Sony studio head Shuhei Yoshida says it's "too early" for a Vita price drop

Sony really made the most out of their gamescom press conference this year, capitalizing on a great catalog of upcoming Vita games and features. For instance PS3/Vita cross-play was revealed for several titles, including PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royal, along with free Vita copies bundled with PS3 games. Then with game announcements like Tearaway and Killzone: Mercenary, gamers are starting to turn their heads and take a look. The worry for potential buyers, however, is we're on the verge of a Vita price drop.

Not the case, says Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida, who promises no price drops this year. It's simply too early in the handheld's life, production engineers have yet to reduce costs enough to justify a price drop. Instead, Sony is focusing on increasing value through the above gamescom announcement, along with a series of bundles to be released this fall:

"At a certain point in the future we would like to address the pricing issue for some of the people who are waiting. But this year we are trying to add value by creating different types of bundles. We announced we will provide LittleBigPlanet PS Vita bundle pack. That's affordable for people who are looking for a good deal."

In fact, Sony is bundling just about every big release with the handheld later this year. There will be Vita Wi-Fi bundles for each of the following games: Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, Madden NFL 13, FIFA 13, Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Lego The Lord of the Rings, LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Each bundle will run at the standard Vita Wi-Fi price of $250, but whether any additional peripherals like memory cards or cases will be included is yet to be determined.

Honestly, there's no argument in my mind that the Vita is looking like a solid platform going into this holiday season. Especially considering the handheld's games only run at $40 and look nearly as good as some Wii U titles running at $50 or $60. Sony's really starting to figure this handheld business out:

"The best way to realise the potential of the PS Vita platform is to provide the content. That's absolutely number one."