UK PlayStation 3 comes in at �425, Sony loses its marbles

by Conrad Quilty-Harper on May 18th 2006 12:00PM

Sony has officially announced the U.K. price of the Playstation 3 as £425, representing the fully featured PS3 which comes in at $599 in the U.S. and 599 EUR in Europe. GamesIndustry.biz suggests that Sony won't be selling the cut down model over the pond, although this isn't confirmed. The PS3's price in England is higher than the console's price in the United States and Europe but we're not entirely surprised by this: British consumers are used to paying more for their consoles (although traditionally the U.K. gets identical or lower prices compared to Europe). Here's a breakdown of the U.K. premium over U.S. and EU prices:

£109 more than the U.S. "Premium" PS3: the U.S. price is $599 which converts to £316. Take this away from £425 and you're left with a £109 premium.
£20 more than the EU "Premium" PS3: the EU price is 599 EUR which converts to £405. Take this away from £425 and you're left with a £20 premium

Now check out the price when compared to the Xbox 360:

£146 more than Xbox 360 Premium: the Xbox 360 Premium is £279. Take away this figure from the PS3's £425 price and you're left with a £146 premium.
£206 more than Xbox 360 Core: the Xbox 360 Core is £219. Take away this figure from the PS3's £425 price and you're left with a £206 premium.

If we were in Sony's shoes, we'd feel very uncomfortable right about now: the combination of a chunky U.S./U.K. price divide combined with the absence of a cut-down PS3 bundle doesn't stack up well against the PS3's main competitor: the Xbox 360. But wait! When we stepped into those Sony branded shoes we forgot to take the free prescription of Prozac hidden in the heel! Ahhh, much better. Now we'd say something similar to the Sony marketing rep tasked with announcing the news:

"I don't think it's an expensive machine; I think actually, it's probably a cheap machine ... If you think a Blu-Ray player by itself might be GBP 600-700, and we're coming in at just GBP 425 - it's a bargain."

Sony's "but it plays Blu-Ray" line works if you're addressing early adopters and hardcore users. However, the British public (the majority of which associate "PlayStation" with games console, and not much more) won't take kindly to hearing "bargain" and "cheap" in the same sentence as "four hundred and twenty five pounds".

[Thanks, Elmer]

Source

Tags: £425, bargain, cheap, Playstation 3, Playstation3, PS3, PS3 UK Price, Ps3UkPrice, Sony, Xbox 360, Xbox-360, Xbox360

Reader Comments (133)

#91

we were talking about tax WRT to prices. NH also has no income tax. show me a democratic state with no income tax.

Well, damn I should chime in about Ontario, Canada...

15% tax on purchases...

Try that on for size....

7% GST (goods and services tax - BS big time)
8% PST (Provincial Sales tax - Like a state tax)

Oh well...

Haha Kevin.. I only pay 14% in manitoba.

soon to be 13% with the tax cut Harper gave us.

now if they can drop my income tax from 56% to 50% ill be in good shape.

i'm no sony lover, nor am i a sony hater, just a general gaming fan. i sure hope these prices are just a temporary measure to take advantage of the early adopters who paid $1000+ on ebay for an xbox 360. i don't want sony to be the hegemon in the videogame industry nor do i want nintendo or ms. tight competition brings out the best products, to see sony "fall" in the next gen will only lead to complacency in MS and nintendo. plus, i'd like to play the sony exclusives but that price is just too much

i am talking football clubs for eg:

microsoft are like chelsea they can buy anything and rip u off, like hd - dvd add on for �130 rip off.
copied the camera of sony eye toy as well, and copied the sega joypad etc etc.
and soon they will copy the portable console like psp and ds.

sony are like liverpool the best club in the league.
best games
all developers and publishers supports sony.
they are number 3 in the world.
sony puts everything in one console like blu ray etc its is worth the money plus its 6-7 years life span.

nintendo they are in the non - conference league table.

poor garphics
same old games
only 1000 people in the world are backing them up.
and keep making new handheld console after 18 months waste of your money.
plus nintendo copied of eyetoy ps2 to make the tv remote instead.

so no matter what happens sony will win.

Anyone else considered this might be a ploy to increase the unit sales of one region more than another?

How many people are going to look at this price and say garbage I'll import or get one from their 'friend' who lives over there.

Lets face it at the price of the system Sony are not going to shift alot of units but at the end of the day I'll bet you anything they still want to say 'the PS3 owns Japan'

jojo,

quiet. seriously.
and sony are more like Rangers - at the top cos no-one else is any good, and they're stuck in the same old routine since they don't need to innovate.

Xboxgamer,

"Nintendo is going kiddie again with the Wii. No blood again in a game called Red Steel is an example of this."

Then your statement implies that Microsoft is going kiddie again with the 360. Why? Because a game called Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter features no blood at all which is also another great example and both games are Ubisoft's main franchises.

