Sony: why PS Vita has 512MB of RAM

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 18 August, 2011

RAM halved rumour was "very funny".

Vita's 512MB of RAM enables it to run programs in the background while gamers are playing games, Sony has said.

One of those programs is cross-game voice chat via Vita's Party system.

"Part of the reason [for including 512MB of RAM] is more RAM means easier development for game developers," Sony president of Worldwide Studios Shu Yoshida told Eurogamer at Gamescom.

"But as important as that is to allow the PS Vita always to do more while the game is running in the background, or when you switch between the game and other applications or system software functionalities.

"So the reason why we were able to include something like Party, which enables cross-game voice chat, is because we designed Vita so it always has enough resources to handle something like that behind the game while it's running."

At Gamescom Sony revealed the final specifications of Vita, set for launch in Europe in early 2012.

The confirmation of 512MB of RAM ended months of speculation about the power of the machine, speculation sparked by a comment by a developer that appeared to back up murmurings that Sony had halved the amount of memory in Vita.

The RAM reduction rumour began in May when a French source said Sony had lowered the base Wi-Fi Vita model's RAM from 512MB to 256MB to lower the cost of the unit to compete with Nintendo's 3DS.

But according to Yoshida, Sony never even considered cutting the amount of memory powering the portable.

"It has been very funny," he said. "There were some rumours for the last few months. Some developer mentioned the RAM was halved. We never announced the amount of RAM, and we never changed it.

"We've been making games, right, and we've been showing the games, like Uncharted, since January. If RAM gets cut in the middle of development, there's no way we can complete the games. So I was like, what's going on?

"I got lots of Tweets saying, Sony made a huge mistake by reducing the amount of RAM. We never talked about the amount of RAM and we never cut it.

"So going into Gamescom we agreed there was no reason we should hide it, so we just added it to the specifications. We always had 512MB of main RAM and 128MB of V-RAM. Actually when you add them together, PS Vita has more RAM than PS3 [the PS3 has 256MB of XDR DRAM main memory and 256MB of GDDR3 video memory]."

The speculation around Vita's RAM caused some concern over the power of the final version of the machine. Yoshida moved to reassure gamers about this.

"So far we've been getting very positive reactions from our developer and publisher partners," he said. "We could put even more power into the portable, but there has to be a balance made between the size of the unit, the weight and the amount of time you can play. We think we've hit the right balance in terms of creating a great experience on the PS Vita.

"The PS3 provides a full HD experience. The resolution on the PS Vita screen is much lower. Even though it's four times the resolution of PSP, compared to the console, the amount of data you have to push is much smaller. So that works to the advantage of the PS Vita."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (53) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Rauha #1 9 months ago

    Apart from the delay, got to hand it to Sony they've got almost everything right with Vita thus far.
    Edited by Rauha at 18/08/11 @ 20:04

  • eviroboy #2 9 months ago

    Not half as funny as the price...that's the real punchline.

  • Timotei #3 9 months ago

    I have no qualms whatsoever paying the asking price.

    Shit looks phenomenal.

  • MDL199 #4 9 months ago

    Can't wait for Vita to be honest. Release day can't come soon enough!

    And the price is amazing for the tech.

  • RobTheBuilder #5 9 months ago

    Ah the comedy of all the people bitching endlessly about the reduced RAM.

  • michaelius #6 9 months ago

    Can't wait for PSV :)

  • eviroboy #7 9 months ago

    Well then Mr @Timotei sell a few more bottles of shampoo and it'll be yours. The PSP also looked good...that soon went down the swanny, this will follow, less than six months after launch. Sony just can't do handhelds. You'll soon be moaning at the price of digital content, then it'll be something else but as a masturbating fanboy I'm sure you'll find more reasons to ram it up your arse.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #8 9 months ago

    I think those comments put to bed any chance of the PS3 getting cross game chat.

    ...and as much as this looks like a real beauty of a machine, the same things were said of the PSP and I ended up playing my DS much more.

  • Timotei #9 9 months ago

    @eviroboy

    I've only owned 1 Sony product and that's a PSP Go, yeah laugh it up, so don't really think I can be called a fanboy. The Go was a shit idea and I'm a mug for buying one. I was wary of the Vita at first but the more I read the more exciting it gets, it really is a far cry from the Go and it would seem Sony have learned some big lessons.

