Sony not cutting price in Europe ... ouch!

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 12th 2007 at 11:35PM }

We just felt Europe's pain. Sony has announced that they will not be cutting the price of the European PlayStation 3 and they will not be offering the 80GB PS3 at this time either. To compensate, Sony will offer a "starter pack" at the respective countries current price. For example, in England, the £425 PS3 will allegedly have an extra £115 of content included as well. No word yet on what that will be.

So, um, yeah. There's speculation of a second price cut in the States before the end of the year and Europe just can't get any love. Hey, at least for this they've got universal healthcare, good cheese, cheap wine ... we're just trying to find the silver lining in this. Sorry.

[Thanks GiantHaystax]

Tags: drop, europe, price cut, ps3, reduce

Related From Joystiq

Pachter predicts another Xbox 360 price cut in 2010
16 hours ago
Fun with math: Some Rock Band UK packs inconsistently priced on PSN
10 days ago
PSP Go isn't cannablizing PSP sales, House says
12 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Snukadaman @ Jul 13th 2007 12:36AM

lol jeez...didnt that grill sell the most in europe...and you get no price cut for your troubles....watch them sell more in europe still..lol

waynski1457 @ Jul 12th 2007 11:41PM

u do what u can Giant. its not ur fault.

waynski1457 @ Jul 12th 2007 11:41PM

u do what u can Giant. its not ur fault.

waynski1457 @ Jul 12th 2007 11:42PM

sry double...

waynski1457 @ Jul 12th 2007 11:41PM

u do what u can Giant. its not ur fault.

zwarrior @ Jul 12th 2007 11:45PM

I'll wait for the enevitable (sp?) 3rd price cut

Rubang B @ Jul 13th 2007 12:00AM

It starts with an I!

zwarrior @ Jul 13th 2007 12:02AM

Thanks, I knew I spelled it wrong, too lazy to check the correct spelling hehe

zwarrior @ Jul 12th 2007 11:45PM

Fix your browser

SYN @ Jul 12th 2007 11:49PM

owww, nuts hurt, sympathy pains

rom @ Jul 12th 2007 11:51PM

Why not just drop the price? My guess (which I suspect is the truth), is that since the "Bonus" content is cheaper to produce, adding them in there costs them relatively little. So they keep the profit margins somewhat healthier than just dropping the price.

mccomber @ Jul 12th 2007 11:59PM

I think that's probably about right. I'd argue that those are two great games, and you are getting an extra controller that you'd probably buy anyway... but bundles just suck compared to ala carte. This will probably appeal to those that were about to pull the trigger anyway, but I doubt it's going to bring anybody that wasn't already thinking about it into the fold.
Feels like the exact same mistake as the 80gb "deal" is here.

ssuk @ Jul 13th 2007 4:07AM

Given it costs them pence to produce game discs, boxes and manuals and all you're paying for in £39.99 games is the licence to play them, which I'm sure Motorstorm and Resistance have already out-sold their development costs, Sony will be taking in more money out of this deal than anything.
Though, it is a nice gesture... I'd rather have a £50-70 price drop and then I'm able to get whatever game I like with the console for probably the ammount of the original PS3 price.
Suppose Sony are going to turn this around and blame Europe, like they did over the 80GB PS3. "Our market research shows Europe doesn't want cheaper stuff, so we bundled stuff together, because Europe really wants that!!"

Nomi @ Jul 12th 2007 11:55PM

I would buy the starter package given the choice. 2 games and 2 controllers...thats a very good deal.

GiantHaystax @ Jul 12th 2007 11:57PM

Plus if the bundle is correct thats an 18 rated game so legally the ps3 now cannot be sold to anyone under 18? Bit market limiting isn't it?

Exo @ Jul 12th 2007 11:59PM

how many people under 18 do you know that carry around enough cash to buy a ps3?

Rubang B @ Jul 13th 2007 12:07AM

CHAD WARDEN.

