PS3 bundle offer ends August 31 in Australia

PS3 News | Will continue in Europe, however.

Sony cut the price of the PlayStation 3 from US$599 to US$499 in early July in the US, a move they hailed as successful, claiming sales doubled in the days following the US$100 drop. At the same time, a new 80GB PS3 model was announced for the original price of US$599 with a copy of Motorstorm thrown in.

It was revealed a few days later that the machine would not be receiving a similar drop in PAL territories, but to compensate, European and Australasian consumers would be receiving a 'starter pack' containing copies of the PS3's two best selling games Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm, as well as a second standard controller.

Well, it now seems this bundle will end in Australia, effective August 31. Sony have confirmed on the official PlayStation website that the 'starter pack' offer will end on August 31st in Australia, and September 30th in New Zealand.

Luckily for European gamers, the offer will remain valid in the northern PAL territories beyond these dates. Speaking with next-gen.biz, a Sony spokesperson said "There is no time limit to the Starter Pack offer in Europe."

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30 Comments

littlemo

4 years ago

Worst pricing/packaging strategy in history, seriously, are Sony even thinking through what all this sale/no sale, package/no package is doing to good-will with consumers?

Until they set something in stone I'm unwilling to part ways with my hard earned dollars if next week their going to change their minds again, and how pissed must people be that bought a PS3 without the package only a week or so ago.

LeonJ

4 years ago

I've said it before and I'll say it agian. Sony is the worst company ever.

john_solids

4 years ago

wouldnt suprise me if it gets extended after the dates

admeister

4 years ago

LeonJ wrote

I've said it before and I'll say it agian. Sony is the worst company ever.

I disagree.

I'm sure there's a good reason for this, whether it be a shortage of stock, lower than expected sales, or maybe it's just Australia getting screwed again so that they can use the consoles that they would have marketed here for selling in Europe.

Anyway, this sucks, but let's make the most of it, I encourage anyone who wants a PS3 and can afford the starter pack to pick one up before the month ends.

SMASHED

4 years ago

Ill have to grab this deal quickly, before sony change their minds again.

Capoeira

4 years ago

Shame, though I'm content to wait for the next bundle, however long that may be.

I've got to admit, I was tempted to finally take the plunge once this deal popped up but surprisingly, I didn't bite. There might just be hope for me yet!

LeonJ

4 years ago

admeister wrote

Anyway, this sucks, but let's make the most of it, I encourage anyone who wants a PS3 and can afford the starter pack to pick one up before the month ends.

Pfft, I'd encourage anybody to get a 360 and games for much less then the cost of then the starter pack. At least they'd have a gaming purpose for the machine.

ObsoletE

4 years ago

wow - a deadline on the package certainly sucks.

i still don't consider either the PS3 or the XBox 360 as value for money yet, but the PS3 certainly has a brighter future in terms of what i want. but it's a shame that removing this package in a few weeks will add a longer period to when i'll consider the PS3 as worth the purchase.

admeister

4 years ago

LeonJ wrote

admeister wrote

Anyway, this sucks, but let's make the most of it, I encourage anyone who wants a PS3 and can afford the starter pack to pick one up before the month ends.

Pfft, I'd encourage anybody to get a 360 and games for much less then the cost of then the starter pack. At least they'd have a gaming purpose for the machine.

Or maybe they'd prefer to buy a console that will give them a next gen gaming experience and the ability to watch high definition movies on their TV without shelling out for an add-on.

Nothing personal Leon, I know you don't hate the PS3 or anything.

tootie_kicks

4 years ago

I just want to know why New Zealand gets this deal for longer than we do, and they only have about 1/4 of the population of us (and we're considered 'too small')!!!

ittekimasu

4 years ago

tootie_kicks wrote

I just want to know why New Zealand gets this deal for longer than we do, and they only have about 1/4 of the population of us (and we're considered 'too small')!!!

i guess, they've estimated how much they are going to sell in each reigon due to previous stats and that it will probably sell their stocks faster in aus than nz hence the longer period.

but eh, i'm not too sure. just curious to see if anyone is planned after this, could be a ploy to make people rush since there is a time limit

Jim Dash

4 years ago

admeister wrote

Or maybe they'd prefer to buy a console that will give them a next gen gaming experience and the ability to watch high definition movies on their TV without shelling out for an add-on.

Or maybe they'd prefer to buy a cheaper console with some a much larger number of quality games? Something that they would actually use for gaming, not just HD movies.

Hmm, decisions, decisions...

Capoeira

4 years ago

I've been wondering why Sony would pull a move like this.

SCEA is doing the same thing with the 60Gb model in the US with the sole purpose of cleaning out stock of the superseded model.

Could Sony Australia be pulling the same stunt? Can we expect to see the 80Gb unit (or perhaps a newer revision of the same hardware) coming to our shores?

I'm just thinking out loud here.

admeister

4 years ago

Jim Dash wrote

admeister wrote

Or maybe they'd prefer to buy a console that will give them a next gen gaming experience and the ability to watch high definition movies on their TV without shelling out for an add-on.

Or maybe they'd prefer to buy a cheaper console with some a much larger number of quality games? Something that they would actually use for gaming, not just HD movies.

Hmm, decisions, decisions...

From the way a lot of people talk, you'd think that there were 5 games available on the PS3..

