gamescom

For a while now, Sony has been running some special offers where buying a copy of a game on the PlayStation 3 would net you the Vita version of that game for free. Today, they made that initiative official—giving it the name Cross Buy.

To kick off Cross Buy, Sony announced during their Gamescom press briefing that when you buy the PS3 version of three major upcoming titles—PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, or Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault—you’ll automatically get the Vita version of the game for free.

Obviously, Sony has indeed tried this before—but this seems like a stronger push for the idea, and these are much bigger games to make such an offer for verses what’s come previously.

As awesome as I think the Vita is, it has found itself having some trouble gain traction in the market against Nintendo’s 3DS. Programs like Cross Buy are something that Sony can offer up that Nintendo can’t, and it makes the Vita far more valuable when buying one copy of a game gets you that game on two systems.

So, I’m really glad to see that Sony is continuing on with this initiative—and I hope the number of Cross Buy titles only continues to increase.