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Vita memory cards now locked to specific PSN accounts

You know, just to make them that bit more rubbish

Vita memory cards now locked to specific PSN accounts
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We're not huge fans of the PS Vita memory card system here at Pocket Gamer.

As I wrote earlier this year
, they are expensive and only come in small sizes, which is a pain given that Sony is currently pushing the digital revolution on the handheld. Download just a handful of games and you'll need to fork out yet another £35.

It sounds crazy, then, that Sony could make its memory cards even less accessible. Yet, with the latest Vita hardware update, it has done just that - by locking memory cards to specific Vita devices.

If you attempt to swap to a different PSN account on your Vita, you'll be presented with the following error, as captured on camera by a NeoGAF user:

Essentially, whichever PSN account is using the memory card is now the only one that can gain access to its contents. Otherwise, you have to format the card to use it with another account.

Memory cards were always locked to a specific Vita, but never to a specific account. So, beforehand you could freely swap to a different account and continue to use your memory card data.

This move will be particularly irritating for those people who want to take advantage of the PSone Classics functionality but who have PSone games bought on other PSN accounts.

Many people cite the PS Vita's memory cards as one of the main reasons they won't buy the device. It's incredible that rather than making the device more accessible for users in order to build up its userbase, Sony seems intent on doing precisely the opposite.

Mike Rose
Mike Rose
An expert in the indie games scene, Mike comes to Pocket Gamer as our handheld gaming correspondent. He is the author of 250 Indie Games You Must Play.