PS Vita could go digital-only, says Sony

The PlayStation Vita has seen a larger share of digital purchases than the PS3 and could be headed into an all-digital future, Sony has said.

PS Vita games are currently sold via PSN as well as at retail on proprietary memory cards, and while physical sales still dominate, Sony says digital game sales on the handled are on the rise.

More Vita games are still consumed through physical game cards than they are through digital, but things are increasingly moving the other way. Could be that in future physical games becomes the side we do without,” PlayStation UK managing director Fergal Gara told VG247.

In India, Sony is already skipping retail releases for some Vita games – like Tearaway – although the handheld’s low installed base in India is probably the reason for that. And with frequent sales on PSN, Vita games are often much cheaper digitally.

This wouldn’t be Sony’s first foray into completely digital handhelds though. The ill-fated PSP Go was released as a digital-only device, but came late into the PSP’s life cycle.

It will be interesting to see the kind of retail support the Vita will receive from retailers should Sony scrap retail games altogether.

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