The same has also happened to the LEGO bundle featuring the DualShock 3 controller, 8Gb memory card and copy of The LEGO Movie Game. Despite it’s $139.99 RRP, retailers have discounted this to $100. Whether this is an early sign of an impending price drop from Sony themselves or an indicator of poor early sales is unclear at present but Sony’s poor marketing of the console certainly hasn’t helped public awareness at the moment.
Despite it’s capabilities, it still has limited functionality compared with the original Japanese model and doesn’t support the same media players that the PS Vita does and of greater concern, at retail the system is being advertised primarily as a PS4 accessory rather than a console in its own right and little is made of it’s PlayStation Vita origins.
Unfortunately, I am pretty sure this is an overstocking/poor sales issue rather than a price drop with support from suppliers 🙁
I’m inclined to agree. The recent promotion from GAME was fantastic but walking into any of the stores themselves was something of a disappointment. The PlayStation TV has no in-store signage, no reference to it on the Vita or PS4 displays and in all the branches I’ve visited it’s been hidden away in the rails of PS4 accessories next to the DualShock 4s and cameras. How are people going to know that it’s a console for sale if they don’t see it?
The console industry isn’t just about hardware capability but marketing and product awareness as well. Nintendo have nailed that perfectly with their handhelds and Sony have managed to do it right for their “regular” consoles so why can’t they seem to understand or take inspiration from Nintendo’s lead for portables?