PSP World

Just How Much Does Sony Spend To Make PS Vita

The Sony PS Vita launched in Japan back in December with a pretty hefty price tag when you consider typical price points for handheld consoles.\n\nWhen gamers think of handheld consoles, usually anything over the \$200 price point is a bit high in terms of what the consumer is willing to spend.\n\nWe have seen both Sony and Nintendo try and break this mold though with their latest handheld releases.\n\nSony has released the PS Vita with a base model selling for \$249, while Nintendo recently released the Nintendo 3DS with a base price of \$270.\n\nNintendo quickly found that gamers simply were not willing to pay that, and subsequently dropped the price of the handheld.\n\nWill Sony find out the same when they launch their next-gen handheld in the U.S. next-month?\n\nUBM TechInSights has done some hard work that will be rewarding in the eyes of gamers, as they have ripped apart the PS Vita to see just what it costs Sony to make.\n\nThe idea to is to break down the costs of the next-gen handheld, similar to what is typically done when an iPhone or iPad is released, to see what the mark-up is on these devices.\n\nThe company tore apart the 3G model of the Sony PS Vita to see how much Sony is making off of the \$300 handheld model.\n\nWhat they found is that the 3G PS Vita costs around \$160 for Sony to make.\n\nThat means that Sony is almost doubling their money on each PS Vita sold.\n\nThe most expensive part of the handheld is the display and touch-screens, which come in at a \$50 price tag.\n\nFrom there, you have other components which all range from \$3 up to around \$16 at most.\n\nBottom line, even though the PS Vita is not selling like hot cakes in Japan, Sony must be happy with the sales they are racking up at this price point.