E3 2011: Vita to be profitable within 3 years - Sony

Sony has said it plans on a 10-year cycle for its gaming systems. That's a good thing for the upcoming Vita, as the electronics giant doesn't expect the upcoming handheld to even turn a profit for the first one-third of that span.

Sony consumer products head Kaz Hirai told Reuters this week that the company's goal with the Vita is to make the system profitable within three years. When it launches later this year, the portable will come in two models: A $250 Wi-Fi only model and a $300 3G-enabled model.

Sony's long-haul approach to console planning is nothing new. When the company launched the PlayStation 3 in 2006, it sold the system for as much as $600 and still lost money on every console. The electronics giant wound up posting an operating loss of $2 billion that year, and chalked it up primarily to the decision to set the consumer price at lower than the system's production cost.

For more on Vita, check out GameSpot's in-depth look at the system.