No PlayStation 2 price cut for the UK

By Ellie Gibson Published 31 March, 2009

It's only effective in the US and Europe.

Sony has told Eurogamer there will be no reduction in the UK price of PS2 - despite the fact it's being slashed in the rest of Europe and the US.

As reported on the PlayStation blog, the US price of PS2 will be 99.99 from tomorrow. That's equivalent to GBP 70 / EUR 75.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has also released a statement saying the Euro price of PS2 is being reduced to EUR 99 (GBP 93).

But a spokesperson for Sony UK told us, "There no plans to reduce the price of PS2 in the UK."

In a post on the US PS blog Sony exec John Koller wrote, "In the gaming industry, the typical lifecycle for a console is around five years, but because we build each of our platforms for a large and diverse consumer base, we design our platforms differently.

"With the original PlayStation and now PlayStation 2, we’ve proven that consumers can rely on our platforms for their gaming and entertainment needs for at least a decade."

Koller went on to point out there are nearly 1900 games available for PS2, with new titles due this year includeing MLB 09, Ghostbusters and Guitar Hero: Metallica.

"PlayStation 2 is a great option for families looking for ways to share their entertainment experiences together; they can rock out to Rock Band, test their trivia knowledge with Buzz!, or simply use the PlayStation 2 as their DVD or CD player," he added, clearly unaware that kids today couldn't tell the difference between a piece of physical media and a crisp packet.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (88) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Wastelander #1 3 years ago

    They do love us so.

  • DFawkes #2 3 years ago

    Wait a sec, I'll go check my map... yep, Europe. We're in it. Where would you like this mailed, Sony, I think you need some help with your geography.

  • andywilkie35 #3 3 years ago

    Baffling

  • Whatsfor #4 3 years ago

    They should start saying "mainland europe".

  • bad09 #5 3 years ago

    That's why when I get off my arse and replace my dying one I'll go 2nd hand and give you nothing Sony.

    Mind you if you hadn't screwed over future "Home of the Playstation brand" owners, I would not need a new one....

  • Physically_Insane #6 3 years ago

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

    I was waiting 10 years for this price cut and they haven't done it!!!!

    Ah well, I'll wait another 5 years to see if drops.

  • kinky_mong #7 3 years ago

    PlayStation 2 is a great option for families looking for ways to share their entertainment experiences together

    Poor gypo families to be specific.

  • Matfink #8 3 years ago

    The longevity of the PS2 is purely down to the games, not the crappy hardware, by a long stretch :p

  • RobertFoster #9 3 years ago

    I thought the PS2 was €105 or something for ages already? Big whoop, €5 to spend on something else!

  • woodnotes #10 3 years ago

    "They should start saying "mainland europe"

    The UK is mainland Europe. It's the rest of 'em that are somewhere else.

  • Erebu #11 3 years ago

    You guys are pathetic!
    If it's about the localization process you don't give a shite about being "Europeans"
    but now if you don't get a pricecut you consider yourself "Europeans"!?
    How about adopting the EURO?
    Fucking Hypocrites.

  • dirtysteve #12 3 years ago

    The acid test for this euro bollox is to watch for the price cut in ROI. Guaranteed, we wont get one either, despite being in the eurozone.

  • LHH #13 3 years ago

    Dohohohoho. Sonys' PR are at it again.

  • anomagnus #14 3 years ago

    Sony loves the uk so much

    Hey UK, heres another big FUCK YOU, because we know your country is filled with fucking tits who continue to buy the PS brand

    seriosuly, sony is just going to keep fucking the UK over, because the UK keeps lapping their shit up and coming back for seconds

    And before anyway starts, i wont even bother explaining my contempt for all the main land european countries, or my own shithole island of ireland

  • B0MBJ4CK #15 3 years ago

    Oh, Hi Sony, hows it goin....OW, MY NUTS!!!

  • The_Pope #16 3 years ago

    1) Who even knew they were still selling PS2 hardware brand new these days?
    2) Why on earth would you buy a PSTwo for a hundred quid when an Xbox 360 Arcade is only £130??

  • rumrum4444 #17 3 years ago




    I hate sony more and


    more by the minute !!


