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[Spastic Colon]

The whole point of consoles is that they are cheap up-front with a 'console tax' on each game that subsidizes the initial cheap console purchase.

Exactly...you have to wonder if the people pushing for consoles with all the bells and whistles damn the price actually plan on buying any games.

Or they could be single manchildren like myself who have plenty of disposeable income:lol

 

[Deku]

Ignoring all these issues, I would say if Sony is charging $35 extra dollars versus the relative pricing of the 360, that would be chalked up to demand analysis - based on the stregth of the UK economy and its target demographic, and the supply situations at launch that would guarantee a sell-out

Bottom-line, Sony knows the initial run of units will be sold out based on their demand analysis, and they are recouping additional retail costs by pricing their product in a premium way.

Simple solution, if you don't like it wait for a price drop or go buy the competitor's product. Sony will suffer and they will improve their supply chain and improve the pricing of their product.

That's a long winded rationalization. Do we even know if Sony is airlifting units to Europe? The launch is still 2 and a half months away. As speculawyer noted, the transport cost, if it exceeds significantly the industry norm because Sony had to airlift them is really irrelevant to the price of a game console.

 

[speculawyer]

Or they could be single manchildren like myself who have plenty of disposeable income:lol

<------ There is another one. :lol



But I know that millions of other people need to buy the machine in order to keep a steady supply of games coming, so I'm worried about the high price.

 

[ccbfan]

As an American that price is ridicules but after seeing what other electronics cost in the UK then this price actually might actually not be as bad in comparison.

Heck in comparison it might be cheaper than the U.S

I mean for 425 GBP you get a

23 inch lcd television which you can get in the U.S for 400 bucks.

A computer that would cost about 4-5 hundred buck (I just bought my dad an athlon 64 3800, 1 gig ram, 200 gig hd, dvd burner, monitor for 400 bucks and thats way better than the computer that was listed)

I'd love to buy a PS3 for 400 bucks.

I think things in UK are generally ridiculesly expensive. Wasn't snes games like 100 dollars in UK back in the day?

 

[tehrik-e-insaaf]

I'm in the USA and I already own one. I just want more people to own them so developers will continue to support it.

I agree that there will be buyers at that high price . . . but not very many. And if they have to cut the price relatively quickly, that will alienate the early buyers and give the image of a struggling machine that can't find buyers. I think Sony is making a big mistake by having such a high price . . . and worse, the lack of the 20Gb model.

BTW, all those airfreight costs are Sony's problem. If it is going to add so much to the cost, they should delay by a month and ship by land/sea.

Hey man I totally agree with you (you are preaching to the choir here)... MSFT pulled the same crap with the Xbox1 in Europe and that was going up against the beast that was Sony...

Sony is going to have to drop the price in the next 6 months IMHO in the USA, and I think the same will be true by the holiday season for the UK... early adopters get screwed, but when has that not been true?

I don't think Sony is in danger of losing support, though the 360 is very viable and developers will put out multi-platform products. So at the very least you will get third party games and then Sony first-party titles. Can't say you aren't in a good situation anyways.

One thing that does worry me though is that now that these game systems are becoming more and more luxury products, the types of games being produced on them are not what the luxury category purchasers typically enjoy.

What I mean is, the banker Joe in the City with $1000 to burn isn't interested in Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, etc. so I foresee poor sales of many marquee games if the userbase is predominantly people who by virtue of having money are entering the gaming hobby, and their tastes make them pick up very few games or games that don't allow big budget titles to make significant ROI. Hence, the gaming industry could be very, very different in the next 3-4 years if these trends continue.

 

[marvelharvey]

Wasn't snes games like 100 dollars in UK back in the day?

Street Fighter 2 was £70... which (according to today's exchange rate) was $138

 

[pandabear14]

Wow that price is going to be hard to swallow. I think it will take a few years for the PS3 to catch on in Europe. With the high price of entry and lack of games, it's going to be a while before people will buy it. It will take a price drop or two and another year for games to come out. First few months are going to be horrible.

