Sony has retracted an earlier statement in which associate brand marketing manager Crystal MacKenzie claimed PSN accounts on PS Vita were bound only to the Memory Card. In a follow-up email to Wired, Sony noted that in order to switch PSN accounts on Vita, it requires a full system restore — not a mere swapping of Memory Cards.

Sound familiar? That’s what we originally reported. What’s more, however, is that doing a factory reset will just not wipe out settings but clear all data tied to that PSN account from the Memory Stick — including save data. Which means, users will have to re-download content each time they want to swap PSN accounts.

Clearly, the restrictions imposed by the PS Vita are not friendly to users that want to access cross-region content digitally. While we imagine this will only affect a small amount of people, it’s still a huge step back from what was allowed on PS3. For importers, it’s mostly a non-issue since retail content is completely region free, although accessing PS Store exclusives will prove to be a hassle unless a workaround surfaces.

Follow this author on Twitter.