PS Vita memory cards: ridiculously expensive!

Lately my PS Vita got a lot of use, because I’ve discovered Atelier Rorona Plus: the Alchimist of Arland. And as I’ve written about before, what an amazing game. I know I’m late to the party, but now that I’ve done some research on the series, I know that there are two more plus versions waiting for me. Atelier Totori and Atelier Meruru are in the same series of PS3 games that have been adapted for the Vita. Problem is, those games are only available as a download, and with my measly 8GB memory card, I am pretty much out of room.

And that’s a problem with the Vita: you can only buy special PSP Vita micro SD’s for it. And you can guess: Sony wants to make some money on that, resulting in ridiculously expensive cards. I have been brooding on that for some time now, but today I bit the bullet and ordered myself a 64 GB card. That kind of memory isn’t even available here in Europe, so I resorted to ordering mine through Amazon.com. It still cost me an arm and a leg, but at least I’ll know I can download new games without any problem. (At least, if my information is correct that the card isn’t region locked)

I do wonder if this isn’t one of the reasons why the Vita isn’t nearly as successful as the 3DS. What are your thoughts on the matter, and have you added additional memory already?

7 comments

  1. Sadly this is rather normal when it comes to Sony.
    They often try to push proprietary technology (Minidisc anyone?).

    It has been like that with the Play Station Portable, where you had to use the Memory Stick Pro Duo, you guessed it, a Sony invented format card.
    Back then there were some third party alternatives at least.

    With the Vita they have ruled out third parties completely.
    It’s hard to put into numbers how much this has hurt them, but it can be seen as one of the problems of the Vita.

    I bought a 64GB card as well some time ago (I can assure you that there is no region lock whatsoever), just because I like to be able to play my games whenever I want to, without going through the hassle of deleting and redownloading them.

    Look out for the day when even your 64GB card is too small. I cursed. ^___^

    1. This is my first ever Sony device, so it shocked me how expensive this was. And it irks me that the only reason behind this choice is the pursuit of profit. Don’t they see that this hurts the chances their device has? Anyway, for now I’m good…for a while!

  2. For me personally the memory sticks haven’t been the issue. I have a 32gb memory stick and have been able to get games just fine. Only issue I notice with the vita for me is not knowing what to actually play. I have a ton of games on my vita system and love it. The memory sticks are a little pricey but not unusual if you know how Sony goes about things with their products.

    1. Yes, I’ve heard more reactions that it’s fairly standard for the way Sony does things. It’s just that I’m not used to that with Nintendo! I’m already irked that they switched to Micro SD for their New 3DS, and for those you can just use standard ones!

  3. My 32gb memory was purchased through a discount I got from someone on craigslist so I guess I got lucky but I do feel sony does make their vita products a little pricey. Though you do get what you pay for, right?

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