 

[tehrik-e-insaaf]

That's a long winded rationalization. Do we even know if Sony is airlifting units to Europe? The launch is still 2 and a half months away. As speculawyer noted, the transport cost, if it exceeds significantly the industry norm because Sony had to airlift them is really irrelevant to the price of a game console.

WTF are you talking about? Why shouldn't Sony recover the distribution costs of a console with the price they are charging retailers? It's their perogative to price it at what they want to recover costs and perhaps take some margin based on their anticipation of demand. Moreover, retailers themselves are charging higher prices for purpose of margin - US retailers take a damn loss on the sales of consoles.

Europe needs to encourage competition and lower taxes on input costs (limit wage hikes, pension requirements, lower gasoline tax) and efficiently build more suburban housing of megapolis cities to drive prices down.

Look at your pricing in general... I can buy a Canon SD800 for like $290 bux shipped after all taxes, in the UK I'm paying 300 pounds for the same camera!

Consider the PS3 is only priced $91 higher than the US counterpart after all of the additional input price cost, in reaity you guys are getting a deal...

The price may suck OVERALL (even the USA price of $600 is too steep for me), but please don't say somehow Sony is ripping off UK vs. USA, because the prices adjusted are really about the same.

 

[Gantz]

Wow Sony keeps shooting themselves in the foot. They must be arrogantly blind if they think they will succeed this gen :lol

and :lol @ sonybots for generalizing Sony's high price point cheers! :lol

 

[D-X]

Even the 360 is not loose change and the Wii was more expensive than I and my friends had hoped.

Yep I'm pissed that Wii is £50 quid extra in the UK for exactly the same package as the US especially as you can pick up an X360 for £20 more.

We've been expecting the £425 price point for a while but putting it in plain terms - $238 dollars extra for the same thing - really highlights how the UK is ****ed over AGAIN.

Suddenly $600 doesn't seem like a bad price...

 

[Tarazet]

Confirmed: the best way to sell a PS3 right now is to offer export to Europe. I just sold mine to a UKer for $800. And he'll still save money!

 

[NZer]

This is where we ask: what exactly are the online annoyances of an overseas console? (esp. after the euro release, so we can have a 'proper' profile, with correct credit card, etc.)

Will it connect to euro/PAL servers with a US console automatically? Because, well, I really CAN pick one up waay cheaper from the US...

 

[doicare]

This is where we ask: what exactly are the online annoyances of an overseas console? (esp. after the euro release, so we can have a 'proper' profile, with correct credit card, etc.)

Will it connect to euro/PAL servers with a US console automatically? Because, well, I really CAN pick one up waay cheaper from the US...

I just brought one from the u.s. it worked out to be £50 cheaper than the uk price. The console will hook up to whatever server you set your region as in the setup section for an online user name. The only bad things about importing are you get no warranty and blu ray and dvds are set to the u.s. region not europe.

 

[tehrik-e-insaaf]

Wow Sony keeps shooting themselves in the foot. They must be arrogantly blind if they think they will succeed this gen :lol

and :lol @ sonybots for generalizing Sony's high price point cheers! :lol

FYI I think the price is stupid if they want to be competitive with the other console providers in the long run - that point I understand

However the only point I'm arguing are those people screaming "gouging!" - because as a trained economist that's pure BS.. Given the situation I think it is fairly priced vs. the US market

No SDF, just pure simple economics... so please don't generalize people as SDF when that is clearly not true (I am a Nintendo fan who owns a 360, I will buy a Wii later, I don't have a DS yet, PS3 probably in 4 years)

 

[bishoptl]

Gee, I wonder why Gek made this thread.

mm hmm, you're not fooling anyone with this "meant for an already existing thread" bullshit, friend

 

[iapetus]

Nice list . . . now explain how the xbox 360 & Wii seem to be immune to all those factors.
Logic strikes back!

Learning to read might help you out. The ratio between the 360 price and the PS3 price is pretty much the same in the UK as it is in the US. The ratio between the Wii price and the PS3 price is pretty much the same in the UK as it is in the US. So those competing consoles are hit by these issues at about the same rate as the PS3.

Logic kicks you in the nuts!