  • Razz #18 3 years ago

    That's wierd. No one gave a shit about the price cut the other day, now as the UK isn't getting it, everyone suddenly cares. What a load of bollox. :(

  • coolbritannia #19 3 years ago

    Another stunning victory for Sony PR. How anyone can claim Sony have nothing but complete and utter contempt for the UK is beyond me.

    /XBot

  • Fubdub #20 3 years ago

    I have to go with Erebu on this one. Join the Euro, and then you can whine if they don't lower the price. Nintendo just raised the hardware prices to compensate for the weak pound, Sony just adjusted it in a different way. You have only yourself to blame for fucking up your economy.

  • penhalion #21 3 years ago

    @Razz

    There's been a lot of hindsight bollocks lately. Everything from OnLive to this PS2 price cut (that no-one actually cares about).

  • Linkified #22 3 years ago

    Thank god one of the first corporations I've noticed not lumping us in with europe. The only thing we have in common with Europe are were all on the Eurasia tectonic plate and we have more poles than polland.

    Now if only Nintendo and MS realised we actually weren't in Europe maybe we'd get more features for the 360.

  • onyxbox #23 3 years ago

    is this because our economy is on its arse?

  • tomkuryakin #24 3 years ago

    "The longevity of the PS2 is purely down to the games, not the crappy hardware, by a long stretch :p "

    So that's where Microsoft got the idea from!

  • tomjoadsghost #25 3 years ago

    Is this the big sony announcement that everyone's been blathering on about?

  • AgentCool #26 3 years ago

    Nothing to do with the PS2 price issue but I think, when it comes to releasing games, the UK should be part of of the US/Canada region rather than Europe. I mean, the PAL conversion problem is irrelevant nowadays since virtually everyone runs their games at 60Hz and, most of the time, the reason we wait so long for some titles to arrive over here is because we're waiting for it to be translated from English into a dozen other languages. Just give us the US English-only version!

  • Goodfella #27 3 years ago

    Lol, Jesus Christ this is epic fail on Sony's part. How about, you know, reducing the price of your latest console so more people buy it?

  • Fixxxer #28 3 years ago

    @Linkified

    Yes, that's right, that's ALL we have in common. Not economic policy, not language (being, as it is, derived from Roman Latin, Norman French and Saxon German), not history, not culture, not sport, not food. None of that. Step across the channel and there is literally nothing you'll recognise.

    And for the record the country is called 'Poland' and we are in Europe. By every discernible measure, we are in Europe.
    Edited by 1 at 31/03/09 @ 14:05

  • neonxaos #29 3 years ago

    This was their global annoucement? I heard that they were going to talk about the PS3 - not a price cut, but something else. I was really hoping that it would be about the new 45 nm PS3 model, but I guess not.

    Sorry for you guys in the UK, but seriously, don't we all have at least one PS2 by now?

  • Dizzy #30 3 years ago

    >Oh, Hi Sony, hows it goin....OW, MY NUTS!!!

    ROFL ;)

  • neonemesis #31 3 years ago

    1) Who even knew they were still selling PS2 hardware brand new these days?

    Anyone with an Argos catalgoue. Always makes me laugh when people come out with the whole "PS2 is old so who cares" thing. The machine served you well for many years and there are still decent 'gamers games' (Persona 4, SNK Anthologies, Mana Khemia etc.) being released for it. I for one would buy another (though not necessarily brand new) if mine dies because the PS3 is too expensive/lacks PS2 BC and the 360 doesn't interest me in the slightest.

    I have to go with Erebu on this one. Join the Euro, and then you can whine if they don't lower the price. Nintendo just raised the hardware prices to compensate for the weak pound, Sony just adjusted it in a different way. You have only yourself to blame for fucking up your economy.

    I can't argue with the Euro issue but it's not the ordinary guy's fault that the economy is in such a mess. Last time I checked, I don't work for a bank or the Government.

  • oreillymj #32 3 years ago

    @DFawkes - Unfortunately you had your chance to join the Euro, but decided not to take it. Would result in the fall of the Queen apparently. Well you can't complain now that your currency is going down the toilet.

