Sony spills beans on UK PS3 price

PS3 News | "It's a bargain" says Sony rep.

Sony Computer Entertainment UK Managing Director Ray Maguire has revealed that the PlayStation 3 will launch in the UK on November 17th with a price tag of £425. Meanwhile, well-placed retail sources have informed Gamesindustry.biz that the cheaper of the two PlayStation 3 launch packs (the version with a 20GB hard drive) may not even see the light of day in the UK, with only the 60GB model being made available.

At £425, UK consumers will be paying more than customers from any other region for Sony's next-gen platform. According to current exchange rates, a 60GB PS3 will cost both Australians and other Europeans the equivalent of £405, and Americans the equivalent of £316. In Japan, the cost of the more expensive PS3 model is to be left open to retailers.

Despite this, Maguire was surprisingly chirpy about the price when speaking to Eurogamer TV. "I don't think it's an expensive machine; I think actually, it's probably a cheap machine," he commented, probably whilst leaning out of the window of his Ferrari Enzo. "If you think a Blu-Ray player by itself might be £600-700, and we're coming in at just £425 - it's a bargain. £425 is definitely not a mass-market price, no. But you think about the price of just a Blu-Ray player. It will be cheaper than a Blu-Ray player just by itself. So fundamentally we're going to be great value just from that point of view without even looking at the games side."

Maguire also touched on the potential difficulties Sony would face when it came to communicating the virtues of Blu-Ray to the public, and conceded that, "Most people don't realise what they're actually getting with PlayStation 3. Number one, it's a games machine and we all know that. But also it's a high definition video playback device through Blu-Ray, and a lot of people don't really understand that part of the functionality either. There's a big story to tell people and a lot of information to be taken on board."

Anyway, more PS3 launch details as we get them. We're off to sell a kidney.

Related Content

Guerilla: Killzone 2 on 360 would be "impossible"
04 Sep, 2007 More next-gen hair-pulling.

UK retailers want a PS3 price drop
10 Aug, 2007 The island has spoken. Get rid of the bundle!

Microsoft discusses price for HD-DVD drive
17 May, 2006 360 and HD drive to cost less together than PS3, apparently.

Page12 Next

34 Comments

Hyperworm

6 years ago

£425 eh

30% higher than the "outrageous" US price... and yet it's about what I was expecting for the PS3 in this country. Really highlights to me how much we're getting ripped off in the UK in this market.

mrcivic

6 years ago

I love how they keep saying its "cheap" when compared to Blu-Ray DVD players, so my question is; what are you trying to sell me, Sony? A games console or a blu-ray dvd player?
That's where Sony will confuse consumers imo. People buy a "Playstation" to play games on it and don't really care about the DVD player any more, so why should they care about BR DVD playback? Specially when BR movies will cost a lot more too?

wobbler

6 years ago

But I am sure you were going to rush out and get a Blu ray player, so "its a bargain"

Sony keeps pushing the line about Blu Ray inclusion on the PS3 making it a bargain, but how many people really care and if Blu Ray ever takes off I'm sure that players will drop to a couple of hundred dollars or very few people will ever get a blu ray player. Enough with the Blu Ray BS Sony. long live DVD

cycosippius

6 years ago

what a bloody scam

Having once lived in the UK where I bought my cube at lunch I was happy with the pricing strategy. Man if I was in the UK this would give me serious reason to boycott this joke of a price... HA HA SONY, noone gives a S about blue ray, and I personally dont want to support it for monopoly reasons.

Im in Aus, so with the UK price , the Aus price will def be over $900 that is so so so bloody expensive and hey thats with no games. Are the games going to be $140AU each phhhh.

Wii all the way..

HA HA SONY

realitybites

6 years ago

Thats steep.

Won't be getting a second next gen console until Xmas 2007. The Xbox 360 will suffice till than.

Well if the blu-ray PS3 is as noisy as the original PS2 with DVD it won't sell as a blu ray player.

The XBox 360 is quite loud (which is ok when your playing games) and unless the PS3 has some noise reduction I wouldn't be using it as a primary play back mechanism.

LeonJ

6 years ago

It's almost like Sony want to fail. I know that they have spent a lot of money and no doubt still taking a hit on each console, but that price is just insane.

I seriously doubt this one will be selling out at launch. Their only hope is to whip out a big name launch title...

slasherD

6 years ago

I also won't be surprised if Sony has a less than spectacular first few months. The real problem is that they seem to be targeting blu ray early adopters as much as gaming early adopters. But if people are indeed super keen about getting a BR player at a crazy price, might they not have already gotten one? And for all the people with no HDTV, there will be no be no reason outside the Sony exclusives to consider dropping the extra $400-500 on the PS3 rather than a 360.

dc0079

6 years ago

After all these time, and they're still using the same promotional strategy. A little "white" lie won't hurt the sales you know...

