Online PS3 discounts not Sony's work

By Robert Purchese Published 1 December, 2008

Franchisee becomes cheapest outlet.

Sony has told us that SonyStyle's PS3 prices, which just became among the lowest online, have nothing to do with the platform holder.

"SonyStyle and Sony Centres are franchises. We deal them as we do any other retailer and they have their own freedom to create offers and promotions, just as other players in the market can do," a Sony spokesperson told Eurogamer.

SonyStyle dropped the price of the 80GB PlayStation 3 to GBP 259.00, and lowered the 40GB model to GBP 249.00. Those are better numbers than competitors ShopTo, GAME, Amazon and Play offer.

However, many of the latter offer console-plus-game bundles, which often present better value for money, a bit like dogs.

Last week, leaked info from an annual Sony staff meeting suggested PS3 pricing will get "more competitive" next year.

The Xbox 360 became the cheapest console on the UK market back in September, before Microsoft launched a beefy Christmas campaign and rolled out the New Xbox Experience.

The result is expected to be a sharp up-turn in Xbox 360 sales, and a Microsoft "win" this Christmas - or so believes Aaron Greenberg.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    For the price ignorant, how much of a drop is that? And how much of it is covered by the VAT drop?

  • Law07 #2 3 years ago

    oh

  • Kazzahdrane #3 3 years ago

    Actually they've got An 80Gb PS3 with LittleBigPlanet for £279.00:

    [link url=http://www.sonystyle.co.uk/SonyStyle/catalog/updateItem s/(xcm=PCM_b2ccrmstandard&layout=15_114_61_50_115_119_2& uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&carea=45FF6857FA3C007A000000002BC 29B85)/.do?bc_search=sfalse&next=seeItem&itemkey=45FF6857FA3 C007A000000002BC29B8548D75B3052BC010EE10080022BC29B72
    ]http://ww w.sonystyle.co.uk/SonyStyle/cat...[/link]

    Only a tenner cheaper than Play.com though. Anyone buying a PS3 in the next couple of months would need a really good reason (gift, maybe) since I'm sure we're all expecting a price drop early next year. I might check out the January sales but doubt there'll be any spectacular deals.

  • Kazzahdrane #4 3 years ago

    Sorry actually hang on, Play.com have THIS for £289.99 which is even better:

    http://ww w.play.com/Games/PlayStation3/4...

  • makeamazing #5 3 years ago

    @DFawkes, the VAT drop is only 2.5% less, which is nothing.. government tried to make people believe it is alot, when actually its nothing.

    So these price drops are pretty good indeed. Shame I already have one :D

  • JediMasterMalik #6 3 years ago

    A 2.5% reduction in VAT may not seem a lot per item, but stuff like this adds up, it will be significant to a lot of people.

  • Chufty #7 3 years ago

    What was the comment about a 'dog' all about in the article? Is a dog better value than an Xbox 360 too?

  • Puppaz #8 3 years ago

    A bit like dogs?

    Eurogamer is very good at puns. A bit like a cheese sandwich.

  • Freki #9 3 years ago

    The 2.5% VAT cut equates to a 2.13% drop in the actual price. It is pretty much a con by the government, even if you spent £10,000 on VAT rated items it would only save you £213

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #10 3 years ago

    When i posted this article in the forums ( hours before EG!! ) with no comparison to 360, it just followed with retarted fanboyism from both sides. When posted here by EG with comparison to 360, its been followed by a discussion of the merits of the upcoming VAT cut.

    Go Figure.

    At the least i think i deserve a medal for distracting the fanboys in the forums rather than them posting all over the main news articles! :)

  • bad09 #11 3 years ago

    "Sorry actually hang on, Play.com have THIS for £289.99 which is even better:

    http://ww w.play.com/Games/PlayStation3/4...

    Wow, that's is value for money, now IS the time to Jump In people...er sorry I mean this is living now people :)

    / whispers "Just make sure you have a 360 to it's great owning both.....what?... nah don't bother with that other Wee one, my mate Smelly said it's crap"

  • coomber #12 3 years ago

    "However, many of the latter offer console-plus-game bundles, which often present better value for money, a bit like dogs."

    Sometimes you guys try too hard to be funny. Best stick to the facts, son.

  • makeamazing #13 3 years ago

    @JediMasterMalik, i initially thought lowering VAT was a good idea, but after seeing how little people would save on a per item basis, its not going to help at all. £6 odd off a console would not sway anyone to buy it.

  • kangarootoo #14 3 years ago

    "the VAT drop is only 2.5% less, which is nothing.. government tried to make people believe it is alot, when actually its nothing."