  • Apaar #10 9 months ago

    I don't undertand how a 70 million selling console can be called a failure, especially given that it was Sony's first attempt at the handheld market. Anyway, I couldn't be more excited about the PSV!

  • Lymmusic #11 9 months ago

    When you consider the price of ipad and other comparable devices i think the rrp for vita is about right... No call for 3g so once retailrs have tweaked the price it should be a no brainer

  • BuffoonBassoon #12 9 months ago

    if xbox maid a handheldz it wud ave 1000000000zzzz mb RAM rofllolz xbox 4 lyfe ps3 sux mai ballz

  • liquid-s #13 9 months ago

    @eviroboy

    Was there any need for that reaction to Timotei's comment ? Maybe your up past your bedtime and feeling tired so your a little moody or maybe you havent taken your ritalin today. More likely your just another idiot chav with zero idea what your talking about and just enjoy bashing things for the fun of it.

    Go smash some more windows you idiot and leave the adults to talk sensibly for a while.

    Personally I to can't wait to get my hands on it. Software lineup is looking good for now and the tech looks great. I'm also happy to wait a little longer for it to as theres already a packed few months towards the end of this year gaming wise.Will leave me with more money to spend on a couple of decent games to go with it at launch hopefully next year.

  • Jon1292 #14 9 months ago

    ABSOLUTELY HILAROUS.

  • ShiftyGeezer #15 9 months ago

    @Rauha - it needs HDMI to make it a portable media player that you can take on holiday or round a mate's, connect to the TV, and watch HD movies. Without that feature lt misses out significantly as a portable player to mini tablets, and it's releagted to just a games device, reducing value and audience.

    Even better would be to suport HDMI out and Sixaxis connectivity, to have a mini portable console that you can play as a handheld and on the big screen. Could just upscale rather than render 720p - that'd be good enough. Considering Sony's launch lineup is basically PS3 titles, a Portable PS3 Lite seems a natural product. Otherwise we've all got LBP, Uncharted and Infamous in better quality on our PS3's, so what exactly is the point in buying Vita just to pay for and play the same games?

  • Anciegher #16 9 months ago

    It feels like they are lying too us. Probably after developers complained like crazy Sony decided to add the full amount of ram back into the vita. This might also explain why 3 months ago Wipeout had like 20fps and now it has 30fps again (like in the reveal movies).

  • GamesConnoisseur #17 9 months ago

    Relieved at the confirmation of the memory size and get much more excited, as exceeded PS3 memory limitations and yet using only 1/4 the resolutions.... So much potentials indeed, only question for me is when I can dare afford one and which games...

  • xuiton #18 9 months ago

    it is funny that the vita will have more ram than the ps3.

    seriously why the hell did they put 256mb ram in the ps3.

  • PixelPirate #19 9 months ago

    So if Vita has cross party chat, at the least are Ps3 PS+ subscribers getting this at some point?

  • Triggerhappytel #20 9 months ago

    Yeah... so this pretty much confirms that the PS3 doesn't have the memory to handle CGC and it'll likely never show up. I mean, my XMB in the background often runs like shit as it is, so something like that would probably cripple it.

  • Engineerly #21 9 months ago

    Hang on. If the Vita needs to run chat and other stuff in the background, it means that a game can't use the fully 512Mb of ram. Perhaps that's how the rumour started. Would be nice if they said how much ram is usable by a game and not reserved for background processes.

  • HyperTails #22 9 months ago

    Have Sony made any mistake with the Vita so far? Its like the Sony that launched the PlayStation back in 1995... devs and publishers were chuffed at a simple to program console, and people were happy at its cheap price point. Sony also had great games lined up.

    Looking forward to this coming out, hope it does well. Alongside a 3DS success, this could shut up people that whine about handheld gaming's future being on a phone as crappy Angry Birds clones.

  • Rajin #23 9 months ago

    @xuiton

    They thought that the ''almighty'' cell processor could render everything and would requrie less RAM. Well, we all know how it turned out and why almost every 3rd party game is better on the xbox.

    As someone who absolutely loves his PSP i am looking forward to VITA. I think that the 3DS is a bit of a disgrace at the moment, perhaps with more software it can be remedied. Doesn't change the fact that actually don't like the 3D effect, after 20 minutes my neck hurts and my eyes start to feel itchy.