In reality, the number of titles is quite respectable considering how long the console has been released for, and quite a few of these "quality titles" on the 360 are available for the PS3. As I recall Ugh saying at some point, quite a few people don't count the ports on PS3 as actual quality games since they were released on the 360 first, but in actuality, for a lot of PS3 owners (including me) it is their first time playing them, and the fact that they are ports is irrelevant. There's no shortage of games on PS3, though of course it isn't close to having as many games available for it as the 360 does, but this is for obvious reasons. It's changing all the time, more and more games are being released at a steady rate.

TheAnswer

4 years ago

Well this is Sony remember, of course they wouldnt put this starter pack from now on. They probably have some other deal waiting in the pipeline that will announce once this current one ends. Most likely it wont be as enticing as this pack though. Hmmmmm thinking outloud, they might try and scam more money by offering an 80gb PS3 + PSP Slim pack

edit

Now if any Sony marketing ppl read this and decide to offer such a pack, I would like to be compensated for my idea

Skiller

4 years ago

LeonJ wrote

admeister wrote

Anyway, this sucks, but let's make the most of it, I encourage anyone who wants a PS3 and can afford the starter pack to pick one up before the month ends.

Pfft, I'd encourage anybody to get a 360 and games for much less then the cost of then the starter pack. At least they'd have a gaming purpose for the machine.

I can play more games on my PS3 than on my 360, and my 360 isn't even one of the dead ones

Backwards compatibillity for the win

4 years ago

New configs & much better deals on the way at Christmas and even better deals 90 days after Christmas.

They need to pull any stock lines that would get caught up during a transition. There is no build to order capability in Aussieland so boxed product lines cant be updated.

In Europe they can ship to any number of markets to clear old stock. In Australia any uncompetitive inventory will just gather dust and cause pain for the product managers at Nth Ryde.

arbok

4 years ago

LeonJ wrote

I've said it before and I'll say it agian. Sony is the worst company ever.

I disagree with you but you're entitled to your opinion.

The PS3 is basically a Blu ray player for now - if you don't want a blu ray player that plays games - get the 360. For what its worth, its not that bad of a deal, even if nothing is out - their hand was forced because the 360 came out a full year before them and they HAD to get their product out. That's why Home is only coming out this year - It would have been ideal to have Home launch with the PS3.

At least Sony hasn't made a console that overheats and breaks down like the 360 and then tries to cover it up by saying there's nothing wrong with it for months on end, and then finally offers a 3 YEAR WARRANTY and THEN says it could be any part of the machine that breaks down. Do people really believe that Microsoft wouldnt go to lengths to find out exactly what was wrong with the console? Some people may not care about it breaking down especially with the warranty in place - but when November rolls around and your machine breaks down after 1/2 an hour on Mass Effect, that would be pretty crap. I've had my machine overheat and I had to send it in twice because the first time it wasn't even fixed.

And at least Sony delivers on most of its potential unlike Nintendo who still has only one truly fun game that every one can play "Wii Sports". With all the talk about how easy it was to develop for the Wii, it seems like that isnt the problem after all. The problem is that developers just aren't creative enough when it comes to designing for the controller. Its unconventional and limited.

In summary Sony aren't the worst company, the starter pack is fantastic value - essentially the PS3 costing $750. And I highly doubt the PS3 will be $1000 when Halo 3 rolls around - they're just keeping quiet on the next deal to get people to buy the starter pack now rather than later.

PS - if Sony were the worst company - they wouldn't have won the last two generations of home consoles so overwhelmingly.

LeonJ wrote

admeister wrote

Anyway, this sucks, but let's make the most of it, I encourage anyone who wants a PS3 and can afford the starter pack to pick one up before the month ends.

Pfft, I'd encourage anybody to get a 360 and games for much less then the cost of then the starter pack. At least they'd have a gaming purpose for the machine.

Depends what you like.

I say get the 360 - if you like science fiction, fantasy, first person shooters genres. Seeing as the xboxes best games were KOTOR, Halo, Jade Empire and Half Life 2 and that sort of stuff if you like that get the 360 as it will be similar.

On the Sony side of things, they have more traditional fare like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, God of War and a wider range of genres covered. So if you don't know what you like I'd lean towards the PS3 cause you'll at least find something you like.

However in this day and age - with many titles going multi platform you probably can't go wrong choosing either one.

B3NBO

4 years ago

Omg sony playstation has the worst marketing ideas ever and all they are out to do is screw over the Aus PAL territory. Greedy little bitches. Go buy a 360 if you want good games, and stfu about the dead consoles, cos i have a launch console that hasnt had 1 problem. I want a ps3 but the way they are marketing it and the price it is currently at is REDICULOUS.

ittekimasu

4 years ago

^no longer relevant, ps3 is region free.

donovan515

4 years ago

Hmm this would be alright if they do another deal or a price drop?!

ZNMS

4 years ago

john_solids wrote

Wouldn't surprise me if this deal gets extended after the alleged date.

From my best recollection, JB Hi-Fi will be selling this deal at $959 until the (will edit post once the end date has been confirmed).

Though, I am sure this deal will not expire at the end of August.

renegadesx

4 years ago

Sony: Working hardware, broken management
Microsoft: Working management, broken hardware

Jedi.Jell

4 years ago

I've never really seen a "bundle pack" stick around forever, and you couldn't have expected this one to.

I don't see this as any great loss, sure you get 2 games free, but the console is so damn expensive. I would actually consider the PS3 if there were a few more exclusive games (no point getting a console that only has games for a console I already own), however it is still $1000 and that is still far too expensive. An actual price drop would have been far nicer.

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