Way to go to refute your own argument, you're fucking moron.

minus_273,

How about Washington?

I don't see the link you're making between income tax and the price of the PS3. Sales tax would be the one affecting it.

And actually, New Hampshire does place a state tax on income from interest and dividends, which could be considered an "income tax". It's also one of the worst in the country when it comes to property tax.

I feel sorry for all of those people that believe Blu-ray is going to be the "next gen" DVD. HD DVD has all of the right components to beat out the competition. HD DVD players are far cheaper: Toshiba has them for 799.99 and 499.99 compared to Sony's at 1000.00. The physical media for HD DVD is cheaper to manufacture. Not a lot of funding needed to change the manufacturing process as well. Toshiba's HD DVD players have already been in the market. Ethernet input for firmware upgrade, Sony's player doesn't have that. The name "HD DVD" is consumer friendly. Triple layer HD DVD can hold 45GB. HD DVD is accepted by the DVD Forum. Several companies claiming blu-ray exclusivness have switched to both camps.

All of these factors lead me to forsee HD DVD as the winner. REMEBER VHS VS SONY BETA-MAX?

Ive said it before and I'll say it again:

Im living in the wrong country!

Looks likes it's going to be a Wii60 for me, and public ridicule for anyone seen purchasing a PS3.

You made a mistake, the UK Core 360 costs �209 not �219!!!!!

Anyway I think we always get ripped off in the UK, but the PS3 price is outrage. I think they will have extremely bad sales in the UK, I mean it. My parents, nor would my friends parents even dream of paying that much for a games console, especially when so little people have HDTV's that can take advantage of the High Def graphics!

�425, Hell, I could buy a Neo-Geo for that ;)

Sony needs to make a bundled ps3 that has no blu-ray driver and makes it SIGNIFICANTLY CHEAPER because no one wants it yet.

Does Kutaragi think the UK price is "too cheap" as well?

I don't understand where Sony is going with the PS3. I think that Sony is cutting their own throats with this one. Right now, as we all now, you can get a premium 360 out the door for $100 less than the "cheap" PS3. I like the idea of having an optional HD-DVD drive. When buying a console, I want a great gaming machine. If I am a consumer who wants an HD-DVD/Bluray player in my console, let me purchase it if I choose to. Essentially, what they're doing is edging out any would-be customers such as myself who don't want a super expensive all-in-one box with features they simply don't want. We all know the PS3 will intially sell out and that there are plenty of people totally stoked about its release, but I've go to imagine there are plenty of people out there like me who'll just be saying "no thanks".

I'm very interested in Sony's pricing. I think they will still sell well early on at such a high price. Just look at the 360's launch and how high the resell value was for a 360. I know I would not pay such a high price, but I'm sure there are millions that would. What if sony drops the price by $100 as soon as they can meet a higher demand? I would also like to add that MS representatives have already said that the 07 holiday season is when winners and losers of this console gen will be made, and I believe them. Sony could drop the PS3 to $300 at that point just to make sure their blu-ray is a success. I don't know how much they have already spent on research and promoting of blu-ray, but they it might be financially sound for them to risk huge losses on their console to make sure that blu-ray is a success.

(fan of blu-ray because of the hard coating. Don't know how many times I've rented a scratched up DVD that doesn't skip or have damage at some point of the movie.)

"Sony's "but it plays Blu-Ray" line works if you're addressing early adopters and hardcore users. However, the British public (the majority of which associate "PlayStation" with games console, and not much more) won't take kindly to hearing "bargain" and "cheap" in the same sentence as "four hundred and twenty five pounds"."

Ain't that the truth?

I'm sorry - whoever said I want to pay �425 for a fancy games console because I can't afford a house is just crazy. This, plus two decent launch titles, and I'm at �500. And I don't even own a 60Hz TV.

And as for VAT making this cheaper than it seems? Don't forget that the same 17.5 percent charge is being levied against the Xbox too.

I really wanted a PS3. Looks like I'm waiting till the inevitable drop in price once all the hardcore fans have bought one, and getting a Wii in the meantime.

@funkonaut, Tim

You don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about, but perhaps you're familiar with this quote -

"It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

I can see the entire gaming population of Northern Ireland hopping over the border to the Republic to pick up a PS3 for the cheaper Euro price. The difference is only �25 or so, but that's most of the price of a game, which could make all the difference.

Re: #114
"Hiroshi Kobayashi ... expects Dante to make his next-gen debut on the Xbox 360 and Wii and not the PS3 as first thought."

I'm starting to wonder if the high price will make many developers reconsider releasing multiplatform titles on PS3. I don't know if that was a factor in the DMC decision, but surely some of the smaller developers and publishers (are there any small publishers left anymore?) might be hesitant to start developing now for a console that could have few sales in the short-term due to its high price.

It should also be noted that the PS3 and 360 will get a lot less games then before due to the statements the reps have given out about the games that will apear on the PS3 and 360.