  • CallousB #33 3 years ago

    It's hardly surprising that the UK price hasn't been cut given the exchange rate.

  • Erebu #34 3 years ago

    @ neonemesis

    But you voted? Didn't you?

  • DjchunKfunK #35 3 years ago

    Those of you claiming the UK should join the Euro if they want to see the price cut are missing the point totally. The UK was paying more than Europeans for the PS2 in the first place due to the strength of the pound. Sony are just using the fall of the currency as an excuse, PS2s probably cost next to nothing to produce nowadays.

  • WillyWanka #36 3 years ago

    Don't you see you Euro skeptic pigs?! If we joined the Euro we'd have cheap PS2s in 2009! Oh I bet you're feeling sorry now!

  • penhalion #37 3 years ago

    @trebell

    Hey! Hey! Less of the stop crowing remarks please. I'm dutifully scraping every ounce of this crow crap off the floow so that I can shovel it down their throats when the pound recovers!

  • Duke100 #38 3 years ago

    To those of you moaning about the UK not joining the Euro; the point of us not joining was that our economy was in a stronger position than all you work-shy unemployment ridden countries with seistas and 30 hour working weeks. Now that we have been dragged down to your (collective) nadir, it is the perfect time to join. As proven by the shocking price of a vin chaud when I was heli-boarding last week in the french alps - I shall now return to my Neo Geo.

  • des #39 3 years ago

    UKlol

    Good news anyway,price cuts are always good:)
    Hopefully PSP follows...

  • neonemesis #40 3 years ago

    @Erubu

    Do you know my age? Back when that vote was open, I wasn't legible to vote so I didn't have the chance anyway.

  • jonbwfc #41 3 years ago

    For the benefit of oriellymj and Erebu, the UK has not had any sort of a vote or referendum on joining the EU. And by the looks of things, we're not going to have one any time soon; I strongly suspect the UK economy is now not in a viable state were it would be allowed to join. So the very idea that anyone on this board from the UK could have been paying for things in Euros but chose not to is entirely spurious.

    Sony could cut the UK price to the equivalent of the Euro price but they have chosen not to, at least up until this point. There are many possible reasons for this, currency fluctuations being one and "can't be arsed" being another.

    The one thing that is certain is that the internet was the one that was hyping this 'global announcement', not Sony.

    Jon

  • The_Programmer #42 3 years ago

    How about adopting the EURO?

    We'd be better off joining the Dollar then we could just use games straight from the USA. No need to wait for stupid language translations & we'd get the games quicker with better prices.

  • spamjavelins #43 3 years ago

    Who's still buying PS2s anyway? This price cut means nothing to the majority. Well done Sony.

  • JDub #44 3 years ago

    Fantastic!

    I'm going to sell my current consoles and buy a new PS2...
    So, who wants to buy a PS3 and a 360?!


    ....er...no, that's not right, is it??
    Edited by 1 at 31/03/09 @ 14:50

  • Linkified #45 3 years ago

    @Fixxxer : Fuck off you euro centric twat. Seriously we aren't in europe. Europe is France, Germany and all those other shiity countries that are backwards. WE are the UK. I'm glad Sony understands this now if other companies in this industries and other industries understood this we as a country would be much better off.

    N.B . Olde english is dervived from what you were on about and modern english is derived drom olde english.

  • chessboxer #46 3 years ago

    You can buy a PS2 for under £93 brand new from Argos and various other sites, which is cheaper than RRP and matches the new price cuts in the US/EU.

    Why are so many people here crying? At least they didn't put the price up.

  • stevetuck #47 3 years ago

    I thought that the UK was part of europe.... i guess Geography isnt one of eurogamers strongpoints

  • neonemesis #48 3 years ago

    Damn! I wanted to buy a last-gen console too!

    *Throws his hat to the floor*

    Well, I'd rather buy a PS2 than a Wii...

  • stepneg #49 3 years ago

    So according to Sony we pay more when our economy is doing well due to exchange rates, PS3 launch price & features compared to US\Jap etc... and we now also pay more because of our weak economy. I like how that works for Sony but in fairness they only do it because they know they will get away with it here, people in the UK just bend over and accept it.
    Edited by 3 at 31/03/09 @ 15:01

  • sneetch #50 3 years ago

    @evilfoxhound
    Damn! I wanted to buy a last-gen console too!

