher want £39.99 for Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3, but there's over £40 worth of day-one DLC as well.
As such, it appears those looking for bargains are best off looking at the more modestly priced download-only games. Motorstorm RC looks a steal at £4.79, as does Super Stardust Delta at £6.49.
There are demos, too, of Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Modnation Racers: Road Trip, Dynasty Warriors Next, Unit 13, WipeOut 2048, and FIFA. They, along with apps for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Foursquare, will be free to download when the Store is updated at some point this evening.
Source: PlayStation Blog
Comments
9And all but three cheaper as a boxed copy on Amazon.
No real surprise there.
I don't understand their thinking. They moan about the preowned market stealing all their profit and want to move towards a download only market yet they make their digital downloads as,if not more, expensive than their retail counter parts.
If they sold uncharted at £25 digital and £39 retail surely they would make more money in the long run as there would be less physical copies able to circulate the prowned market. Unless of course developers are greatly overestimating the damage preowned is causing.
They would charge the same price for the physical copy but people will wait for a used copy. That's what they mean when they say used games are hurting them. It's stopping them from driving prices up.
@GoingPostal13 You realize your comparison to Amazon just makes your argument invalid because of the simple fact that Amazon always tries to beat the competitor's price which is why I usuall order my stuff from there.
@Dirtyostrich just because it digital doesnt make it any cheaper. Its still a new title and I guess you can stay its a "AAA". Digital is not really a hot commodity there is still a bigger percentage of gamers who prefer physical to digital for the simple fact that they could trade it in when they are done.
Being digital does make it cheaper. Sony doesn't sell a £25 game to the GAME shop for £25. It sells it to them for less and GAME mark up the price to make a profit. So why is Sony selling it direct to us for £25?
Also, there's no physical disk production, no cost for running the factory that makes the cards, no cost of distributing that disk to stores, no cost of a box, or inserts or manuals.
Not only should it be cheaper because it's not a physical copy, it should be cheaper because there's no middle-man retailer (GAME).
PLUS digital copies virtually guarantee no loss to second-hand sales. Technically the second-hand sales would be factored into the original pricing of the physical version.
To prove this point the "download only" games are Motorstorm RC looks a steal at £4.79, as does Super Stardust Delta at £6.49. Super Stardust being the most critically acclaimed title of the Vita launch line-up.
Yes, there is still a bigger percentage of gamers who prefer physical to digital. But just barely. It's a false economy though. Buy a game for £25 and trade it in for £10? £15? so you rented the game for about 6 months for £10-15 When you could buy it digitally, own it for ever, all for less than £10.
The reason digital copies are priced at the RRP is because retailers will refuse to stock that companies games if they under cut them with digital copies, and as you say many gamers are still too stupid to release they're being ripped off by retailers. Which seems redundant now anyway because GAME is already defaulting and can't stock ubisoft vita games anyway.
Remember this, GAME and other game retailers add NOTHING to a game except cost. They don't make games, they don't make consoles, they don't increase their value and they don't care about the customer anymore than any other corporation. All they do is make games more expensive.
My argument is that boxed copies are cheaper** - so how is it invalid when it's patently and obviously true?
**I used Amazon for convenience - other websites may be available with similarly priced products.
Amazon is usually cheaper especially on new "HOT" titles... I guess its Amazon's way in getting people to order from them.
But anyway the price conversion from Euro to USD is a lot so I see what you're getting at.... my mistake!
No-one going to baulk over the "over £40 worth of day-one DLC as well"? Ah well. Maybe that was a fad-whinge.
£40 in DLC? Someone is smoking crack. This is why I refuse to buy any DLC. It just encourages them.