E3 '07: No PS3 price cut or 80GB PS3 for PAL territories

The electronics giant reveals Europeans and Aussies won't be getting a price cut or the 80GB model; new 'starter pack' bundle to be made available instead.

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--Sony announced on Monday that it would be cutting the price of the PlayStation 3 in North America to $499 in the US and $549 in Canada, and that the 80GB version of the console, originally announced to be coming to Korea only, would also be making its way to North American soil in August. However, the company refused to say whether or not price cuts and the 80GB machine would also be coming to other regions, stating simply that, "This is a North American announcement only." However, a Sony Europe spokesperson said that an announcement "following on from the SCEA one" would be coming later in the week.

Today, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO David Reeves confirmed in a press conference that the price cut would only be for North Americans, and that the console would definitely not be getting a price cut from the current £425/599 euro price (approx $850). Aussies are getting a similar deal--there will be no price drop from the current price of A$999. Another blow was dealt to European and Aussie gamers with the news that the souped-up 80GB version would also not be coming to the regions.

Instead, a new bundle called the "value pack" will be put on sale for the same price at which the stand-alone console was previously available, which will include a 60GB PS3, two controllers, and two games--Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm. This will be available for the usual price in all the regions, although the games would vary from region to region.

It's not all bad news--the new PlayStation Portable will be coming to Europe at the beginning of September in black, silver, and white "initially."

The new bundle will be available immediately in SCEE territories, and will be rolled out in all other territories by August 1. David Reeves commented: "Why are we doing this? We believe added value works in the PAL territories."

The Sony exec also hinted the company would be revealing three new features and services for the PlayStation Portable at the Leipzig Games Convention that would be exclusive for Europe, and that there would be "something really special" for the PS3, as well as more PSP colors.

700 Comments

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 7:40 am PT

    hahaha ...c rap shoot

  • Agulf

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 7:46 am PT

    No price cut, 60gb model, no backwards compatibility... GLHF sony.

  • machine_B

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 2:12 pm PT

    Pah, no price drop AND we still only get the 60Gb model. I might not have been so mad if Sony released the 80Gb in the UK, but they haven't and they haven't lowered the price either. Sony have stopped producing the 60Gb model in the US, so why do we still have to buy it? We just get the scraps at the end. What a way to ruin what was otherwise a very good performance by Sony at E3 '07.

    But hopefully, once the good games are brought out in Q1-2 of 2008, we'll see a price drop to help precipitate the sales of PS3's. If not then I'll be wondering what on Earth do Sony think they're doing.

  • airwalk_102

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 6:44 am PT

    i think its pretty cool that in europe we get the console for £425 with 2 games, a Click in Blu Ray, HDMI cable and 2 sixaxis controllers, but i prefer teh other deal i see £399.99 for teh console, 3 games, Click in Blu Ray, HDMI cables and 1 controller.
    They both are on www.play.com

  • kamix

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 1:50 am PT

    Do you guys realise that with current exchange rate:

    $999 AUD = $875 USD.

    This really sucks. The main thing that up until now had stopped me from buying a ps3 was the software emulation for ps2 games. Now we are having to pay almost twice than in the US?

    It's not just the price - I could still buy one if I wanted - It's the depth that Sony is willing to shaft us PAL gamers.

    Sony has really screwed their marketting up in Australia because I have a lot of gamer friends and while there are Wii's and 360s galore not a single one owns (or has even played) a ps3.

    Compared to the ps2 - of which there is probably one in every lounge room in Australia - it can't be called anything other than a disaster.

  • Slim_Lyrics

    Posted Jul 17, 2007 1:37 pm PT

    Man i really feel sorry for u Pal guys. It must really suck being at the bottom of sonys list. It not fair. this is segregation in the video game industry.

