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Sony PlayStation (Games)

Sony Drops Platinum Title Cost 36

Posted by Zonk from the cheaper-gaming dept.
Eurogamer has the news that Sony has lowered prices on Platinum titles. Selections such as Eye Toy Play 2 and Jak 3 will now retail for about a third less, or roughly $US 34.95. From the article: "The news is set to allow retailers to enjoy a bumper summer at a time when the supply of quality new releases has all but dried up - and consumers will be able to sample a huge range of titles at prices that won't break the bank."
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Sony Drops Platinum Title Cost More

Sony Drops Platinum Title Cost

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  • Honestly, what's their strategy here? Even when the Playstation 2 was coming out, I don't recall the regular Playstation games having lower prices overall. I'm confused: what's Sony up to?

    • Re:What's their strategy? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Zangief ( 461457 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @01:56PM (#12980539) Homepage Journal
      It is a very complicated conspiracy, that includes the freemasons, Opus Dei, Muslims, the Bush family, the mafia AND Sony, that seeks to sell more games due to lower prices!

  • Bank (Score:5, Insightful)

    by turtled ( 845180 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @01:40PM (#12980450)
    "...will be able to sample a huge range of titles at prices that won't break the bank."

    Yeah, breaking the bank will be when NextGen consoles come out. I know I will get bombarded with, "every generation console is high priced when they first come out..." but, this round of NextGen I feel will be hitting in between $350 and $450 for console units. That to me is breaking the bank. Hell, a new cheap yet up to date computer with no monitor hangs aound the $350 price tage.

    • Re:Bank (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Mike570 ( 884414 )
      Yeah, I'm concerned about the cost of the new systems too. I know I'm probably in the minority on this but I miss the days when I payed for a game system that just played games. It seems like with each new system, they get further removed from the sale of game systems and they keep inching closer to some multimedia powerhouse. I wish they'd lower the price by removing all the crap. I don't need HDTV, I don't need a DVD player, etc. Xbox concernes me the most because Microsoft has alot to gain from makin

      • Re:Bank (Score:5, Interesting)

        by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday July 04, 2005 @04:03PM (#12981105) Homepage
        I agree. $300 is my limit, I'm not speding over that. I may spend UNDER that. First of all, consoles don't come with games anymore, and they want me to pay $60 a pop (minimum) to buy the games. Add to this all the other things they don't include (2nd controller, memory cards, hard drive in the case of the PS3) and that is just more cash I'll have to shell out to play a game.

        I love video games, and I've been buying consoles at launch since the PS1, but this generation there is a good chance that I'll wait for price drops (except on the Revolution, I know I'll get great games there, especially with the ability to play old titles).

        Backwards compatability helps though, as that means I can fence my old console to help buy the new one.

        • Do as i always do , Buy the consoles about 6-12 months after they are first out , I've been doing it since the 80's (with the exceptions of my gameboys which i have bought within the first 2 days of release)and i always save a shed load.

          As a rule of thumb , generally some of the best Games for a console come out around its death bed(the release of an updated console) and the games are cheaper , so you can really enjoy the best the previous generation has to offer whilst waiting for the cost of the new co

  • "Platinum" == "Old" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by yotto ( 590067 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @01:42PM (#12980458) Homepage
    So I can spend $35 on a 4-year-old game for the PS, or $20 for a 1-year-old game for the PC.

    No sources, this is slashdot, but check the prices of just about every 2004 FPS.
    • Jak 3 was released last year but probably didn't so well because people were tired of so many sequels to the same damn game.
    • The Slashdot article misquoted the actual one's prices. In the article it says that the average release price is £29.99 ($52.71) and these Platnum games are going to be selling at £14.99 ($26.34) or lower. They must have just pulled '$35' out of their ass or something...lol. I got my numbers from XE.com. More importantly though, why was the article converted to US currency anyway? It's a story about Britan on a site called EUROgamer!
      • It sounds like Sony is just adding a few more titles to the Platinum series of games. In the US these are called Greatest Hits and retail for $20. Expect Jax 3 to hit these price. I'm not sure about Eyetoy Play 2 over here. The Eyetoy has done extremely well in Europe, but hasn't caught on in the US.
    • So I can spend $35 on a 4-year-old game for the PS, or $20 for a 1-year-old game for the PC.

      Both the mentioned games are about a year old. Every console has a Greatest Hits program that sells hit games for $20 (in the U.S., this article is about the European version) about a year after they are first released.

      No sources, this is slashdot, but check the prices of just about every 2004 FPS.

      Unreal Tournament 2004 has hit $20, the cheapest I've seen Doom 3 is $30, and Half-Life 2 $40.

