Sony’s next-generation handheld, the PlayStation Vita, will not be arriving in 2011 for American and European consumers, missing the important Christmas season. The company had previously announced that the PS Vita would be available globally by the end of the year. Japan is still expected to see a late 2011 launch.
Rival developer Nintendo announced just last month that they will be reducing the price of their four-month-old Nintendo 3DS handheld from $250 to $170. With an asking price of $250 for the WiFi version and $300 for 3G, PS Vita will have a significant price difference. Questions of whether Sony would counter with a price cut of their own have been answered.
“We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable,” Sony Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai told reporters. “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.”
