Sony Computer Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida has told Edge Magazine that that company remained conservative on adding features to NGP, noting that it had a set price range in mind from very beginning. As a result, a number of ‘cool’ elements were set aside in the conceptualization stage to meet this price goal, a lesson Sony says it learned from the PS3 launch.

I can’t talk about a definitive price at this stage. But since the very beginning we had a target in mind. So, when considering various features, we always had our price range in mind.

There were elements that we found pretty cool, but had to set aside to remain on target. It’s a big lesson we learnt from the PS3. There’s no point putting everything you want into a device and doing the math later. We always had the price and consumer in mind. We had to sell something that people could buy.

With the specifications impressive enough as-is, it’s hard to imagine what Sony cut out. Still, the fact that it was designed from the get-go with a price in mind bodes well for affordability.

Sony NGP features dropped to keep handheld affordable [CVG]

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