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Refer a friend to PS Vita, earn $20 in Sony's new referral program

Posted January 26th, 2013 at 00:31 EDT by Kyle Prahl
10 Comments

Apparently eager to kickstart PlayStation Vita's flat-lining sales, Sony has introduced a referral program that rewards PlayStation Store money and Sony Rewards points to PS Vita owner who convince others to buy the handheld.

The program, powered by AMPLIFY and Sony Rewards, appears to require a valid PSN ID that has been linked to a PS Vita system. From there, you can solicit friends, family, acquaintances via Facebook, Twitter, and email to buy a PS Vita. If they do, and register the purchase through a particular web portal, you'll be awarded the above-mentioned goodies. The number of bonuses you can win caps out at 10 (the equivalent of 10 $20 PSN cards and 10,000 Sony Rewards points), but you can continue to refer friends until February 28, 2013, at which point the contest period will end and a Grand Prize winner - he or she with the most successful referrals - will be crowned.

What does the Grand Prize winner receive? Nothing short of 1,000,000 Sony Rewards points - equivalent to $10,000, and usable on everything from PlayStation games, systems, and accessories to PSN cards, Blu-Rays, MP3s, and more.

It's easy to point to this referral program as an act of desperation. Given that PS Vita hasn't been on store shelves in North America for even one year, this news is especially troubling. However, development and support for the device has never been higher - a deluge of great (nay, amazing) Vita games were released during 2012's holiday season, and blockbuster exclusives like Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Killzone Mercenary, and Tearaway are right around the corner.

So, is this move by Sony one of panic, or charity? Is Sony positioning the device to flourish in 2013 by expanding its install base, or desperately trying to push units in the wake of lower-than-expected sales? Join the conversation in the comments below, or in our official forums.

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Comments

pipo_snake_jc3 | Naruga418
- 2:00am EST - January 26th, 2013
- 1
Sorry, Sony, but this is just getting sad. I've owned the Vita since launch and I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Syphon_Filter | Syphon_Filter2
- 2:15am EST - January 26th, 2013
- 2
@1 I think you do need to see a doctor as soon as possible to solve your issue. The VITA is an amazing system and its most have. Beautiful technology it has and it provides different experience to the true gaming players not like you. I guess you can't offer to buy a game that cost 9 or 10 dollars. Then which system would you tell your friends? Ninetndo 64, garb1ge Xbox, or 3D DS to see your image in the center with super mario?
princevegeta1980
- 4:40am EST - January 26th, 2013
- 3
For me the Vita is the best hand held ever! We just need more games, the only thing that dissapointed me is games made by nihilistic which made the poor resistance burning skies and the terrible black ops. Especially after playing uncharted which shows what the console is able to do. I wouldn't swop my Vita for any other console.
Gannih Johanna Hiamnigar
- 9:15am EST - January 26th, 2013
- 4
bought the vita after launch was having problems so i returned it for another, played it for about 2 months didnt like it. so i traded it in for a 3ds and i never looked back.

wouldnt recomened it to anyone.

sad to see such a great company stoop so low for sales.
hush404
- 10:39am EST - January 26th, 2013
- 5
You should note that this is for US residents ONLY.
BlindMango | BlindMango
- 2:12pm EST - January 26th, 2013
- 6
Anyone been in the market for a Vita and want to help me get some points? Haha

@1 - I don't know about you, but the first year of the Vita has been an absolutely amazing one for me, it has offered so many amazing titles that I have honestly been busy playing them all year, I have JUST had a break from playing it, and it won't be a long break because Sly Cooper comes out in a week or two! This is a great console, and the Vita's launch year has probabaly been better than any year the PSP has been on the market in my opinion. The sales aren't astounding, but they're alright as far as it goes. 4 million sold in a year in a now massive portable market isn't too bad if you ask me!
MacIlroy
- 10:38pm EST - January 26th, 2013
- 7
The PS Vita is simply the best thing that happened to the gadget world that no one outside of gaming knows about. Yeah, it "only" sold 4 million units in the first year but that's competing not only against 3DS and Sony's old PSP but also against a hundred-million-strong smartphone market. Yeah, it's gotten bad press, but mostly from the States, and actually sales have been much stronger in Europe (as they have been for PS3 as well). The launch in the States wasn't too good but the run-up to the launch got a lot of bad press (from the States) and that ruined its momentum.Lots of pundits scoff at the lower-volume Vita, but I actually applaud Sony for being loyal to PSP fans. Sure, they'd like to sell more units, but they always knew the installed base would be a tiny fraction of PS3 sales--but they went ahead with it. Sony is really the only major company making so many different things for so many different people. Samsung just makes different versions of the same thing. But Sony DOES need to do a few things to keep the Vita successful, so that software developers keep pumping out titles.

1. Lower the price to $199, at the highest. I think $169 would be a good price point. Sales will jump and Sony will recover the losses with software licensing fees.

2. Pump up the advertising. The promo ads prior to launch were actually pretty slick--I don't know why Sony didn't use these for TV campaigns.

3. Advertise the gadget's other capabilities, like movie viewing, internet, etc. The touchpad and joysticks add functionality that will only enhance these experiences.
Trenton Misfits Ledford
- 3:46pm EST - January 27th, 2013
- 8
The vita cost 170 to make so cutting the price that low will hurt them. They should try thier best to out out more games that we will like on the vita. There is no games that peole are dying to have for the vita. They have a lot of games that sounds good like ac3 and uncharted but really those games are beatable in less than eight hours and there isn't much more to do on the vita after that
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- 8:40pm EST - January 27th, 2013
- 9
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princevegeta1980
- 8:52am EST - January 28th, 2013
- 10
We need games like Killzone, motorstorm, micromachines or even a chess game. They could also make a vita sports champion, this console has so much potentiel.