  • Timotei #24 9 months ago

    @Engineerly

    Depends what you want running in the background..?

  • talhamid #25 9 months ago

    Why can't we have one freaking console, handheld, which can plug into a dock (containing perhaps extra graphics processor and some sort of optical drive and USB slots) and become a home console?

    Damn, I think I just outlined PS4 :-)

  • Subdominator #26 9 months ago

    They could've saved themselfs months of angry customers by just saying "No, it still has 512 MB RAM.

  • captainCandy #27 9 months ago

    And Nintendo 3DS has 128MBs of RAM. LOL! ;)
    Edited by captainCandy at 18/08/11 @ 22:33

  • alcides #28 9 months ago

    HDMI would have been great. But do not expect SONY to come up with software that's any good for organizing/transfering your data anyway. They just suck at it. Proof in case : MediaGo.
    You're better off with whatever alteration of USB they'll push on you, if that can help keep the price of the thing down ;)

    PSV+Wipeout+Uncharted DAY ONE

  • alcides #29 9 months ago

    They thought that the ''almighty'' cell processor could render everything and would requrie less RAM. Well, we all know how it turned out and why almost every 3rd party game is better on the xbox.

    @Rajin

    ... beeeecause they're made to at least be able to run on the 360, that is, keeping with your logic since obviously no one is a developer here, relying on such RAM as the 360's?

    We all know how it turned out, 360 will never be a match for the likes of UNCHARTED 3 and God of War 3.

  • RobTheBuilder #30 9 months ago

    @Anciegher Or just maybe the whinging folk didn't know what the hell they were talking about.
    Wipeout may have changed framerate because it was in development and being optimised!

    Geeez.

  • Rajin #31 9 months ago

    @alcides

    Right and every developer can optimise the cell processor as all those first party developers. You sound more or less offended like i attack sony(i never want to use terms like fanboy since worshipping a company is imo utter bullshit)

    First party and third party developers aren't equals in this regard. Since the first party developers recieve funds to show off the technical supriority of the console.

    Sony however learned from this and makes VITA developer friendly(and hopefully) the PS4 as well.

  • ollyn #32 9 months ago

    The Vita looks pretty strong, nice looking games lineup, great functionality, looks pretty sweet too. I am rarely an early adopter but this has me tempted.

    Just picked up a 3DS for £105 though, never really craved for one but at that price I couldn't resist and if I did it how many more people out there bought one in the same fashion, I can really see Nintendo shifting a lot of them at their new price point hopefully Vita isn't too late to the party.

    That said as long as it gets a good sales base and is easy to program for it should be great, i am hoping titles like Limbo/Outland/Costume-Quest/Deathspank get easily ported to Vita (not necessarily these specific titles but these types of PSN/XBLA titles)
    Edited by ollyn at 18/08/11 @ 23:36

  • Quak #33 9 months ago

    > There were some rumours for the last few months. Some developer mentioned the RAM was halved and then Eurogamer ran with it like they had a rocket up their arse.

    I fixed that for you.

  • alcides #34 9 months ago

    @Rajin

    quite right. exclusives will always look better. I do wonder at Gears 3.

    Back on tracks, it's a bit wierd that a portable will get what a home console should have had from the get go, ie, cross game voicechat.

    Will the thing let us listen to music too? While playing a game?

  • Mister-Wario #35 9 months ago

    Rajin: Really? Because the digital foundries on this site seem to suggest PS3 and 360 are pretty evenly matched on the 3rd-party front. Even if there is some difference, the comparisons are based on the idea that you're running both versions alongside each other: obviously we're not going to be doing this, and as such, would you even notice an inferiority in one game if you didn't have the other in front of you?

    I think we can safely say the days of Bayonetta and The Orange Box are behind us.

  • danhese007 #36 9 months ago

    1. PS3 does not have cross game chat because the PSN chat architecture was not planned from the get go to support cross game chat. It does not require more RAM. 360s whole chat architecture is all built in 1. Cross game, video, in game and txt chat. They are not separate systems but rather 1 chat system that can serve several purposes.