    *Throws his hat to the floor*

    Were I you, sir, I would telegraph a strongly worded protest to Her Majesty's Government post-haste! Perhaps even use that new-fangled telephone I read about in January 1910's issue of Which!

    As for the rest of you arguing about whether or not the UK should have joined the Eurozone or not: Jesus, why does everything have to be turned into "us vs. them" fanboy bullshit?

    Hell, I'm glad the UK isn't in the Eurozone at the moment, means I can mail-order games dirt-cheap from them!

  • neil_likes_bums #51 3 years ago

    and just reading some of these comments, I can understand why people don't want to be associated with Europe...

  • sneetch #52 3 years ago

    @neil_likes_bums
    and just reading some of these comments, I can understand why people don't want to be associated with Europe...

    Odd, because reading the same comments I was wondering why people thought there was any real difference between the UK and mainland Europe. There seems to be the same mix of reasonable people and bellicose prejudiced (dare I say it, racist) idiots in both. :p

  • romanista #53 3 years ago

    they have been selling ps2s for 99eur for ages here, for 75 euri i might have picked one up

  • tomkuryakin #54 3 years ago

    This is pure psychological warfare from Sony. They let Kotaku know that there was an announcement coming, knowing full well that people would immediately begin speculating about a PS3 price cut, firmware update, BC, ICO 3, etc. After a few days of fevered speculation and rumour, they pop everyone's bubble by announcing a $30 cut in the PS2 price. I bet everyone who wants to buy a PS3 but was waiting for a price cut is just going to buckle under the pressure in despair. Pure genius!

    /Buys a 360 Arcade to play while waiting for a real price cut.

  • sneetch #55 3 years ago

    @tomkuryakin
    This is pure psychological warfare from Sony. They let Kotaku know that there was an announcement coming, knowing full well that people would immediately begin speculating about a PS3 price cut, firmware update, BC, ICO 3, etc. After a few days of fevered speculation and rumour, they pop everyone's bubble by announcing a $30 cut in the PS2 price. I bet everyone who wants to buy a PS3 but was waiting for a price cut is just going to buckle under the pressure in despair. Pure genius!

    /Buys a 360 Arcade to play while waiting for a real price cut.

    There's the thing! Some people (myself included, I suppose) got so caught up with the UK Sterling/Europe Euro sidetrack that we seem to have mised the point: that this is complete and utter crap. I couldn't care less if PS2's were currently forming cocoons from which beautiful or possibly deadly new lifeforms were going to emerge, where the hell is the PS3 price cut Sony?

  • Collymilad #56 3 years ago

    "You guys are pathetic!
    If it's about the localization process you don't give a shite about being "Europeans"
    but now if you don't get a pricecut you consider yourself "Europeans"!?
    How about adopting the EURO?
    Fucking Hypocrites."

    How about you take your superstate and shove it where the sun doesn't shine?

    If I want Brussels telling me what to do ill move to Belgium.

  • Dizzy #57 3 years ago

    I don't really understand the reason for this price drop.

    Won't this PS2 price drop lower the potential sales of the PS3? Also a 30$ drop on the PS3.. they could have moved that "drop" to the PS3. Do they really expect to sell a lot of PS2s now?

    >If I want Brussels telling me what to do ill move to Belgium.

    I don't think you can afford it with your Monopoly money ;)
    Edited by 1 at 31/03/09 @ 15:33

  • neonxaos #58 3 years ago

    Here we go again... sigh.

    *Looks for the 45 nm PS3 again in the announcement*

    Nope, still not there.

    *Walks away, quietly*

  • tomkuryakin #59 3 years ago

    @Dizzy

    If Sony are still making a loss on each PS3 sold, then they don't actually want people to buy them as that will just increase their losses whereas I guess that they do make a profit on each PS2 sold, even at the new price.
    Edited by 1 at 31/03/09 @ 15:36

  • Dizzy #60 3 years ago

    >whereas I guess that they do make a profit on each PS2 sold, even at the new price.