Apparently six hundred dollars aint shit to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25LceCPO1ys

ssuk @ Jul 13th 2007 4:09AM

Try $850? =P

Taha @ Jul 12th 2007 11:57PM

"For example, in England, the £425 PS3 will allegedly have an extra £115 of content included as well. No word yet on what that will be."

Uhh Joystiq.....just look at the image you put up for the article. That's what will be included, two SIXAXIS', Resistance and Motorstorm.

It was confirmed by BBC, Kotaku has an article on it.

copa @ Jul 13th 2007 12:06AM

That's pretty damn funny. Purely as a joke, before the Sony keynote I speculated that Sony would announce a pack-in deal with their only two worthwhile games to pad the price of a SKU:

http://tinyurl.com/yvyegr

Turns out that Jack Tretton thinks just like I do!

copa @ Jul 13th 2007 12:14AM

Oh, I just did the math, and Jack is actually much savvier than me. I listed the price at US$699 for a 100 Gig hard drive as an over-the-top joke of how misguided Sony's pricing strategy is.

But Sony is asking over US$800 for a 60GB unit! Come on guys, you're taking this joke a little too far.

Evan @ Jul 13th 2007 12:06AM

So, no one under 18 is allowed to buy a PS3 in Europe! The bundle replaces the stand alone unit, and the bundle is rated 18+. Nice going Sony.

Danny @ Jul 13th 2007 7:21AM

Actually, PEGI ratings are just advisory. An 8 year old could buy an 18+ rated game, as long as it doesn't have the red circular BBFC classification.

This package is excellent news to me, as I was just hoping to buy this exact package for about £480. Looks like I lucked out.

t_m @ Jul 13th 2007 8:57AM

but most stores have policies on not selling them to minors. Though of course they don't all stick to them.

Weird though, because before the changeover to PEGI they all had UK 18 certificates, and i think those ARE enforceable by law.

Big Ed @ Jul 13th 2007 12:14AM

Wow, Sony just stabbed one of their most important regions in the back. And to think the PS3 has been outselling the Wii and 360 in some European countries.

Jake @ Jul 13th 2007 12:21AM

And that's EXACTLY why they're not cutting the price.

GiantHaystax @ Jul 13th 2007 12:14AM

Great way to offload all the non rumble controllers before the rumble version comes out!

super joe @ Jul 13th 2007 12:27AM

@Rubang B
That Chad Warden video is the funniest shit I've ever seen. He thinks the PS3 is HARCORE but the funniest thing about that is the fact that videogames are softcore and have nothing to do with street credibillity whatsoever! This guy is hillarious....

jinira @ Jul 13th 2007 12:31AM

IN SOVIET UNION RUSSIA, SONY HAET YOU!

GiantHaystax @ Jul 13th 2007 12:31AM

Looks like it's a choice of games from a list, the image is example games, so the 18 issue doesn't apply.

Abscissa @ Jul 13th 2007 1:08AM

"Hey, at least for this they've got universal healthcare, ... we're just trying to find the silver lining in this. Sorry."

Speaking as an American, that really is one damn good silver lining. Scratch that - more like diamond.

Jitty @ Jul 13th 2007 1:02AM

Wow, is this like the 3rd time Europe's been shafted by sony?

AlanS17 @ Jul 13th 2007 1:08AM

Looks like Europe doesn't get the cool red-light controllers (whatever that even means).

And about the whole 18+ thing... You are all working under the assumption that Europe uses the same rating system that the US uses. I can't say I know how it works, but I can say that I'm not naive enough to just assume it's exactly like ours. Heck, maybe they don't even have a rating system!