    2. PS3 has 512MB RAM hard partitioned into 2x 256MB, 360 has 1 512MB RAM that is shared

    3. VITA retail unit was to have 512MB RAM and 128MB VRAM. It was already said at GDC that VITA had more combined RAM than PS3 but the amount was not specified. The developer unit has 1GB RAM and an HDMI port. Retail unit does not because they dont want it to compete with PS3 in the living room. People dont mind using handhelds as their main console so if it has an HDMI port, no one will be likely to buy a PS3 and VITA instead they will buy either PS3 or VITA
    Edited by danhese007 at 19/08/11 @ 00:22

  • weebl #37 9 months ago

    @timotei: developers would have to write their game with a maximum ceiling so that the platform can run whatever could be expected in the background. A few games on my iPod don't launch unless I close other apps, because the amount of ram is half that of an iPhone and there is less headroom. I'd expect as the vita ages some software will only support limited additional processes such as chat to increase the amount of ran that can be used by the game.

  • stepleftstepright #38 9 months ago

    It's funny b/c Sony has a history of scaling back its originally proposed product specs.

  • Turbotim3 #39 9 months ago

    anyone who reported the ram slashed in halve story is amateur at best. yes that means you eurogamer. but i guess it brought people to your website which is what you wanted but now i dont have any respect for you

  • man.the.king #40 9 months ago

    @eviroboy

    eviroboy's response demonstrates that the right forums for a discourse more suited to the level of his intellect would be available on Megaton.

  • coolbritannia #41 9 months ago

    so, running this through Sony's bullshit filter: we halved the RAM and then changed our minds in the backlash.

  • smelly #42 9 months ago

    >they've got almost everything right with Vita thus far.

    Now i know this'll piss off a lot of fanboys.. So, if you still live with your parents, and think the sun shines out of sony's bottom.. and have the vita on your xmas list... because your rich parents will buy it for you just to keep you happy.. then please look away now....

    >they've got almost everything right with Vita thus far.

    LOL!!!!!!

  • smelly #43 9 months ago

    >If xbox maid a handheldz it wud ave

    .. Sold less than the gamecube... same as the orignal xbox did.. .before they attracted the casual gamers (like yourself) who only like shooting games.

    *SHOCK!* Yes - i said it... Most FPS fans are CASUAL gamers!!!!

  • dagas #44 9 months ago

    512+128MB RAM. More RAM than the PS3. That just shows how RAM limited the 360 and PS3 is with a total of 512MB. Why can't they release an expansion pak like the N64 did?

  • siallen #45 9 months ago

    Fingers crossed Sony and microsoft put plenty of ram in there new consoles , you can buy 8 gb of ram for a pc for about £60 .

  • Alex_976 #46 9 months ago

    I love my Saturn's 4mb RAM cart. I sleep with it everyday.

  • Doctor_What #47 9 months ago

    It's still not that much RAM compared to any modern PC. I know many developers who will be begging for more - it would make their lives a lot easier to have 1GB and it's not like that's actually expensive on the scale that Sony would be buying it.

  • Zomeguy #48 9 months ago

    Who here believes that the 256MB rumor was actually started by Sony themselves?

  • HyperTails #49 9 months ago

    Ah to see the usual anti-Sony gamers crawl out of the woodwork. Probably hoping that Sony would be making mistakes like they did with the PS3, and then Sony do things properly this time round and they get all pissed off that Sony might do well again! So, I ask you smelly, what has Sony done wrong with the Vita?

  • hiscore #50 9 months ago

    " "It has been very funny," he said. "There were some rumours for the last few months. Some developer mentioned the RAM was halved. We never announced the amount of RAM, and we never changed it. "

    Strange interpretation of "funny". If you don't counter false (and negative) communications about your hardware specs, then maybe something "funny" is going on with your own perception of things.

  • Lucodeath #51 9 months ago

    They learnt the hard way, ps3 with more memory would have been great.

  • riseer #52 9 months ago

    xuiton,It has more ram then the 360 as well..Has the same ram Gddr3 for its main memory.Ps3 has better system memory 3.2 ghz.

  • Retro_ #53 9 months ago

    yup, the PS3 with a bit more memory would of altered things quite dramatically. there are two bottlenecks in the PS3, GPU to an extent and the lack of RAM. The CELL has the grunt to take care of the GPU issue but the lack of RAM certainly hurt it. Personally, they should of delayed the PS3 for another 12 months and installed the same CELL developed for the Server Blades, It had ten times the Floating Point power of the PS3's CELL !! That basically would of been game over for the 360.