One of the biggest surprises of this past E3 was when Sony announced the pricing of the PlayStation basic Vita, $250 / euros, since all forecasts pointed to a higher price.

In a recent interview the head of Sony Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has said the final price of PlayStation Vita was one of the main goals when they started developing the console.

“The experience of PlayStation 3 was difficult for everyone involved,” he said, “so when we started working on PS Vita three years ago we set goals, and one of those goals was the price of $ 249, very, early in the beginning. That was in the spring of 2008. “

“Advanced graphics, larger screen, network settings were things we wanted to do, so we spent a year looking at all options in terms of individual hardware that would be available in 2011. The hardware group provided some prototypes for our teams to experience, as the touch screen back. at first we thought it was strange, but then we realized it would work. “

“He showed it to the guys at SCEI and convinced them. That’s how we saw all the options, keeping in mind our budget in terms of achieving a price of $ 249, which is a completely different approach to the PlayStation 3. In terms hardware development that was between 2 and 3 years. “