No PS2 price cut, says Sony
‘You’ll buy it anyway’
Sony has strongly denied that it plans to cut the price of PlayStation 2 in Europe this Christmas, with David Reeves, EVP of sales and marketing, stating that "We are very content with the sales of PlayStation 2 in Europe following our price reduction at the end of August this year."
The press release aims to quash speculation following a wholesale price reduction of PS2 in Japan, which Sony claims brought it into alignment with the current console price in Europe and North America. The Japanese price cut was apparently made possible by increased production yields of the NTSC format console.
A bit of price-checking seems to confirm Sony's claim. The difference in pricing between European (PAL) and American/Japanese (NTSC) consoles seems to be about £30 / €47 across major internet-based retailers like Amazon.
Of course, Sony may have to rethink its "price cut, we don't need no stinking price cut" line when Microsoft launches its next pre-Xmas bundle. Unless they really do want a green Christmas...