  • Col-Neil

    Posted Jul 17, 2007 1:14 pm PT

    alienware7 this happens to us all the time Sony will ethier have to change its tune or end up losing out all together

  • Meltdown099

    Posted Jul 17, 2007 12:22 pm PT

    Man you think they would stop beating us up and ripping us off in the PAL region but nope now were down just keep kicking us... oo my rib's i cant take it ... well time to wait a year and see if the price drops

  • alienware7

    Posted Jul 17, 2007 9:40 am PT

    Fetch you guys in PAL regions sure get kicked in the crotch often.

  • skillzdatkill

    Posted Jul 17, 2007 5:18 am PT

    it just keeps getting better and better

  • StarDust666

    Posted Jul 17, 2007 4:59 am PT

    for the love of GAMES, let us PAL territories have a price cut or 80GB or both!! i gotta admit i have being holding out not to get a ps3 yet... or in the near future. i built my computer for $500AU + $500 for a 26' LCD monitor = $1000AU. the other day i showed my friend (he bought a ps3) what i can do with my computer... things have never being the same for him... go figured....

  • StarDust666

    Posted Jul 17, 2007 4:46 am PT

    all PAL territories (including me) rejoices!!! first we got it late, secondly we paid more for less and lastly, we ain't getting a price cut or a more capacity machine. if we don't buy the ps3 and wait... now i know why sony execs call it "future proofing" just don't buy it and wait cos something else better is around the corner's corner's corner's.... in that way i'm future proofing my $$$. i felt sorry for those americans whom bought the 20GB version with no future techs (no hdmi, wireless ect...) then the 60GB in the spat of 6 months and now 80GB (wowow, huuuge jump!!) but why buy that too, cos in 4 months time a 90GB might pop out with a free 36' FULL HD LCD TV thrown in for $600US?!!! but then again $600US is still too much for the average gamers. imagine if the wii60 dropped price... its game over for sony

  • JReefer1

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 8:31 pm PT

    $600+ for a PS3 is really steap.

  • Meecha

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 2:57 pm PT

    i would actually rather buy a wii than a ps3 at the moment aswell

  • Meecha

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 2:53 pm PT

    too many good games coming out for the 360 anyway for me to care about the ps3 anyway, price drop or no

  • thekey

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 2:06 pm PT

    Well you all keep buying them, and you all let them screw you over, they have no reason to drop the price.

  • southy787

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 12:38 pm PT

    Another way in which the games companies screw over European gamers...

  • easteast

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 11:26 am PT

    I think 20GB's of memory is still a good amount of space on the Hard Drive. You'd have to really try to fill it up with saves.

  • GoddBless

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 10:36 am PT

    Sony sure does love Europe!!!

  • Megavideogamer

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 9:39 am PT

    People in the PAL regions should be Downright pissed at Sony for giving them the shaft like that. Well at least they get 2 pack in games and an extra controller. But still it is a slap in the face to the PAL people.

  • SLjimbolian

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 9:23 am PT

    You would think Sony would do something better than that to the UK and Australia since those two seem to be their better regions that are actually buying the system, but I think this is just a big ol' middle finger to them. And Jason_Morris got it right: Typical Sony arrogance. I mean c'mon, "Why are we doing this? We believe added value works in the PAL territories." Jesus christ....

  • agentkooper

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 9:16 am PT

    "cookie_the_shed

    i hate them... why should the americans get a better deal than us brits? have we offended them? it was america that dropped nukes on them in WW2, not us!"

    Maybe they're scared of us.

  • helium_flash

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 8:44 am PT

    Why are people here mad a Americans? Canadians get this price drop too.

    It isn't our fault that you guys have to pay more.

  • godhatch

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 3:58 am PT

    i want a price drop on the 360, we're paying £80 more than the americans

  • cookie_the_shed

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 3:21 am PT

    i hate them... why should the americans get a better deal than us brits? have we offended them? it was america that dropped nukes on them in WW2, not us!

  • TTDog

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 2:22 am PT

    Maybe what Sony meant by "Future Proofing" was that every time some peice of hardware becomes obsolete, they'll rip it out and launch yet another version of the machine (I won't say games console as Sony seem to be concentrating more on the disk player market) at the exact same price people weren't buying it for in the first place.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 2:02 am PT

    Sony seem to be for and against imports. Whilst the PSP can play psp games from any region, they stomp out the online store lik-sang for importing and selling PSP's...
    The PSP is DESIGNED to play imported games... ???

