Sony: PS Vita Won't Be Limited To One PSN Account

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Earlier this week, we learned that the PlayStation Vita will be limited to only one PSN account per handheld. The news came from a pamphlet that was handed out at one of Sony’s PS Vita events in Osaka, with the FAQ section of the pamphlet stating that Vita owners would need to reset their device to factory settings if they wanted to link a different PSN account with their PS Vita.

Obviously, this didn’t sit too well with prospective purchasers, as restricting the PS Vita to only one PSN account effectively region locks the device, at least as far as digital content is concerned. Many consumers were planning to use the PS Vita in the same way they use the PSP or PS3 – by creating multiple PSN accounts for different regions of the world, thus allowing them to purchase games that aren’t available in their region.

With all of that on the table, it’s easy to understand why Sony fans are upset by the news that Vita will only support one PSN account at a time. However, that initial report appears to be at least somewhat incorrect, with Sony clarifying the restriction in an interview with Wired. According to Sony associate brand marketing manager Crystal MacKenzie, players will be able to use different PSN accounts on PS Vita, they will just need to be stored on separate memory cards:

Your PSN ID is bonded to your memory card and your memory card is bonded to your Vita. So if you wanted to change different PSN users but use the same memory card, you would need to go factory reset.

Sony still hasn’t explained why it’s restricting the PS Vita in this way, but one thing is for sure: the Vita’s proprietary memory cards can’t be considered cheap, so those who want to use multiple PSN accounts are going to have their costs rack up fast. As well, tying PSN accounts to memory cards poses an entirely new problem in that you’ll need to reformat the memory card in order to save a new PSN account. This, unfortunately, means that your game saves will almost certainly be deleted in the process.

Sony is currently gearing up for the release of PS Vita in Japan, which launches there on December 17th. Looking into next year, the PS Vita will arrive in North America and Europe on February 22nd.