SNK has chosen Nintendo to be the console to host it's games from now on.
Quite a few more developers have pledged to be Nintendo only from now due to their game types being rejected for the PS3 and 360.

These same developers had their games on the PS2 and it's what fans claim made the pS2 worth owning.

In other words no future Katamri Damacy type games since HD photorealistic games with mostly cg cinematics will be the only PS3 games. Most rpgs will not be on the PS3 either. Forget another Guitar Hero coming to the PS3.

The Guitar Hero developers are praising Nintendo. In fact they said they only want with PS2 due to the installed base.

As for jojo bother to look things up. The eyetoy is a ripoff of the gameboy camera which was going to work with the N64 but Nintendo scrapped it since it would have cost more and required console buyers to buy a periperhal.

having lived in uk for some years, things are indeed pricier and more taxes on pretty much everything. But you have to know that health care is covered by law for everyone, even to me a foreigner (of course legal entry). Education is very very heavily subsidised as well. It's important not to note that, producing the hardware is one thing and actually getting it into the hands of consumers is another. Logistical issues for example, using this argument, as generally living expenses are higher in uk, naturally the cost for getting the console from the factory door into shops, advertisements, etc...

a piece of interesting news:
ps3 won't come with a power brick like x360, which could explain its size. personally i prefer the brick, less heat in the box, smaller box and out of the view since you can "hide" it.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/708/708601p1.html

Yeah the PS3 is nearly all vent. I can just imagine it overheating. I wonder how much hate will be directed at Sony if millions of defective PS3s occur in the first year. All those people out 600 or more if they didn't take in a 120 dollar warranty or whatever a store will charge.

"The PS3's price in England"

No.

UK = new array("Wales", "Scotland", "Northern Ireland", "England");

"It may be region free, but last time I checked british tv's were still running at 50Hz instead of 60Hz so I don't know how region free that is."

I assume the last time you checked was 1945?

zis is pretty expensive, non? I think I will take a Wii instead, oui wii.

Im a British resident.
Britain is so far behind in technology. Im 13 and at my school i cant think of anyone that would even hav heard of blueray let alone know what it is or manage to use it!
But seriously who uses blueray that much that there willing to pay liek �200 for it.

Im still considering buying one though. Im looking forwards to the compatability between the ps3 and the psp but im really considering getting a wii.

Sony have really let us down

"All of these factors lead me to forsee HD DVD as the winner. REMEBER VHS VS SONY BETA-MAX?"

Though I hate Sony at the moment I dont agree with you on this point. The Bluray fromat (unlike Betamax) has significant movie studio support & lets not forget Sony owns 'Sony Pictures' & Warner Brothers, so support wont be a problem I dont think.
Also despite the silly price the PS3 will still sell out because the world is full of fools and we all know a fool and his money are easily parted.
People will get suckered by the "cheap BluRay Player" sales ploy, just like city people getting suckered into buying 4x4's they dont need. If you dont believe me go count the Chelsea Tractors!
We also pay $1.77 (95p) for a litre of Gas here in the UK - no wander people outside think were stupid.

"nintendo they are in the non - conference league table.
poor garphics
same old games
only 1000 people in the world are backing them up.
and keep making new handheld console after 18 months waste of your money."

Well I thought game footage of 'Excite Truck' & 'Metroid Prime 3: Corruption' were visually stunning, and SNK has announced it will only support the Wii.
Wii is kind of like David going against Goliath - but with Wii-mote instead of a sling ;)

Any idea of the PS3 price in Canada when it first arrives? With the current rising CAN dollar, the prices could be comparatively high as well.

how about i dont have $600 extra dollars lying around to spend on a console. Gonna have to go with the Wii for a while :/

�425 is a huge ask for a console at launch, especially considering you then need to get some games, which are going to add at least another �80-90 to price if you go for a couple.

I've always been a bit a a PS3 fanboy and expected to console to be expensive but this is one of the first times (well maybe the second after I played Burnout on the 360!) that I've considered if I really want to wait until the end of the year and pay that much for a PS3, by which time I reckon MS will reduce the price of the 360 to make the PS3 look even more expensive. Whilst all the advanced features on the PS3 are good (dual HDMI's? hardly any of the UK's HDTV's support 1080i/p which would mean getting 2 in from the continent as if thats practical!!!!)

I guess at the end of the day (or year) I'll make my decision as to what next gen console to get closer to launch when more details are confirmed with all 3 consoles and just pray that Sony realize the errors in their ways!

Who's to say the US$ isn't going to move to $1.40 or something by the time the PS3 comes out.

Pricing in the UK has always been historically roughly one pound for one dollar.

I can buy a premium Xbox360 system *the good one - for under 170 pounds in Japan, and EA Xbox360 games are 20 quid here in Thailand.

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UK PlayStation 3 comes in at �425, Sony loses its marbles

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