Chris-Leigh

6 years ago

realitybites wrote

Well if the blu-ray PS3 is as noisy as the original PS2 with DVD it won't sell as a blu ray player.

Pleasingly, Sony claims it's as quiet as the slimline PS2.

troublemaker

6 years ago

I'm sure Blu Ray movies will do for the PS3, what UMD movies did for the PSP

macca

6 years ago

"Most people don't realise what they're actually getting with PlayStation 3. Number one, it's a games machine and we all know that. But also it's a high definition video playback device through Blu-Ray, and a lot of people don't really understand that part of the functionality either." - Ray Maguire, Sony Computer Entertainment UK Managing Director

This brilliantly highlights the error of Sony's strategy. They are attempting to push this product as a 'games machine' to gamers, yet are trying to justify the price by pushing it as a 'cheap blu-ray player'. The two marketing messages are confusing and contradicting in that it's a circular argument. Example:

Consumer: 'The PS3 is expensive for a games machine'
Sony: 'Yes, but it's a Blu-Ray player, a really cheap one'
Consumer: 'Ok. That's a great deal for a Blu-Ray player'
Sony: 'Yes and it's also a games machine!'
<repeat>

Basically, they have been unable to come out with a sufficient spiel to convince the masses that we aren't just paying for their over-budget gamble at introducing a new media format. It's premature, and the market won't bear the introductory price.

Looks like I may kiss my console days good-bye and spend a couple hundred bucks on a new graphics card for the PC. Well, if the Wii is priced well and has good software, I may pick one up...

troublemaker

6 years ago

What are people going to play on their blu ray players? I don't see any blu ray discs in Kmart or JB Hi Fi.

I'm guessing on release that the only movies that you'll be able to get (for a while) will be Sony/Paramount distributed ones, and at an inflated price (compared to DVDs)

macca

6 years ago

I tip $45 for the first few Blu-Ray movies that are released. They will include lots of extra features that nobody will watch and this will be used to help justify the high price. E.g. 'Comes with over 16 hours of commentry and interviews*'...

*interviews filmed in SD.

hehe.

k1dcharm

6 years ago

Price is the biggest enemy of PS3

LeonJ

6 years ago

Well yeah, espically for the Wii launches for US $199.95. Imagine walking in a games store and looking at Wii demos and playing with the controller, and saying, hrmmm, I can get a Wii, 2 games, extra Wiimote and download awesome old school games for $300 US. Or I can get a PS3 with Tekken 6 (ripped off engine of 5 no doubt) and Ridge Racer 7 for almost $700 US. Hrmmm?

troublemaker

6 years ago

a slight hijack ... I wonder how they will set up the Wii instore displays (controllers are normally very 'locked down').

admeister

6 years ago

That's always Sony's excuse for their high price, "But think of the Blu-Ray player!" Too much focus on the player not enough on games. It shows Sony's true intentions of the PS3 somewhat. Basically, if you want to get a PS3, you have to get a Blu-Ray player as well, which gets it into people's homes. Then come the Blu-Ray movies/entertainment. Since people already have a Blu-Ray player (due to the PS3), they will be tempted to buy into this. Not that I'm against Blu-Ray or anything, but I think Sony have their priorities wrong, there should be a version of the PS3 without the player, I reckon. Then it would cost about the same as 360, much better.

Nick

6 years ago

troublemaker wrote

a slight hijack ... I wonder how they will set up the Wii instore displays (controllers are normally very 'locked down').

I saw an interview with Perrin Kaplan (Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Marketing for Nintendo of America) and she was asked this question and responded with:

"We actually haven't decided how we are going to show this product off at retailers...but what we are going to do is try and find a lot of additional ways for people to try it out"

k1dcharm

6 years ago

admeister wrote

I think Sony have their priorities wrong, there should be a version of the PS3 without the player, I reckon. Then it would cost about the same as 360, much better.

Sony is playing a risky business, because they want Blu-ray to win just as badly as PS3.

admeister

6 years ago

Sounds like demo units, and maybe an Australian tour, Nick.

David

6 years ago

You could always tether a Wii remote to a stand with a thin wire.

troublemaker

6 years ago

^^yeah that could work, like those thin stainless steel cables laptops use

only problem would be ensuring staff kept replacing the batteries

Nick: thanks Nick, I hadn't read that before.

admeister

6 years ago

That's a good point, those cables would work. They have to have demo units, that's for sure.

döppelgangbang

6 years ago

I my experience a console's life is dramatically reduced when its used for anything other than playing games. There are only so many 'hours' in any piece of electronic's life, as many PS2 owners have discovered. At the price it will be easy to be... twice bitten and thrice shy?!

Page12 Next

View as forum topic

Add Comment