If you’re thinking about buying a PS Vita, you might want to wait another week or two — according to a supposedly leaked Target ad, the system is set to be discounted to $199 later this month.
Scans from the Target ad show that all Vita’s — including both the WiFi and 3G models — will be marked down to $199 starting on August 18th. It’s currently unknown if this is simply a temporary sale that only Target is running, or if this is our first hint of a nationwide price drop for Sony’s second generation handheld.
The Vita got a much needed price-cut in Japan a few months ago, but Sony exec Shuuhei Yoshida has publicly stated that the handheld wouldn’t see a similar price cut in Western territories because of the inflated dollar-to-yen exchange rate. The exchange rate problem has evened out since Yoshida made that statement several months ago, so perhaps Sony is finally ready to extend Japan’s price cut to the rest of the world.
The timing of Target’s sale is highly suspicious: Sony has said that they’ll have some big announcements at this year’s Gamescom expo in Cologne, Germany, which goes down the same week as Target’s deep discounts on Vita. Of course, it could just be a coincidence, but there’s no denying that Sony’s struggling handheld could use the price drop, and now is the perfect time to do it — it would put the Vita back in the spotlight for a weeks before the holiday rush (and the next-gen hype machine) kicks in.
(P.S. — If you do end up buying a Vita this month, make sure you get Gravity Rush and Persona 4: The Golden. They’re the two best games on the system.)
