Sony defends PlayStation Vita memory card prices

A few days ago, news of the PlayStation Vita memory card prices broke out and as expected – people weren’t too happy about it. Well, Sony Division 2 Software Development’s Head, Muneki Shima has decided to explain the reasoning behind the Vita using proprietary memory cards. Firstly, Sony can ensure that all gamers are guaranteed the same performance since they can set the read/write speeds of the cards as opposed to letting users get their own microSD cards and ruining their gaming experience when they unknowingly pick up a lower speed card just because it was cheaper. A valid point, though Sony could have simply informed consumers about what class cards to purchase.

Secondly, which is probably the main reason why Sony has decided on using its own memory is for security purposes. To prevent piracy that was so common in the original PSP, these new cards have features to help reduce such criminal activities. Firstly, the cards can’t be used as “mass storage” on computers. They will only sync with a proprietary Sony management program which will be mandatory for all Vita users (it will be Mac and Windows ready).

Even after the explanations, I still don’t think the cards warrant such high prices – unless they are extremely high performance memory cards and would cost just as much if they were regular microSD cards (the cards are said to cost: 4GB: $30, 8GB: $45, 16GB: $70, 32GB: $120). Do you think the Vita memory cards should be priced that high?

George Wong
Categories: Gaming
Tags: memory card, playstation vita, Sony