    The ps3 can play games from any region, so if you bought an american one (the 80gb one) you can play UK games on it too.
    Which is a good thing coming from Sony.

    However, when you can't play ps2, ps1 or bluray discs from the UK on an american machine... again, this goes against Sony's CRAZY ideology.

    Talk about "future proofing".. they have changed the console twice already! First you could get a non-wifi 20gb version - then they axed it.
    Now you can get a 60gb one, but they are axing that one two... all in the space of 6 months...
    I wonder what things will be like in 9 years, 6 months time..!

    I think of the PS3 as being more of an investment than an impulse buy, much more than someone just getting an "up to date" games machine. Simply because of what it does, and what you are paying for.
    When Sony start changing and updating it - people are going to start holding their money back until their investment knows what its doing!

  • TTDog

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 1:19 am PT

    "SneakyDan: So this "Starter Pack" gives you a few free things from Sony.
    It's basically like a price drop, but making it so you can't go off and spend your money elsewhere."

    I don't even see it as a price drop, if you shop around you can get the PS3, Resistance and Motorstorm on offer NOW for £399 as the shops still can't sell them, and you can get a controller for £25 on the net easy enough, so this is making you pay £1 more than you can get the same stuff dor now.

  • HellraiserMC

    Posted Jul 16, 2007 1:06 am PT

    I don't see the reason why Europeans should care about Sony any more. We've been screw*d up so many times...

  • SneakyDan

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 11:31 pm PT

    So this "Starter Pack" gives you a few free things from Sony.
    It's basically like a price drop, but making it so you can't go off and spend your money elsewhere. Essentially, you're being FORCED to cough up money, which will be going to Sony anyway. It's their way of making sure they don't loose ANY money.
    Desperate, and greedy.
    Screw Sony.

  • chico129

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 8:17 pm PT

    Christ Sony, you suck dog balls! I honestly couldn't care less what they "think" works in PAL territories, because clearly it doesn't! I'm pretty sure ALL of us would prefer a cheeper consol to games we might not like and a spare controller we might not need.

    And to tookietookie, you are not actually paying $300 more than everyone else, but it still is more. A £425 PS3 SHOULD cost A$992. But if a Brittish PS3 costs £425 an American PS3 should cost $864

    So realy You are paying a few pounds more than us in the UK, but I still wouldn't call us lucky, there is hardly any difference in price at all, but the American PS3 was already MUCH lower in price than it shoud have been.

  • tookietookie

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 7:55 pm PT

    I just want to say something, a $600 US PS3 goes for $1000 here in Australia, I did the math and when you do a currency exchange it should only be at most $688.74 AUD. Us Aussies are paying over three hundred dollars more than the damn thing is worth and we don't get a price cut. As far as i'm concerned you pommy mongrels don't have squat to complain about, us Aussies though have been clobbered by the high price and I've had it with Sony and all those pricks who complain about the price, you guys were lucky.

  • stejmatty

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 5:47 pm PT

    ha, sony is a joke, ''ooo, europe aint gettin nuffin, so well just add another controller and game, make them happy'' OR you can just lower the price... sony really has disapointed most people here in UK, i know tons os mates who brought a 360 over the PS3, mainly cause it came out b4 it, and it cost way less... well, no PS3 4 me

  • adamporter

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 4:13 pm PT

    What a joke, I'll stick to my 360, no more plans of buying a PS3

  • justinkreg

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 3:32 pm PT

    £425 for a console with 2 so so games, no thanks, I will buy a 360 for £279 with 2 great games (Forza 2 + GoW) and spend the money I save on GTA4, Mass Effects, Bio-Shock and Halo3, Sony must think we are stupid charging us £425 for a console that costs £250 in the US, any one that buys one certainly is.

  • vacantspace

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 2:37 pm PT

    Brand Loyalty?

