PlayStation 3 Still Set For March in EU, Price Revealed 110
Despite an accidental slip-up on the part of Sony CEO Howard Stringer, the PlayStation 3 is set for launch in the EU this March. When it does launch, folks in the UK and Ireland will be paying a pretty penny for Sony's new console. From the article: "Sony has confirmed ... that the 60GB PS3 will cost EUR 629.99 in Ireland, as suggested on the official website. 'Ireland is traditionally more expensive than other territories,' a spokesperson explained. 'The VAT rate there is 21 per cent, whereas it can be as low as 16 per cent in other EU countries.' However, the spokesperson continued, the PS3 will still cost EUR 599 if you're buying it elsewhere in Europe. Of course, here in Britain we're still using the funny old money with the picture of the rich lady on it, so we'll get a price point all of our own. And according to our old friend Senior Retail Sources, that price point will be set at GBP 425."
425 GBP is about $835 (Score:2, Informative)
Eheh... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Will not lose as much per console at least (Score:2, Informative)
Prices higher than they appear (Score:5, Informative)
Factoring out the tax we see that the PS3 is right around 500 to 520 euros or so, which puts it around US$650, which is a fairly modest markup of about US$50 or about 8% or so.
Re:Effect of taxes? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Will not lose as much per console at least (Score:3, Informative)
Even if you consider that Europe includes tax in its prices and consider the ex VAT price, the cost of goods in Europe is far, far higher than the equivalent than in the US.
Re:March? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:March? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Price Point (Score:3, Informative)
For example, if content producers sold the top and newest games for $20 here, not the $100 they currently ask, they would sell maybe 100 times more, thus making a higher profit on the volume sales than what they get on the small number of overprices sales they make.
The official DVD movie industry does this. They sell the newest double-disk blockbusters for $21 and the single-disk version for $17. After a short period of time the price of the single-disk version drops to $13, and when the movie enters the bargain bin it's being sold for something around $8. These are affordable prices for the Brazilian market, and as a result most people who own DVD player prefer to purchase official disks, not pirated ones. Of course piracy still exists and you'll find plenty of DVD-Rs for $2 and VCDs for $1. But it's nevertheless way less widespread (in proportional terms) than what happens in the game market, whose producers for some reason seem to not grasp the concept that they should have price points adapted to the purchasing power of the majority of the population.
It's business stupidity on a whole new level. Don't try to understand it.