    It is a lot when you consider the amount of cash moving around in our economy. It might not be a lot in an individual pocket, but it was never supposed to just be a handout. Tax is what pays for our roads, schools and hospitals. If we got huge tax cuts our already shitty services would get even worse. And we don't even PAY that much tax in the UK compared to some european countries. The VAT rate in France is 19.6% I believe.

  • kangarootoo #15 3 years ago

    "i initially thought lowering VAT was a good idea, but after seeing how little people would save on a per item basis, its not going to help at all. £6 odd off a console would not sway anyone to buy it."

    I'm pretty sure the goverment didn't have games consoles at the centre of their thoughts when considering how to run the economy of England.

  • makeamazing #16 3 years ago

    Very droll. I didnt say the Government were thinking about consoles, just saying as this is a post about PS3 discounts and a person asked about how much etc... dont take things so literally :D

    Seriously though, hardly anyone I know, and most of the media/financiers don't believe the VAT was the right move and will make very little impact.

    I'm pretty sure the goverment didn't have games consoles at the centre of their thoughts when considering how to run the economy of England.

    I think pretty much people are thinking they havent considered how to run the economy for years, thats part of the problem :D

    Anyway I dont want to get into a political debate, so going back on topic, the Vat decrease will do nothing for PS3 sales, but the franchisee discount will :D

  • bioreit #17 3 years ago

    re: VAT drop

    I know loads of people who spend hours scouring the Internet, trying to find the best deal on things like TVs, console bundles, PCs - spreading the word between them when one of them finds a £700 item for £5 less on a different site, or for the same price but with free delivery (worth about a tenner). And I'm one of them.

    This 2.13% drop in actual prices is actually having an impact amongst my circle of friends - it's like those cashback schemes and loyalty cards; they may only get you one or two percent back, but it all adds up over a few months.

    This is like getting that cashback up-front instead. And you still get all that cashback, too.

    Maybe realise that while *you* may not feel the difference, there are probably thousands upon thousands of people who do notice.

  • layleeloo #18 3 years ago

    Quote "And how much of it is covered by the VAT drop?"

    Isnt that easy to work out? Whats happening to basic maths these days? hahah
    10% of £300 is 30 quid, half that to 5% so £15. Half that again to 2.5% is £7.50. So vat is saving hardly anything on goods.

  • Madafunkola #19 3 years ago

    OFF TOPIC (YET RELEVANT TO OTHER COMMENTS):
    Isn't it funny how a 2.5% drop in VAT is brushed off as a drop in the ocean and won't make a difference, yet if they were to raise it 1% to 18.5% in 2011, that would bring the economy to its knees! Nation in UPROAR!
    Also - has anyone thought that the 2.5% is to help retailers stay in business rather than make a hefty difference to purchases by you and me?

  • JahB #20 3 years ago

    249 for 40gb and 259 for 80? somebody in the marketing department is smoking too much weed

  • mikeck #21 3 years ago

    "249 for 40gb and 259 for 80? somebody in the marketing department is smoking too much weed "

    What have they got to do with price reductions? Perhaps you should lay off it as well... :p

  • kangarootoo #22 3 years ago

    @makeamazing

    "I think pretty much people are thinking they havent considered how to run the economy for years, thats part of the problem"

    Of course, but since when did the general populace ever have a good opinion of the ruling government, or have the faintest idea about how best to run a country? Not saying the government are doing a good job, but you can always trust the general public to;

    a) complain even when things are relatively good.
    b) assume that the solutions are easy, and if things are going wrong its because everyone in charge is just stupid, because...
    c) they actually have no cocking idea whatsoever about what should really be done to fix things when they are bad, even though they think they do.


    @Madafunkola

    "Also - has anyone thought that the 2.5% is to help retailers stay in business rather than make a hefty difference to purchases by you and me?"

    Ex-bloody-actly.

  • captainrentboy #23 3 years ago

    Sony need to officially drop the PS3's price ASAP, Standalone Blu Ray players are dropping rapidly (I just bought their newest model for £150), so saying ''But it's got a Blu Ray drive, that's why it costs sooo much'' is now becoming a shitty excuse, and NO, bundling a game or Blu Ray with the console and still selling it for £300 is not a price drop.
    Sort it Sony, it's becoming a bit of a joke now... ''Raaaaaaa''

  • bioreit #24 3 years ago

    @ layleeloo

    "Isnt that easy to work out? Whats happening to basic maths these days? hahah
    10% of £300 is 30 quid, half that to 5% so £15. Half that again to 2.5% is £7.50. So vat is saving hardly anything on goods."

    Whatever's happening to basic maths, I think you've caught it.

    In the words of Bart Simpson: "the ironing is delicious". 2.5% off VAT doesn't equate to 2.5% off the price of VAT-applicable goods - it's 2.13%.