    *G* Next Atari or Sega console iz MiNe!

    Otherwise - go w/ the gameZ!

    Edit! just thought- £425 GBP Probably keep a Somali village in clean water for about 5 years, so we can do the Res. Evil 5 thang, kill 'em all and spend the money on a PS3
    /irony

  • thephoenix365

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 1:52 pm PT

    yet another example of Sony screwing us over.....

  • SpiritSephiroth

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 1:49 pm PT

    LOOOOOOOL sony hates us UK people even though we buy most of the ps3's. They screw us time and time again like there trying to lose us as customers. Sony hates us

  • mapgraywolf

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 12:41 pm PT

    ok lets go into comparrisant:
    ps3 including blu ray, 2 controllers, 2 games, casino royale = £425

    xbox (£280) including 2 games and one controller + HD DVD drive (£135) = £415

    Without HD DVD drive xbox (£280) including 2 games and one controller =£280

    Ok so sony gave you no option but to have blue ray so they could up the price. Thank god Xbox dvd is option cause i got my xbox360 for games not movies. And don't say blue ray is need as i cannot think of one game on the xbox360 that use more than 1 DVD.

  • Freestyle_20

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 12:06 pm PT

    sounds a bit better but i don't see why they coudn't just cut the price if there gonna add in like a controller and game

  • rikhan_z

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 11:37 am PT

    No prices cuts in europe doesn't mean much to me, it's nice to know thou... just have to wait for another year or 2 for a price cut. But I would have a PS3 by then.

  • nintendo_fan675

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 10:56 am PT

    This is not going to change my mine about not getting a PS3

  • godhatch posted Jul 15, 2007 10:41 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    godhatch

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 10:41 am PT (hide)

    well i can't remember anyone complaining when the ps2 was this price and it had a built in dvd player, i remember everyone praising it

    and about the hdmi cable, oh no they've given us a £30 controller instad of a £10 cable how stupid sony are

    and don't even get started on the looks of the machine coz the 360 has changed its casing image so many times now it's getting hard to remember the original

  • TTDog

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 10:12 am PT

    "godhatch: ok lets go into comparrisant:
    ps3 including blu ray, 2 controllers, 2 games, casino royale = £425

    xbox (£280) including 2 games and one controller + HD DVD drive (£135) = £415

    omg the xbox is £10 cheaper"

    Or £145 cheaper if you don't get the HD-DVD drive, which isn't needed to play games, and as thats the main reason people buy games consoles, is a fairly big one. And the HDMi cables for the PS3 come free as well do they? IF I were going to buy a next gen disk player i wouldn't buy one as fugly as the PS3.

  • godhatch

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 10:08 am PT

    so you'd rather buy a next gen console and live with a last gen movie player? then buy one later on for extra anyway? or buy a xbox and then a hd dvd player attached to the side of it like some sort of leech?

    sorry but even you have to agree that its much better to have everything all in one

  • ross_gumbrell

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 10:02 am PT

    but the high deff drive isnt forced upon the consumer like sony. do some more evaluation before you submit a post!

  • godhatch

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 9:16 am PT

    ok lets go into comparrisant:
    ps3 including blu ray, 2 controllers, 2 games, casino royale = £425

    xbox (£280) including 2 games and one controller + HD DVD drive (£135) = £415

    omg the xbox is £10 cheaper and it only has one controller seems everyone has forgotten about all that

    so everyone next time you try and flame sony for being too expensive do the math first

  • TTDog

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 8:55 am PT

    "sbarkeri: How can you say £425 is a heavy price for a console, two controlers, two quality games, free blu-ray movie (casino royal) and a FREE subscription to PSN"

    You can say its a rip off if you couldn't give a monkeys fart for Blu-Ray. then £425 for a games console (with very few even half decent games) is robbery.

  • Pentagram6

    Posted Jul 15, 2007 8:42 am PT

    It's all to do with the taxes or some crap that the government issues over here, is what I heard. Costs sony more to ship and sell over here than in the states.

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