Today at the Gamescom trade show in Cologne, Germany, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe introduced Cross Buy, a system where certain games that have cross-platform play between the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions only need to be purchased once, on the PS3.
The move is an attempt to get users more excited about using multiple Sony game products and to motivate them to buy more content. The slow-selling PS Vita certainly needs help as it is, so far, falling short of Sony’s original forecasts for sales. Sony has announced three titles for Cross Buy so far, all coming this holiday season: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Ratchet and Crank: Q-Force, and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
It isn’t clear if all future PS Vita titles with cross-play will be part of the Cross Buy program, but with most Vita games selling for $35-$40, Cross Buy will save owners a tremendous amount of money and enable them to gain significant play time across both platforms. The program will become available this holiday season.