  • RTFA (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I don't see any mention of the prices in the US. In fact, the article is about european prices.
  • I live over here in North America, and I've heard of Greatest Hits games (they have red bars on the boxes), and they come in at $20. I've never seen a Platinum title, nor do I know what it is. I would assume it was equivalent to the Greatest Hits collection here in North America, but, the fact that after a LOWERING of the price they still cost more than Greatest Hits kinda throws me off. What gives?
    • Prices for games are higher in PAL regions and to a lesser extent Japan. We see the same prices in Canada that you do in the USA (after the conversion) but Europe sees close to double what we pay. This goes for the actual consoles as well.

    • Re:What IS A Platinum Title? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Fred Or Alive ( 738779 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @01:58PM (#12980555)
      Greatest Hits is the US equivelant of Platinum games.

      The price is wrong IMO ($35 is nearer the existing £20 price point), I'd say $25 is nearer £15.

      Video games in Europe / UK cost more. The RRP of nerw games is usually £40 (~$70), but it is getting nearer £30 ($50), at least if you buy online, or from specialist shops. I guess some of the extra cost is tax, but I think some of it is just the companies extracting money becuase they can. The recent price changes do at least move the prices nearer to US ones, with the strong Pound at the moment it has been getting ridiculous.

  • Convert to Euro (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ObsessiveMathsFreak ( 773371 ) <obsessivemathsfreak.eircom@net> on Monday July 04, 2005 @01:49PM (#12980494) Homepage Journal
    Great, now I can look forward to €45 titles instead of €60 ones. This despite the favourable US/Euro exchange rate.
    So instead of paying ~$71 for my games, I'll now be paying ~$53 dollars, which is still more than the $50 that is paid for games in the States!!!
    Arrgghh!!

    Thank you Sony. Thanks for nothing!!
    • 45 is still much better than 60 and knowing Mediamarkt most will probably be priced 40 at retail. Unfortunately they didn't seem to lower the standard prices, just that of the "Platinum" budget line.

  • Just for reference... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Fred Or Alive ( 738779 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @01:50PM (#12980503)
    The article assumes you know about UK games prices, ranges etc., so if you don't know, here's some information other people have probably already posted whilst I dither over this message:

    PlayStation Platinum is the European equivelant of PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits. They used to retail for £19.99ish (~$35) in the UK. (Xbox has Xbox Classics, GameCube has Player's Choice for their budget ranges, all usually at £20ish).

    Full games usually have an RRP of £40 (~$70), but as the article states, are often found cheaper nowadays, although they're usually slightly above £30 (~$50).

    £15 is nearer $25 than $35, but exchange rates fluctuate.

    There are of course various offers and stuff, budget priced games (whever in a budget range or not) are often in 2 for £30 offers and stuff.

    Yes, living in Europe sucks if you like videogames. We usually have to wait until last to pay the most for them.

    • Re:Just for reference... (Score:5, Informative)

      by nick_davison ( 217681 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @02:46PM (#12980766)
      As an English gamer who moved to the U.S., I figured I'd share just how badly overcharged you guys are:

      UK:
      Before: £19.99 (~$35)
      Now: £14.99 (~$25)

      US:
      Regular retail since the Platinum line has existed: $19.99
      Price if you shop around for which store has a sale this week: $14.99 ($9.99 if you're lucky)

      DVDs are equally bad: I rarely pay over $14.99 (~£9), often pay $9.99 (~£6) if I wait a month or two, and, if I'm willing to wait, older titles (like Hunt For Red October - at Circuit City this weekend) are $4.99 (~£3). Plus, because all the large stores price match, you check the online ads for all stores - then go to your nearest one and ask them to match.

      To be fair, in the UK, 17.5% VAT is added within those prices whereas, in the US, sales tax is added on on top. Then again, as that rarely clears 8% anywhere, it doesn't come close to making the difference.

  • $35, cheap? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by duncanbojangles ( 787775 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @02:08PM (#12980609)
    Seriously, who considers $35 to be cheap? The game better be damned good for me to pay $35 when there are tons of $20 and $15 titles that would be just as much fun. And if these are games that have already sold enough to reach "platinum", I'd expect a drop in price at least this much.

    But I should quit complaining, considering the next generation conosoles' games are going to cost an arm and a leg.
    • Seriously, who considers $35 to be cheap?

      Europeans because the only games you can pick up for 10 are either ancient or commercial failures and often deservedly. Platinum is just the name of the PS2's budget line here.

  • Platinum/Greatest Hits List (Score:3, Informative)

    by Winterblink ( 575267 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @02:13PM (#12980626) Homepage
    Here's a link to Sony's Greatest Hits [playstation.com] games... I don't know if it's the same as the UK Platinum games, but I doubt they're too dissimilar.

  • Slashdot: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jukashi ( 240273 ) on Monday July 04, 2005 @02:46PM (#12980768) Homepage Journal
    Advertising for Nerds. Stuff that sells.
  • I spent $30 on the brand new Meteos game on the Nintendo DS. Great value!
  • No I don't think so. They are retailing at $29.95 in Australia (normal platinum is $50 and new games $100), which would be something like $15 US.
    Which for a game like jak 3 is a pretty darn good deal

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