    @ Madafunkola

    I noticed that too. "The government is reducing VAT by 2.5% - this is a uselss and merely token gesture that won't make any difference to anyone, anywhere!" A few days later.... "The government were considering raising VAT by 1%, this will have a serious economic impact on companies and families, casuing real economic hardship for millions the length and breadth of the nation."

    Consistency FAIL.

  • makeamazing #25 3 years ago

    The Vat decrease wont help retailers, due to the fact that the recession is now starting to bite hard, so rather than just keep the price the same and pocket the difference they are having to pass the price cut onto customers to try and make them buy..

    Of course, but since when did the general populace ever have a good opinion of the ruling government, or have the faintest idea about how best to run a country? Not saying the government are doing a good job, but you can always trust the general public to;

    Yes totally agree, the general "Loud" minority are always a pain.. dont even mention the outrage at Jonathan Rossgate.. total waste of time. But i think both main parties are as bad as each other Labour, spend spend spend, and Conservatives.. lets not spend anything and let everything go to crap (like it was in the 80's).

  • kangarootoo #26 3 years ago

    @makeamazing

    "they are having to pass the price cut onto customers to try and make them buy.. "

    But if some of the price cut is a drop in VAT (however small), that is going to cost the retailers less than if they had to create the same price drop all out of their own pockets. Even an apparently small difference of 2.5% boils down to a pretty big saving for highstreet chains such as M&S and Dixons.

    These things are shades of grey. If you had said "The Vat decrease wont help retailers AS MUCH" then I would have agreed with you.. We can't just disregard the VAT price cut completely, just 'cos we don't each save £50 of our own money every month.

  • Gastrian #27 3 years ago

    @Bioreit- Does this VAT reduction act as an incentive to buy an item you previously hadn't thought of or is just an extra bonus on an item you'd already decided to buy?

    This is where the VAT reduction is failing for a lot of people, its not making people want to buy goods. This £6 reduction on a PS3 isn't making me want to buy one when my fuel has gone up 2p a litre, my drinking time is more expensive and my general utility bills are more expensive because of increased duty on fuel.

    The government isn't going to make people want to buy non-essentials with a VAT cut when they've put the price up on essentials. If the government really wanted to spur the public onto spending their way out of the credit crunch they should've cut duty on our essentials and put VAT up.

  • kangarootoo #28 3 years ago

    @makeamazing

    On the subject of governments always doing badly, I sometimes wonder (when I am having one of those "democracy is bollox" moments) how much governments would achieve if they didn't have to pander to the random whims of us the populace.

    Generally speaking we know f*ck all about running a country, and we can't be arsed to spend any time AT ALL finding out how any of it works, and yet governments have to have the right haircut, and wear the right tie, and say the right things all the time, and act like they can give every single one of us exactly what we individually want ALL of the time.... or we will vote them out before they had barely enough time to work out the budget for next gas bill at number 10.

    Running a country takes a lot of planning, LONG TERM planning, and yet we the great unwashed (hate that term, but I'm ranting, so forgive it this once) can come along and cock everything up every four years. FOUR YEARS! I'm surprised any government ever gets ANYTHING done with us breathing down their necks.

    Sometimes, to get things done, a politician needs to be able to say to the public "look, you don't know what the f*ck you are on about, so butt out and let me deal with this before you cock it all up for everyone". But of course any politician who did that would be out in an instant.... and we wonder why politicians are talking PR spin all the time.

  • kangarootoo #29 3 years ago

    @Gastrian

    "This is where the VAT reduction is failing for a lot of people"

    What is failing there is peoples' understanding of what the VAT cut is supposed to achieve.

    /daft metaphor begins

    If I said a hot air balloon was failing because it didn't cook my dinner, you would say I was nuts and had utterly failed to understand the purpose of a hot air balloon. And you would be right.

    /daft metaphor ends

  • bioreit #30 3 years ago

    @ Gastrian

    The VAT cuty is definitely accelerating my plans to purchase a PS3. It's not a huge amount, but the £6+ off of the GAME bundle I want, combined with the GAME reward card points I get, in addition to my RewardGateway cashback has made me decide to get my PS3 before Christmas instead of after.

    All told, I'll get a PS3, with Mirro's Edge, MS:pacific Rift, I Am Legend on Blu-Ray and BR- remote for £275. That makes it darn close to my golden ideal of a PS3, at least one game I actually wanted and two DS3s for £300. Only a tenner more once I buy the 2nd DS3, but I get a BR I want and an extra game I'm semi-interested in. And a BR remote.

  • RandomTerrain #31 3 years ago

    Dog? Huh?