    Yeah probably....

  • Erebu #61 3 years ago

    @ The_Programmer

    Umm you have joined the US in their economy built on loans...

    @ Linkified

    Learn your history. YOU ARE A PART OF EUROPE!!!
    Your ancestors were from the mainland aka the shitty backwards countries.
    You should practice more on humbleness and humility.

  • Erebu #62 3 years ago

    @ Collymilad

    Yet sucking americans is better, isn't it?

  • tomkuryakin #63 3 years ago

    >whereas I guess that they do make a profit on each PS2 sold, even at the new price.

    Yeah probably....


    I know: let's all go out and buy a PS3 now. If enough of us do that, we'll cause Sony catastrophic losses. That'll teach 'em...

  • Daryoon #64 3 years ago

    Can we have cheap memory cards now?

  • Skire #65 3 years ago

    welcome to the United Kingdom, a whole new continent!

  • Petulant_Radish #66 3 years ago

    Depends on who you’re speaking to there Erebu, admittedly much of England’s population will have come from Norman, Frank, Roman and Viking invasions, but then most of Europe is a mingled mangled mash from when everyone was invading everyone.

    Though the Welsh & Scots could claim to be more Britons then the English, as they were a bit more removed from the raping and pillaging and so some Celts survived and such are not descendants from mainland Europe. The English are mainly Angles though, a Germanic tribe.

    None of that matters though as everyone knows continental Europeans smell of wee and all have inferiority complexes. Tally bally ho!

  • TheWretched #67 3 years ago

    The brits who are complaining now should keep in mind, that Sony didn't raise the price (like Nintendo did with the Wii, more or less), when the pound sunk to a new low... So this is just normalizing the price difference.

    I mean, you can get a PSTwo with Buzz (at least 40€ in retail Germany) for 109 pounds at Play.com... and you complain about no pricecut? You are in fact ridiculous!

  • Petulant_Radish #68 3 years ago

    You’re silly.

  • squarepusher #69 3 years ago

    "The English are mainly Angles though, a Germanic tribe." lol no they're not

  • sneetch #70 3 years ago

    @dangerpuss
    Does this exclusion include Ireland (Republic/Southern)?

    Nope, because we use the Euro, therefore we use the Euro price. That said, I haven't even seen a PS2 on sale over here in ages. The stores probably have them in the back somewhere but not on the shelves.

  • El-Dev #71 3 years ago

    Eurogamer posters claim not to be part of Europe, Westminster and the EU may disagree.

    I had 4 PS2s, down to poor reliability and maybe over playing them, got a mini PS2 for £90 the summer before the PS3 came out and traded it in for £50 when the PS3 came out.

  • Petulant_Radish #72 3 years ago

    “"The English are mainly Angles though, a Germanic tribe." lol no they're not”

    Well they’re not anymore, and I suppose the correct wording of it would be that Angles mainly became English what with them coming over here and having a lark and all that. Hence where the name England came from, and indeed East Anglia, or Ost Angelnen. Those Angles mixed with the Western Saxons to become, over time, what was commonly known as Anglo-Saxons, or the filthy English swinehunds.

  • squarepusher #73 3 years ago

    [link url=http ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Oppenheimer
    ]http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Opp...[/link]

    myth vs. history

  • callum9999 #74 3 years ago

    As far as I can tell, Sony have said the "Euro price" is dropping, its Eurogamer who are saying Europe.

  • Petulant_Radish #75 3 years ago

    Interesting read, it is still only a hypothesis though, of course that is much like the generally accepted Anglo-Saxon influence theory about the history of the English as well. I’ll read that though, I like the thought is a Basque influence.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #76 3 years ago

    This 'our consoles are designed to last 10 years' is really starting to fuck me off quite frankly.

    Let's get one thing very straight. The 10 year plan is being applied to the PS1 and PS2 retroactively. Fact. The reason they lasted 10 years is because they were the most successful consoles!!

    If they had only sold as many PS1s as Saturns they would have stopped making it.

    The NES lasted more the 10 years (20 I think). Same with the Gameboy. The Jaguar and 3DO didn't.

