Of course, the games are the main reason to buy a console, but some news today just made the Vita an even more attractive purchase.
Today, telecommunications provider, Vodafone, announced a way to buy the PlayStation Vita that I believe will be a significant advantage in the long term.
For $Aus55/ month, people will be able to pay for their PlayStation Vitas much like they would pay for a smartphone. For that money you’ll get 1.5GB in downloads per month on the PlayStation Vita 3G. It’s a 12 month contract, and comes with a 4GB memory card to boot.
The is the first time that a dedicated gaming console has been offered on a plan, and it’s a fairly big deal. At $55/ month, the console will almost become an impulse buy for anyone unsure about a big up-front cost. And yes, the console will end up costing more by the end of the contract, but like many others (I suspect) this payment model has the benefit of fitting in with my other monthly bills. Where it can be hard to justify a significant chunk of a month’s wage in one go for a gaming console, spreading it over 12 small payments makes it far more palatable.
Giving consumers alternative ways to buy consoles is something that should have happened a long time ago. Though they’re undoubtedly worth the investment, it can be hard to simply have the money lying around in the budget for a big purchase – especially when the consoles have just launched and are relatively expensive.
I don’t know if Sony has formed similar partnerships with other telecommunications companies around the world, but good on it for doing it here. Sony seems determined to give people options for how they want to play their Vitas, and that can only be a good thing for the consumer.