I'm sure I could find all of that with 5 minutes of Googling but it's late and I'm being lazy...

minimalniemand @ Jul 13th 2007 5:48AM

Europe has no standardized Rating system. Every country has its own. With different criterias and different "ban-levels". Here in Germany you have th USK. It has 5 Levels, the highest is "Keine Jugendfreigabe" (like ur rated M) which you cannot buy it when ur under 18. Furthermore such titles may not be atvertised.
Resistance is - indeed - rated "Keine Jugendfreigabe". In the also-german-speaking neighbourcountries Switzerland and Austria there is no binding rating system. They just the recommendations of the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) which is in fact like a standardized Rating system but is, like I said, not binding. So if the german package really does not contain Resistance, I'll just order it over there =D

Ska Oreo @ Jul 13th 2007 1:15AM

Why does sony hate Europe so much?

WhackMushroom @ Jul 13th 2007 1:17AM

its common sense that the non starter packs will go down in price or collect dust forever .... common sense Alex .. thats where the silver lining usually is.

GodisaMyth @ Jul 13th 2007 1:40AM

Hey Europe.

I will take your bundle and you can have King Bush. Dubya has shamed Americans across the globe and tore away the few rights we had left.

Please, take Dubya

Laurens Holst @ Jul 13th 2007 1:51AM

"the £425 PS3 will allegedly have an extra £115 of content included as well"

Hey, I’m guessing that would be the two games and extra controller displayed on the box. But that’s just me.

Kylara @ Jul 13th 2007 2:27AM

I'm from California. We have cheap wine.

waldopepper @ Jul 13th 2007 5:03AM

If you can pick any games in the bundle then it will definitely help sales once GTA4 or another blockbuster title is out. Otherwise meh.

Jaks @ Jul 13th 2007 3:18AM

Do me a favor when you talk about Europe, put the price in Euros and not in pounds? Anyway, here in France the PS3 is still 599 euros (Fnac). Given the favorable euro to dollar rate right now, I could go to the US and buy a PS3 for only 362 euros (499$)! That is a pretty large margin.

asnozz @ Jul 13th 2007 5:39AM

@Jaks

well since the biggest videogames region in europe is the UK I would have thought that it makes sense.

alexbryan @ Jul 13th 2007 3:23AM

So is it just Europe that isn't getting the price cut or all the regions that got the PS3 late, e.g. Australia? If OZ gets a price cut I'll be pissed...

Marc @ Jul 13th 2007 5:13AM

Sony aren't cutting the price of the PS3 in the U.S. either. According to David Reeves (SCEE president) they won't be selling the 60GB model after they sell out at the end of July - the 80GB will be the only one available.

So the current 499 60GB is just selling old stock off. Buy one quick if you want one.

Josh @ Jul 13th 2007 9:09AM

You guys are all morons.

Chuma @ Jul 13th 2007 6:14AM

I'm guessing Sony are desperately waiting for a major holiday to come and go while the PS3 was released in europe before dropping the price. They may even be waiting until christmas, make a cut and hope that it is enough to have it flying off the shelves. Don't forget that we haven't had it very long here in the UK compared to Japan and the US.

Interesting point made with regards to the bundle pack by the way. If any of the contents are rated 18, then no children will be able to buy the console, if it really is replacing the standalone version rather than joining it and making the standalone cheaper.

minimalniemand:
You pointed out the ratings and enforcement of a couple of european countries, however I would point out that the UK is the biggest consumer of computer games in Europe and the BBFC rating IS binding by law, as with films. This is why typically bundles are with child friendly games, e.g. Amiga was with Lemmings, Simpsons and Deluxe Paint, Wii is with Wii Sports etc.

minimalniemand @ Jul 13th 2007 8:02PM

I did not know that, thank you. But obviously Sony already decided, which games to deliver with the bundle?

Billqvist @ Jul 13th 2007 1:30PM

Hello Sony, this is Europe speaking. We don't wan't your extra crap. We hardly want the Blue Ray player (or a HD DVD addon for the 360, for that matter). All we want is great hardware, and good games, for a decent price. You know, to be treated like the rest of the world? At the moment you fail to deliver.

Not lowering the price in our territory makes us love you SO much more. Oh well, back to my 360.