PS2 price drop in Japan: now 3,800 yen cheaper

by Ross Miller { Sep 5th 2006 at 6:55PM }

In preparation for the imminent PlayStation 3 launch, Sony has dropped the price of its current home console, PS2, from ¥19,800 to ¥16,000, or roughly from $171 to $138. The price drop, set to go in effect September 15, follows the European PS2 price drop from a few weeks back (which, in turn, follows the North American PS2 price drop from April).

The price drops are as follows:

U.S. $129.99 $20 (13.3%)
U.K. £94.99 £10 (9.5%)
Europe: €129.99 €20 (13.3%)
Japan: ¥16,000 ¥3,800 (19%)

So it seems Japan got the best drop, which only makes sense as Japan is both home to Sony headquarters and the last to receive a price cut. It's unlikely the price of a PS2 will be dropped any more this year; if you are still holding out on buying the PlayStation 2 and have no interest in the upcoming console, now would likely be a good time to pick up the console, as older PS2 titles will soon diminish in presence and become harder to find.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cage @ Sep 5th 2006 7:13PM

I would make as much money now as possible if I were Sony. The PS3 could give A LOT of people shell shock leading them to buy the PS2. Dont see it as a good move but then again I work for Wells Fargo and not Sony. I'm not gonna say "Whos still buying this thing?" because as we all see from the weekly sales charts, its still selling.

potato @ Sep 5th 2006 7:15PM

more sales!

but I already have a PS2 so it doesn't matter

R @ Sep 5th 2006 7:17PM

Is that price saying it WAS $129.99 and it's 20 bucks off that or is it saying that it's NOW $129.99 which is 20 bucks lower then it was?

Ethan @ Sep 5th 2006 7:25PM

keeps rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' WHAT! keeps rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' C'mon.

Anyway, I still have the PS2 that I bought at launch, and have never needed to buy a second one. Still play it regularly too.

Jay @ Sep 5th 2006 7:31PM

I was so tempted to buy a PS2 the other day. But it's still £95 for a 5 year old piece of hardware. cubes going for £60 and Xbox's for 100 (WITH HDD!). They drop this to the Cube price and they have a customer.

Had a big PS2 at launch. Was not impressed. Sold it for a Cube when that came out around a year later.

Stoli @ Sep 5th 2006 7:40PM

R, it must be that it will be $109.99 since it already retails now for $129.99.

GSI @ Sep 5th 2006 8:00PM

I wonder how long until people bring in the number of consoles it has sold. Then the people who say they know someone who knows someone who knows someone that had 3 PS2 fail. lol

I wish they would just drop the price of the damn thing to $100 in the US. The thing is about to hit the 6 years old mark. Drop it to $100 and I'll use it as my "portable" PS2 when I take Guitar Hero to people's houses. I hate having to lug around larger PS2. (I still have it b/c I use HDAdvance with a hard drive.)

jc @ Sep 5th 2006 8:23PM

Or you could get one for 30 bucks on ebay...

GSI @ Sep 5th 2006 8:45PM

Used PS2s on eBay aren't $30...

Shogan @ Sep 5th 2006 9:44PM

I'll probably grab a new backup PS2 sometime in the next year or so. Forget Wii60, it's WiiPS2!

Evan @ Sep 5th 2006 9:57PM

Here's betting the PS2 outsells and PS3 this Christmas!

K_G @ Sep 5th 2006 10:01PM

"So it seems Japan got the best drop, which only makes sense as Japan is both home to Sony headquarters and the last to receive a price cut."
This statement is crap..It has nothing to do with being Sony's base country...the delay in price drop has to do with their market position respective in each market...there is no real competition for the PS2 in the Japan market (last weeks hardware sales data shows that gamecube, xbox, xbox 360 combined sales equaled about 10% of PS2's) , while the PS2 faced more competition in other markets.

"...as older PS2 titles will soon diminish in presence and become harder to find."
This statement is equally ill thought out. Given than there are, what, a killjillion (100 million +) PS2s out there and likely at 2-3 million PS3s out the door by Q2 2007, what developer or publisher in their right mind is going to say "screw PS2 users"? It took a good 3-4 three years after the PS2 release for PS1 games to fade from retail and even some of the publishers said at the time (I believe the head guy at activision) said they blew it and should have kept some focus on the PS1 rather than rushing 98% of their efforts on the PS2. Unlike the Xbox, which was a money loser for MS and thus they had no reason not to kick it to the curb if it made it more likely you would buy a 360, Sony is making money on the PS2 so they have a very strong reason to keep it supplied with games for good while longer...

BklynKid @ Sep 5th 2006 10:03PM

Still not worth it IMO.

nothing dude @ Sep 5th 2006 10:21PM

yeah, guitar hero is looking more and more likely for me.

GSI @ Sep 5th 2006 10:31PM

Wow you mean you are one of the 5 people who don't own it?

/snicker

kidding...kidding.

*TIP* Before you buy it in the store, check out eBay b/c I managed to get my second guitar for much cheaper then what Best Buy sells it for.

Also...someone PLEASE explain to me why is it that Best Buy is the ONLY store to sell just the guitar (no game.) Back when I bought it in May, no other store had it (or knew) that Best Buy sold the guitar by itself.

Josh @ Sep 5th 2006 11:15PM

"(which, in turn, follows the North American PS2 price drop from September)"

That should be April, not September.

"So it seems Japan got the best drop, which only makes sense as Japan is both home to Sony headquarters and the last to receive a price cut."

Not really, they got the price drop later and it is still (by today's exchange rates, though that is pretty irrelevant) more expensive than in the US.

Regardless, if the PS2 price drops to $99 this year in the US, then it'll be WiiPS2 for me this Christmas, too, and this would be my first foray into PlayStation gaming.

Anonymouse Rep @ Sep 6th 2006 7:37AM

Anyone want to take me up on a little bet?

I'm willing to bet that, with the price drop, worldwide sales of the PS2 will again be higher than the 360. AND - fanboys everywhere will scream about how much more popular the PS2 is, and use this as evidence that the 360 is failing and is a piece of crap, and how Sony and the PS2 rule.

Of course, cutting the price would have NOTHING to do with a bump in sales as an attempt to keep the Sony brand on top going into the last couple of months prior to the (supposed) release of the PS3, would it?

And I say supposed - because until I hear that they've actually started production, I won't believe it. You're two months from launch - the 360 Dev Kits WERE pre-production models, not PC's. I keep getting slammed because of my comments that, with the power supply inside, it's going to melt and start fires. I simply say look at history - the Xbox power cord recall paperwork stated that some people could get a mild shock, and there could be some overheating issues. The PS2 recall paperwork flat out said that it could cause fires. And now we've got Dell computers with exploding batteries that can cause fires made by Sony.

I'm more willing to think that they're undergoing a serious redesign at the last second of the interior, because they've figured out that they need a power brick as well.