Sony: Vita was designed for a different world, but changes are afoot

The PlayStation Vita was designed for a market where smartphones, tablets and freemium games were not the driving force.

So when the machine arrived in both 279.99 and 229.99 versions on February 22nd 2012, it unsurprisingly struggled to make an impact on the market.

And that, according to Sony’s UK MD Fergal Gara, is why big changes are on the way – such as the recently announced price cut – that will reverse the machine’s fortunes.

"To bring a console out at 200+ and have software at 30, 40, 50 was a tough ask, even if it offered full controls and a superior gameplay experience,” he told Videogamer.

"Price is part of the equation but I think the landscape it entered is vastly different to that which maybe was imagined when the design process for the device started, in particular the tablet and smartphone and freemium-type models.

"So what’s happening now is, you’re getting the price of the console coming down, you’ve got tremendous value offerings around the software – we talked about Mega Packs [last week], we talked about PlayStation Plus and what that does for PlayStation Vita, and now you’ve got Remote Play as well.

So in short, I think it could well be about to come into its prime and prove its distinctive worth, whereas it maybe struggled a little bit alongside the burgeoning tablet revolution."

Vita can typically be had for around 180 at the moment in the UK.