    You continue to produce something whilst there is demand, and stop making something if there is no demand. (Unless you're Sega who pulled the plug on the Megadrive after 8 years in Europe when it ALSO could have lasted ten years.) :(

    No plans, no design, just success or failure. What utter utter cunts Sony are sometimes.

  • cyber_nicco #77 3 years ago

    I assumed it had been $99 in the US for years...

  • spitfire1945 #78 3 years ago

    First Nintendo raise the cost of Wii sold to retailers and now Sony doesn't reduce price on the PS2. All because
    of this shitty economic and strong Pound against the Yen!

    @DFawkes: yep you are in Europe geographically speaking... just not into the Euro zone!!! :-P

  • neonemesis #79 3 years ago

    Can we have cheap memory cards now?

    Tell me about it. Most games for PS2 these days are less than those 8MB cards.

  • Ryze #80 3 years ago

    Silly fuckers.

  • stampax #81 3 years ago

    Sony are a business - they dont put the price down here as they dont need to. They charge more for other items here because they can and we buy it. Simple as. Cant blame them.

  • 2099net #82 3 years ago

    Well, its obviously because the pound is a little weak at the moment but...

    I seem to remember when the pound was strong, we got no pricing favours from Sony.

    So the rule seems to be the following for pound/dollar conversion in Sony-Land.

    Strong Pound - maximise the cost in the UK so Sony get more money (while in the PS3's case, stripping it of features).
    Weak Pound - maximise the cost in the UK so Sony get more money.

    Good to see Sony always benefits, no matter what the exchange rate is, and the UK consumer always loses.
    Edited by 1 at 31/03/09 @ 18:14

  • Linkified #83 3 years ago

    @Erebu: Actually your wrong my family dates back to living as Celts here in England then moving with the Romans back to Italy and to Gaul(old france) then came back. Hmm there may be some strands of DNA in there but not alot.

    Secondly UK is not part of Europe, Westminster would were part of shittiness that is the EU Countries but were not we can rely without them. We need the US so we can conquer it again.

    People in the UK are British/ English not Europeans.

  • coderkind #84 3 years ago

    @2099net: agree.

  • Erebu #85 3 years ago

    @ Linkified

    Some strands? You must be joking...
    You sound like a nazi...
    Edited by 1 at 31/03/09 @ 20:54

  • pollster #86 3 years ago

    I like battering the french in "Empire:Total war" Does this make me a nazi?

  • Erebu #87 3 years ago

    @ pollster, balsaboy72

    "is" and "like" have different meanings!

  • MisterCraig #88 3 years ago

    Linkified, even if you were correct (you're not) you would still be an arrogant muppet.

    Shame about Sony though, I can't imagine there are many UK gamers coming around to them, even with zomgkillzone2isdabest.

    Sho Ryu Ken

  • cawley1 #89 3 years ago

    Probably too late to the party on this one, but here are some facts!

    The PS2 is effectively dead in the UK now anyway, so who cares? I have been shopping around for about a year to replace my NTSC phat as the laser died with a new slim, not willing to pay more than £50, and only managed to find a couple around this price in the last month (Swap Magic FTW!).

    The only major stores still stocking at £90+ are Argos, Toys R Us and Tesco (many online retailers have dropped it too), good luck finding the system, accessories or games anywhere else -

    Comet did a recall sometime at the end of last year and there is nothing PS2 related in any of their stores.

    Currys has recently reduced anything PS2 related and there are only dregs left now - I managed to bag a PS2 from the High Wycombe branch for £50, and another from their Aylesbury branch for £45, these were all that they could find anywhere in the South-East!
    They had also reduced their games to a max of £9.99 (Singstar 90's at £4.99) and official Memory Cards at £3.99 (if you lived in Bradford, anyway)!

    Toys R Us has Silver slims selling for £49.99 in Stevenage a couple of weeks back, pink and black at £90+ still.

    If anyone really cares about a price cut, do some work and hunt down a bargain, else buy a 360 Arcade which at £30 is surely the thing you should be doing anyway. Keep watching those retailers I listed above to drop prices and start selling stock off in the coming months.
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 18:58