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PS3: Union Jack Edition... is not real
UK retailers sell PS3 for £37 ($74) less than the suggested price

Despite Sony CEO Howard Stringer calling the European PS3 launch successful with 800,000 sold, reports say that UK sales dropped 82 percent the immediate week after. In response, several UK retailers have taken it upon themselves to enact a more aggressive pricing strategy to help reignite sales of PS3 with price drops to as low as £387.87, which is £37 ($74) less than the suggested price.

“PS3 performed well pre-launch and the first week of release, but since then sales have dropped considerably,” said Gameseek.co.uk boss Stephen Staley to MCV. “I am sure the deal will help matters. I personally believe the cuts are down to overstocking from launch. Credit goes to Sony for supplying all of the demand, however this has left most retailers with a lot of stock and with the consoles costing around £400, you can imagine it’s not healthy for any business to have a lot of PS3 consoles gathering dust in a warehouse."

“We are obviously selling the console at a loss to try and attract new customers to our site. We are sure the PS3 is going to be big business for us over the next eight years so to get a good foothold in this market is essential," Staley added.

Earlier this morning, Sony president Ryoji Chubachi was recorded as saying that the company is in the midst of re-evaluating the pricing strategy for its newest console, though such comments were later countered by a Sony spokeswoman.

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No football, WTF?
By borowki on 4/19/2007 5:54:07 PM , Rating: 3
Sony execs are either completely crazy, totally igorant, or unbelievably arrogant. How on earth could they expect to win in the european market without a football title?




RE: No football, WTF?
By bunnyfubbles on 4/19/2007 7:01:05 PM , Rating: 4
RE: No football, WTF?
By Mojo the Monkey on 4/19/2007 7:26:01 PM , Rating: 4
I think he means the international definition of "football" (or "soccer" in the US).


RE: No football, WTF?
By MrTeal on 4/19/2007 8:39:59 PM , Rating: 2
I think he knew, and that's why there's the ;)


1200 Euro...
By Micronite on 4/19/2007 3:35:26 PM , Rating: 5
Maybe another Sony exec will offer anyone 1200 euro if they can find a system on the store shelf. Sounds like it wouldn't take long to rake it in.




RE: 1200 Euro...
By Cobra Commander on 4/19/2007 3:41:38 PM , Rating: 3
Make that £1163. ;)


RE: 1200 Euro...
By chromoplastic on 4/19/2007 11:41:42 PM , Rating: 2
I live in Portugal and i've been recently in Barcelona and Madrid and guess what? Like here, tons of PS3 in the stores i've been to. Forget about the press, no one really cared about PS3's launch here in Europe but the fanboys. No one is talking about it and no one feels the need for it now.

But one thing i can say after talking with people from about all over Europe in the net: everybody knows it will come down in price (as any other console in the past), and everyone knows that EU version lacks PS2 compatibility and higher price in relation with US and Japan.

European Union has a population of about 450 million people, so 800.000 units sold doesn't seem a lot to me.


I've seen a lot of stores
By Merry on 4/19/2007 3:36:24 PM , Rating: 1
With offers like this. I was mildly amused that nearly all shops have posters saying 'we have ps3s in stock!' like they're in short supply here, which they simply are not. I think the problem is lack of games, but then I wouldn't really know about whats on offer in that department as I simply don't appear to have the money to get involved in this next gen console malarky.




RE: I've seen a lot of stores
By PlasmaBomb on 4/19/2007 3:45:45 PM , Rating: 2
The problem is that it's too expensive to buy without due consideration, and a lot of people have probably heard how we are getting shafted on price. RRP of £425 is nearly $850 at the moment. Why should we pay an extra $250?? We will just wait for the price to drop to a sensible level (and Gran Turismo 5 later in the year).
Ps. I know a store that got 20 in for their release and they have sold 1.


RE: I've seen a lot of stores
By killerroach on 4/19/2007 4:36:26 PM , Rating: 2
Sony was probably trying to take advantage of the fact that the UK has been paying absurdly high prices for their video gaming for a very long time (£40-£50 games is a ripoff on top of a ripoff if you ask me). Still not a good move, however. Some of that can be blamed on the VAT, but not all of it, leaving Sony to try to explain the roughly £70 difference between the RRP and what the price in the States is plus a 17.5% VAT.


RE: I've seen a lot of stores
By someguy123 on 4/19/07, Rating: 0
RE: I've seen a lot of stores
By JimFear on 4/19/2007 6:55:42 PM , Rating: 2
So you think that they only made 1 Million for the whole of Europe and then stopped? Production is well under way my pedigree chum and there are alot more than 1 million around.


30 days?
By Mitch101 on 4/19/2007 3:34:03 PM , Rating: 2
Generally in the US you can return a product within 30 days. I would expect a lot of returns and rebuying of the console to take place. If not credits should be issued.




RE: 30 days?
By darkblueslider on 4/19/2007 4:11:53 PM , Rating: 2
Depends. If you had bought it from a highstreet retailer or not.
If you had bought it on the internet from amazon for £415 or so i can't imagine you would be bothered to pay postage to return it and buy it from elsewhere on the internet.
And if you had paid the premium to buy it on the high street in the first place, I can't really see you scouring the internet for PS3 Bargain.


Overstock? Wonder why =P
By Eurasianman on 4/19/2007 4:10:31 PM , Rating: 1
I was as Best Buy last night and saw 35 PS3s on top of one of the racks. They already had like 10 on the shelves(which is how many the shelves can hold). Why? Um... perhaps the price??? You're better off buying it from an e-tailer!. In the U.S., I could order it for $599.99! Free shipping and handling and no taxes! But why? There aren't many games out. Sorry, three games (Virtua Fighter 5, Motor Storm, and Resistence) aren't enough for me to want the system.

Then again, it's probably because I have a gaming computer, a Nintendo Wii, XBOX, XBOX 360, Playstation, and a Playstation 2. As if I don't have enough =P

IMO, Sony should have tried to better plan the components for the PS3. It has potential, but the price and the cost to make one... just seems like it was better off not to be sold. =/ Sorry Sony, but the past years, you have just shown us how much you've really slacked off (Audio, Computers, laptop batteries (how could anyone forget?), TVs)
What happened?!




RE: Overstock? Wonder why =P
By mars777 on 4/19/2007 5:24:21 PM , Rating: 2
If you don't want a media center then don't buy it.

I hope they don't hear you since i want this cheapest BD media center on earth :)


By encryptkeeper on 4/19/2007 4:20:52 PM , Rating: 3
Despite Sony CEO Howard Stringer calling the European PS3 launch successful with 800,000 sold, reports say that UK sales dropped 82 percent the immediate week after.

I wouldn't put it past Sony to be channel stuffing on this one. Especially if there are several consoles still sitting in stores. Even if they sold 800,000 (not shipped, SOLD) in Europe, the sales in the UK have dropped to almost dead levels which probably means they've severely dropped in the rest of Europe. A successful launch doesn't necessarily mean successful sales for the rest of the consoles life. Face it, 5 months into the life cycle of the PS3 have been relatively dreadful. Sony needed to turn people's opinions after launch, but they still have not been able to. They will not have anything close to the market share they had last generation.




Keeping Going
By ahkey on 4/19/2007 9:41:25 PM , Rating: 2
One particular UK customer was not swayed by the miniscule price drop:

"Give me a fully functioning system at US prices, throw in an HDMI cable and we'll talk."




"Game reviewers fought each other to write the most glowing coverage possible for the powerhouse Sony, MS systems. Reviewers flipped coins to see who would review the Nintendo Wii. The losers got stuck with the job." -- Andy Marken











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